Personal career growth is one of the top motivators of employees. Many talents would be willing to receive a lower offer for a higher position level. Professionals seek promotions to obtain new competencies, gain respect of their peers and to create a strong personal brand. Consequently, a lack of career growth opportunities can lead top talents to seek employment elsewhere.

Recognizing the importance of career management in talent development and retention, Philippine Society of Talent Development (PSTD), in partnership with Fourthwall, launched a survey on current career management practices and challenges of organizations in the Philippines.

Respondents’ Demographics

Ninety (90) respondents participated in the survey, comprising of 56 females and 34 males. Among them, 31.11% held mid-level management positions, and 21.11% occupied senior management roles. 13.33% declared themselves to be consultants and another 13.33% as rank-and-file personnel.

As can be seen in the table below, all job levels were represented in this survey.

Table 1. Respondents Per Job Level

In terms of industry representation, most (20.00%) come from the health and medical services. Next (18.89%) were respondents from consulting services. A significant number (17.78%) belong to the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

Industry representation can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2. Respondents Per Industry

In terms of type of employment; 86.67% are private employees, 7.78% are independent/freelancers while the remaining 5.56% are government employees. When it comes to organization size, most (33.33%) belong to medium-sized organization. 30.00% belong to small firms while another 30.00% come from large organizations. 6.67% of the respondents are employed in very large organizations.

The respondents’ demographics show that there is representation from relevant categories (e.g. gender and position level) and from organization types (e.g. industry, type and size).

Current Career Management Practices

When asked: “What are the current career management programs and initiatives in your organization?”, majority of the respondents (71.11%) declared that their organizations invest on identifying skills and behavioral gap that require capability-building. Second (67.78%) most prevalent practice is identifying the best learning and development interventions. A little over half (51.11%) declared that their organizations try to find alignment between their talents’ aspirations and the organizational goals. 44.00% facilitate the transition of talents to their next big role. Additionally, 46.67% create career paths for their talents. Only a small percentage (3.33%) reported having no career management programs in place.

This data highlights the most prevalent career management practice is identifying gaps between current level of competency and required proficiency level. This could be derived from standardized competency assessments, performance review data and/or individual development plans.

Respondents were then asked to rate their organization using a scale of 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree) as to what extent they agree with this statement: “Our career management system is well-designed to help talents chart their career path in the organization.” Most (37.78%) gave their organizations a rating of 4. This was followed by 23.33% who gave a rating of 3, while 15.56% gave 2.

11.11% of the respondents strongly agreed that their career management system allows their talents to chart their career path. On the other hand, it is worth noting that 6.67% strongly disagreed.

Overall, a mean of 3.33 was obtained which shows that there is still much to be improved in terms of systems in helping talents chart their career path. Such system is essential in retaining skilled and ambitious talents who aspire for constant career growth. Employers must integrate initiatives to guide employees in crafting career plans aligned with organizational goals. Leaders must coach and mentor their team members to identify career paths that align with their strengths and interests.

Additionally, survey respondents were asked to rate the extent to which they agree that their career management system is well-designed to help prepare and equip potential successors for critical roles. Majority (34.44%) rated their organizations with a 4. 25.56% gave a rating of 3. On the other hand, 16.67% gave 2 as a rating. Only 16.00% strongly agreed that they have a well-designed system to capacitate potential successors. However, 8.89% disagreed that there is such system in their organizations.

The overall mean rating of 3.19 indicates a need to enhance systems for preparing potential successors, as organizational sustainability relies on ready successors for mission-critical positions. Organizations can only grow as fast as it grows leaders who can effectively manage teams.

Challenges in Career Management

The survey identified key challenges in implementing career management systems, with most (37.78%) that pointed out difficulty in setting up a career coaching/mentoring system. This was followed by 28.89% who cited mismatch of organizational needs to what employees want. On the other hand, 23.33% identified lack of updated job descriptions as a key challenge since there is limited data to utilize as basis in setting up the initiatives to select and prepare successors. Another 23.33% respondents reported difficulty in incorporating career planning discussions in performance reviews. 21.22% declared that there is difficulty in setting up systems wherein employees can communicate their aspirations to their supervisors. Lastly, 15.56% indicated the need for improved job evaluation to identify critical positions effectively.

Conclusions

The survey findings indicate that majority of the organizations in the Philippines invest in evaluating gaps between current competencies and required competencies for mission-critical roles. Companies also identify training programs to address such gaps and prepare successors to succeed once promoted. However, there is a need to intensify programs in terms of helping talents tap on their potential and charting out a career path which is aligned to the organization’s goals.
Initiatives must be undertaken to address current issues of retaining talents who seek and aspire for career growth. Programs must be initiated to address priority concerns in sustaining employee engagement, one of which is promoting continuous professional growth in the organization. Leaders have an important role and thus should undergo the necessary training and coaching to equip them to help their team members achieve their career goals.
The complete survey results will be published in the State of the Industry report, which will be made available during the 2023 PSTD National Convention.