Is your career training program providing value? In today’s uncertain market, many Canadian workers feel they are struggling to get ahead or progress toward their career goals—and may even consider education as a barrier to their success. The result can be a workforce that feels frustrated and disengaged. One solution is to support more effective career advancement based on career development plans that assist your employees to move to the next level. A corporate career development planning process can help you develop a more practical skills training program that supports employee and company goals while driving retention and contributing to the bottom line.
Why career training matters: Overcoming barriers to success
Students often hear that education is the key to a successful career. While Canada has the most educated population in the G7, many workers find education a barrier to success. In our recent study, Indeed found that 8% of Canadian employees consider education a career barrier— this number jumps considerably for specific demographic groups.
Younger employees experience education-related barriers at a higher rate than their older co-workers, with 21% of Gen Z respondents identifying education as a barrier. Overqualification and degree inflation are two commonly cited issues. Newcomers to Canada also report significant challenges: 20% of individuals who have been in Canada for less than a year and 19% of those who have been here between two and five years also indicated education as a workplace barrier. Common challenges for newcomers to Canada include the process for Canadian accreditation of foreign degrees, lack of employer confidence in foreign education, and even requirements to retrain. Research also shows that immigrant professionals are likely to advance more slowly in their careers than their Canadian-born counterparts—and that female and racialized immigrants encounter particular struggles with career advancement.
Education doesn’t need to be a barrier to success. A corporate career development planning process can deliver value to employer and employee alike, breaking down barriers and creating the foundation for skills training programs that more effectively address needs.
What is a career development plan?
A career development plan is an action plan that outlines the steps and training to achieve significant career objectives and addresses obstacles that may interfere. Career development plans may focus on more immediate timeframes, such as the short-term goal of obtaining a promotion or mapping out a more complex path toward a high-level career objective.
The career development planning process commonly details an individual’s current state, including core skills, strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and career goals, including large-scale career aspirations and shorter-term objectives. The individual then performs a gap analysis to show the skills development and career training required to move forward. They use this information to create an actionable task list to pursue their larger goals. We recommend Indeed’s Career Guide article on the topic for employees looking to create their career development plan or managers wanting more details on what a career development plan might contain.
Why should employers invest in career training and development?
From an employee’s perspective, a career development plan can help visualize the skills and knowledge to move to the next level, reducing stress and frustration around promotion decisions. With the path toward larger goals broken down into immediate tasks and objectives, employees can move toward their personal career goals more quickly and effectively. A robust career development planning process, supported by regular check-ins with management and company-supported training opportunities, can demonstrate clear corporate investment in employee career growth.
Career development plans also provide multiple benefits for employers. On the functional side, career planning offers greater insight into employee skills and goals, which can help you understand workforce needs and enable better tracking of the efficacy of your skill training programs. Career development plans can also significantly contribute to a skills inventory, which can help identify skills gaps and development opportunities on a corporate level and improve recruiting efforts.
A demonstrated commitment to employees’ professional journeys improves engagement and retention, which helps drive productivity and improves the bottom line. One study showed that companies that support career development are 2.6x more likely to exceed financial targets and 7.2x more likely to engage and retain employees. Showcasing your career planning and training initiatives as part of your external branding, such as on your company page, can help attract top talent who want to work for an employer that can help them get ahead.
Moving forward with corporate career development plans
For maximum effect, begin your career development planning process at employee onboarding. This early kickoff helps engage employees and quickly builds understanding and rapport between new hires and their managers. Update and revisit career development plans regularly, such as during quarterly or annual reviews, and conduct check-ins to ensure employees feel they are progressing toward their goals.
Institutional career development plans benefit all parties, helping develop and retain an engaged workforce that feels confident in their employer’s ability to advance their careers.
