Penna: managers aren’t good at discussing careers
According to a study conducted by Penna, the global people management business, over 60 per cent of employees are said to be considering a job shift because of a lack of career development opportunities.
Penna says this is due to the fact that many managers are ill-equiped to discuss career topics such as "salary, delayed promotion and aspirations vesus current abilities with members of their team." Not suprisingly then, nearly a third of managers say their organisation does not provide them with enough people management training.
Although both parties agree there is a problem brewing in the workplace, Penna says that there is disagreement as to where the problem originates. Nearly 60 per cent of managers say they talk to their employees about their professional goals at least a few times a month. This contrasts with the 50 per cent of employees who say that those conversations occur, at best, a few times a year.
Employees and managers seem to be in agreement over how well the conversations do go when they happen. Nearly 70 per cent of managers and 55 per cent of employees say the manager “listens” during career conversations and “helped them reflect on their performance in their current role”.
Bev White is the managing director of Penna Career Services. She says that, ultimately, few career conversations between employees and managers develop into formal plans.
“It is a waste of time having career conversations, if nothing is going to be done with the information gleaned from it," White said. "The whole point of career conversations is to ensure that employees can fulfil their career aspirations within the company, aiding engagement, productivity and retention. If businesses are leaving this to chance, by not training their managers on how to hold effective career conversations or recording data when they do, they’re potentially opening Pandora’s box, setting expectations with employees that can’t be met and are gambling with their greatest asset – their employees.”