It is becoming increasingly common for professionals to decide to change their career paths wholly. A 2023 Beal University survey found that while 33 percent of respondents are likely to switch jobs within the same sector, 26 percent of employees want to change careers. This creates a new challenge for employers looking to retain talent and individuals seeking to discern the right career path for themselves.
As a professional development coach, I’ve observed employees growing restless in their current positions. I’m also familiar with the challenges this poses for organizations striving to retain and engage their employees. However, even as professionals increasingly want to explore new career paths, this does not mean that retention is a lost cause.
What Prompts Employees to Seek a Career Change
Millions of workers have switched jobs in recent years. The market for salaried, white-collar jobs has since cooled, but workers’ desire to find new work has not. Roughly 85 percent of U.S. professionals polled in a recent LinkedIn survey said they are considering changing jobs this year, up from 67 percent in 2023. Why?
From the Great Resignation to frequent layoffs to the mass adoption of AI, professionals face tectonic shifts reshaping most industries.
No matter what their industry is, every employee wants to see opportunities for growth in their career. Perks like better pay (34 percent), being able to switch schedules (34 percent), and the opportunity for careers that weren’t around in their younger years (34 percent) are encouraging professionals to consider new paths. As a coach, I also see individuals struggling with alignment or purpose in their current roles.
On the other hand, respondents are concerned about not wanting to return to an entry-level position (29 percent) and the potential costs (25 percent) associated with a career switch, according to a OnePoll survey.
So, what does this mean for organizations?
The Impact of Career Change in the Workplace
The turnover prompted by this interest in changing career paths can significantly impact how an organization operates day-to-day. When an essential employee leaves, this disrupts the remaining team members and is detrimental to shared knowledge about the company’s history and evolution.
The recruiting process to replace an employee can take an average of eight to 12 weeks and costs as much as three to four times the position’s salary in hiring and onboarding investments.
Sometimes, little can be done if an employee has decided a particular industry isn’t for them. However, for others, the ability to develop new skills and try different roles within the same company may be a compelling incentive to remain with the organization. This is an opportunity for training development professionals to explore strategies for overcoming it and, with the support of a coach, reignite their employees’ passion for work.
Create Opportunities for Flexible Professional Development
Training development professionals can facilitate new career paths by implementing a comprehensive career pathing program within the organization. Career pathing (similar to career mapping) is the series of jobs an individual intends to hold at a company (or over their career as a whole). As interests evolve, this approach creates flexibility within current roles and opens doors to opportunities beyond specialization.
The starting point is the employee’s current position, while the destination represents a short- or long-term goal. This program involves working closely with employees to develop personalized paths tailored to their unique skills and interests, even as they potentially change over time. Coaches can help to conduct in-depth assessments of employees’ current positions and aspirations. In contrast, training development professionals can help them hone their evolving career objectives and connect them to organizational opportunities.
Not every employee will want a vertical career path that moves up the corporate ladder. While not as common, a horizontal career path maps out the options for employees to move to a different department or role without fundamentally changing what they do or the nature of their responsibilities.
Assess for New Knowledge and Skills Gaps
Upskilling offers a dual advantage for organizations and professionals alike. It helps employees adapt to new technologies and change initiatives while improving their skills in new directions and providing stability to their positions through growth and investment. By embracing upskilling initiatives, businesses and employees can grow together.
The first step training development professionals can take is to assess skills gaps across teams. This process can be done with the help of a coach through skills assessments that investigate the current skills available across teams and the skills most needed by the organization to bring them into the future. The outcomes of this assessment can indicate where training investments should be made to build these crucial skills in interested current employees.
Professional coaching is one evidence-based tool that can support teams in conducting these skills assessments and mapping their upskilling development strategy. A coach can help a professional to tap into their potential and highlight key skills and opportunities to develop and support a potential transition.
Establish an Internal Network
Another way training development professionals can support nontraditional career paths is by establishing an internal network that allows employees to learn about different roles across the organization.
Encouraging collaboration on cross-departmental projects or task forces enables employees to work closely with colleagues from various roles and backgrounds, facilitating a better understanding of potential opportunities across the company.
Additionally, programs can be created to pair employees from different departments, allowing for reciprocal learning about what they do. These programs strengthen individual skills and promote cross-functional understanding and collaboration.
Making Space for Alternate Career Paths Strengthens Organization Teams
No amount of strategy can guarantee perfect retention. Still, by supporting initiatives that allow employees to explore other roles within the organization and build new skill sets that support the organization’s needs, the impact of this trend can be reduced—and team members’ understanding of the organization’s broader picture can be enriched!
