Meeting the Challenges of Effective Development
Creating a development program almost always consists of three phases: the assessment phase, the direction phase, and the development phase (Figure 9.2). Although presented separately in Figure 9.2, in an actual program the phases of development often blend together.
FIGURE 9.2 The Career Development Process
The Assessment Phase
The assessment phase of career development includes activities ranging from self-assessment to organizationally provided assessment. The goal of assessment, whether performed by employees themselves or by the organization, is to identify employees’ strengths and weaknesses. This kind of clarification helps employees (1) to choose a career that is realistically obtainable and a good fit and (2) to determine the weaknesses they need to overcome to achieve their career goals. Figure 9.3 lists some tools that are commonly used for self-assessment and for organizational assessment.
Self-Assessment Organizational Assessment Career workbooks Assessment centers Career-planning workshops Psychological testing Career websites Performance appraisal Promotability forecasts Succession planning
FIGURE 9.3
Common Assessment Tools
Self-Assessment
Self-assessment is increasingly important for companies that want to empower their employees to take control of their careers. Traditionally, the major tools used for self-assessment are workbooks and workshops. There are now a growing number of online sites that provide self-assessment and assistance with setting realistic career goals. For example, CareerOneStop is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration and offers a variety of self-assessment tools, available in its “Explore Careers” portal at www.careeronestop.org .
In addition to the exercises included in a generic career workbook or website, tailored workbooks and company-specific career sites might contain a statement of the organization’s policies and procedures regarding career issues as well as descriptions of the career paths and options available in the organization.
Career-planning workshops, which may be led either by the company’s HR department or by an external provider such as a consulting firm or local university, give employees information about career options in the organization. They may also be used to give participants feedback on their career aspirations and strategies. Participation in most workshops is voluntary, and some organizations hold these workshops on company time to demonstrate their commitment to their workforce.
Whether done through workbooks, face-to-face workshops, or with online exercises, self-assessment usually means performing skills assessment exercises, completing an interest inventory, and clarifying values.15
FIGURE 9.4
Sample Skills Assessment Exercise
-
▪ As their name implies, skills assessment exercises are designed to identify an employee’s skills. For example, a workbook exercise might ask the employee to compile a brief list of his or her accomplishments. Once the employee has generated a set of, say, five accomplishments, he or she then identifies the skills involved in making each accomplishment a reality. In a workshop situation, people might share their accomplishments in a group discussion, and then the entire group might help identify the skills underlying the accomplishments.
Another skills assessment exercise presents employees with a list of skills they must rate on two dimensions: their level of proficiency at that skill and the degree to which they enjoy using it. A total score is then generated for each skill area—for example, by multiplying the proficiency by the preference rating. Figure 9.4 shows an example of this approach to skills assessment. Scores below 6 indicate areas of weakness or dislike, whereas scores of 6 or above indicate areas of strength. The pattern of scores can guide employees regarding the type of career for which they are best suited.
-
▪ An interest inventory is a measure of a person’s occupational interests. Numerous off-the-shelf inventories can give employees insight into what type of career will best fit their interests. One of the best-known inventories is the Strong Vocational Interest Inventory.16 The interest inventory asks people to indicate how strong or weak an interest they have in activities such as dealing with very old people, making a speech, and raising money for charity. Responses to items on the inventory are then scored to identify the occupations in which the individual has the same interests as the professionals employed in those fields.
-
▪ Values clarification involves prioritizing personal values. The typical values-clarification exercise presents employees with a list of values and asks them to rate how important each value is to them. For example, employees may be asked to prioritize security, power, money, and family in their lives. Knowing their priority values can help employees make satisfying career choices. The Manager’s Notebook, “Anchor Yourself,” provides an example of a values-based approach to career development. It presents eight items that describe career “anchors” and identifies implications for effective management for each anchor.
MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK Anchor Yourself
Ethics/Social Responsibility
When your career’s direction matches what you are really about, the result can be finding meaning and fulfillment in your work. Isn’t it only ethical to try to provide the kind of work experience that matches the core values of a worker?
These core values might be considered to be career “anchors” according to Dr. Edgar Schein, an MIT professor who has developed this concept to identify what a worker wants from a career. There is some discussion among researchers that the concept of anchors might be better thought of as orientations that can change over time. Overall, the career anchors framework has largely been supported by research and career counselors often use the career anchors framework when working with clients. To determine someone’s career anchor, have the person select one of the following eight statements that best describes him or her. Go through the exercise yourself to identify your career anchor:
Career Anchor Assessment
-
I identify with my profession and like to use my skills.
-
I like having a broad overview and enjoy responsibility.
-
I like to work independently.
-
I like it when things are stable and predictable.
-
I like the challenge of starting something new.
-
I want to make the world a better place.
-
I like competition and enjoy solving problems.
-
I want balance in my life.
Even if you determine your workers’ career anchors, what can you do about it? The nature of a job should enable a worker to express his or her career anchor. You will probably find that there is enough flexibility in how a job can be structured that you can help a worker to express his or her career anchor. The following list of management implications presents actions that you as a manager could take for each of the eight career anchors.
Basic Management Implications for Each Career Anchor
-
Give the worker opportunity to develop work standards and to mentor others.
-
Give the worker opportunities to lead projects or teams.
-
Ask the worker to take on the role of an internal consultant and tackle a workplace problem.
-
Let the worker know that staying in his or her current position is an option.
-
Give this worker new projects and let him or her develop ideas as an internal entrepreneur.
-
Offer this worker some responsibility for a company program, such as diversity, or the opportunity to partner with a local charity.
-
Set stretch goals with the worker and empower him or her to make the decisions needed to get there.
-
Offer this worker flexibility in his or her work schedule and the opportunity to work from home.
Organizational Assessment
Some of the tools traditionally used by organizations in selection (see Chapter 5) are also valuable for career development. Among these are assessment centers, psychological testing, performance appraisal, promotability forecasts, and succession planning.
-
▪ Assessment centers are situational exercises, such as interviews, in-basket exercises, and business games, that are often used to select managerial talent. A developmentally oriented assessment center stresses giving feedback and direction to the worker.17 The assessment center measures competencies needed for a particular job and provides participants with feedback about their strengths and weaknesses in the competency areas as uncovered in the exercises.
Like many other tools, assessment centers are being developed in computerized versions.18 For example, one computerized assessment tool evaluates management skills such as coaching, problem solving, and team building. A variety of scenarios simulate workplace situations in which judgments have to be made about performance, problems need to be solved, and confrontations need to be dealt with. Based on the person’s performance in these scenarios, the program provides a development plan for career growth.
A limited number of studies indicate that assessment centers have significant and positive effects on participants, even months after the assessment center exercise.
-
▪ Some organizations also use psychological testing to help employees better understand their skills and interests. Tests that measure personality and attitudes, as well as interest inventories, fall into this category.19
-
▪ Performance appraisal is another source of valuable career development information. Unfortunately, appraisals are frequently limited to assessment of past performance rather than oriented toward future performance improvements and directions. Future-oriented performance appraisal can give employees important insights into their strengths, their weaknesses, and the career paths available to them. Performance appraisal should be more than simply evaluation; it needs to include learning and lead to improvement in performance and direction for development.20
-
▪ Promotability forecasts are decisions made by managers regarding the advancement potential of their subordinates. These forecasts allow the organization to identify people who appear to have high advancement potential.21 The high-potential employees are then given developmental experiences (such as attending an executive training seminar) to help them achieve their advancement potential.
