{{B}}Advice on Staff Career Development{{/B}}
For many employees, automatic promotion up the ranks of a company is becoming increasingly rare. A new study suggests that, in response, employers need to consider how they can help staff develop their careers.
Employers need to rethink their approach to career management completely, according to the latest research by the Institute of Employment Studies. The new study finds that in fact there is little opportunity for individual career development in many large organizations. The main reasons for this, it concludes, are the recent cuts in the number of middle-management posts, and the changes that have taken place in the responsibilities of personnel departments. The Institute of Employment Studies makes it clear that it is not good practice for companies to hand over career development-to individual employees and then simply leave them to get on with it. {{U}}(8) {{/U}}
So how should employers help their staff develop a career? Most employees have come to accept that career development is not always the same thing as upward promotion and a higher salary. {{U}}(9) {{/U}}They must also ensure that these opportunities are extended to all their staff and not just to selected individuals.
Nick Bridges, who is Director of Human Resources Policy at the Bank of Eastern England, believes there is more talk than action in this area. {{U}}(10) {{/U}}One way, he believes, for companies to show how serious they are about individual learning is lo make it an official part of company practice, as the Bank of Eastern England has done. {{U}}(11) {{/U}}This document, he points out, has made the role of managers clear, and the company has also invested huge amounts of money educating managers so that they can then train their staff.
Another company, British Chemicals. has contracted an independent organization to help staff with confidential career advice. According to John rates, the head of Individual Learning and Development at British Chemicals. there is an important role for outside agencies to play in the career management process. He adds that it is company policy for managers to give all staff 'roadmaps' which show possible career routes within the company structure. {{U}}(12) {{/U}}This has worked especially well. he says, for staff who are used to depending on their line managers for guidance.
Many large organizations now recognize that career development cannot be regarded in isolation, and must be part of an overall business strategy. Human Resources has a real role to play in building a strong workforce which meets a company's long-term business needs and makes it more competitive.
A. Its policy statement says that by 2006, eighty percent of its stall' will have a professional qualification.
B. He argues that while Human Resources managers are saying the way forward is through self-managed learning and self-development, they are still failing to provide adequate learning resources.
C. This change of attitude means employers need to place more emphasis on giving staff the chance to develop a range of skills through horizontal job moves.
D. It points out that employees need to know what the overall company's vision is in order to achieve it.
E. The problem that often arises is that, while they are increasingly encouraged to manage their own careers, they arc not provided with the knowledge and training to do this.
F. They are able to sec that, contrary to expectations, jobs in different fields are similar, and they can also sec how it is possible to cross over to other areas.
G. The main reasons for this, it concludes, are the recent cuts in the number of middle-management posts, and the changes that have taken place in the responsibilities of personnel departments.