-
▪ Succession planning focuses on preparing people to fill executive positions. Formally, succession planning means examining development needs given a firm’s strategic plans. That is, the formal approach identifies the organization’s future direction and challenges and then derives the competencies new leaders need.22 Then the organization identifies internal and external target candidates. Once a short list of potential executives is created, the candidates are researched and tracked using the required competencies as evaluation areas. This tracking and monitoring process continues indefinitely so that an up-to-date list is available when inevitable turnover in leadership occurs. Succession planning is necessary when the organization needs key positions filled without interruption. Without it, the business may sacrifice profitability and stability as the price for not being prepared.
Although the formal approach is advisable, most succession planning is done informally. Informal succession planning means that high-level managers identify and develop their own replacements. The employees identified as having upper-management potential may then be given developmental experiences that help prepare them for the executive ranks, such as workshops on the organization’s values and mission.
Succession planning can pose difficulties. For example, organizations have been accused of discriminating against women and minorities when filling high-level positions. Rather than outright discrimination, it can be the informality of much succession planning that makes companies unwittingly exclude these groups as candidates. Formal succession planning programs can make the identification of high-potential employees and replacement candidates a more egalitarian procedure.
In small companies, succession planning is crucial because the sudden departure or illness of a key player can cause the business to flounder. Yet just as some people shy away from drafting a will for fear of recognizing their own mortality, some small-business owners shy away from succession planning for fear of recognizing that they will not always be in control of their business. Other small-business owners are too caught up in the daily pressures of running a business to plan for the future.
The majority of employers recognize the importance of having a succession plan. However, a survey of over 1,000 organizations found only approximately 20 percent to be effective at succession planning.23 Organizations recognize the importance of having a leadership pipeline, but many don’t appear to put effective succession plans into operation.
The Direction Phase
The direction phase of career development involves determining the type of career that employees want and the steps they must take to realize their career goals. Appropriate direction requires an accurate understanding of one’s current position. Unless the direction phase is based on a thorough assessment of the current situation, the goals and steps identified may be inappropriate. For example, a task force assembled by the Healthcare Financial Management Association reviewed credentials, experience, and other data for more than 5,000 senior finance executives. They also reviewed certification standards and graduate school curricula and worked with two panels of experts. Through this review, the task force developed the competency model shown in Figure 9.5.
A Healthcare Financial Management Association task force identified behavioral characteristics having to do with the skill, knowledge, social, trait, or motive qualities needed to excel in the profession. These competencies were grouped into the following three components:
Component 1: Understanding the Business Environment
Competencies:
Strategic thinking—the ability to integrate knowledge of the industry with an understanding of the long-range vision of an organization.
Systems thinking—an awareness of how one’s role fits within an organization and knowing when and how to take actions that support its effectiveness.
Component 2: Making It Happen
Competencies:
Results orientation—the drive to achieve and the ability to diagnose inefficiencies and judge when to take entrepreneurial risks.
Collaborative decision making—actions that involve key stakeholders in the decision-making processes.
Action orientation—going beyond the minimum role requirements to boldly drive projects and lead the way to improved services, processes, and products.
Component 3: Leading Others
Competencies:
Championing business thinking—the ability to energize others to understand and achieve business-focused outcomes. Fostering an understanding of issues and challenges through clear articulation and agenda setting.
Coaching and mentoring—the ability to release the potential of others by actively promoting responsibility, trust, and recognition.
Influence—the ability to communicate a position in a persuasive manner, thus generating support, agreement, or commitment.
FIGURE 9.5
A Competency Growth Model for Healthcare Financial Managers: Basis for Career Development Direction
Source:Based on Healthcare Financial Management. (1999). Dynamic healthcare environment demands new career planning tools, 52, 70–74. Reprinted with permission.
The competency model can be most useful for career development by focusing on the type of role the person desires. For example, someone who aspires to be the leader of an enterprise may need to develop the highest competency levels in the area of leading others. Someone aspiring to the role of business advisor might be best served by developing a balanced portfolio of competencies.
The direction phase, represented by the competencies, should be based on a careful assessment of what is needed in the profession. Further, career development direction should not be a stand-alone effort. To be effective, career development must be integrated with other HRM efforts, such as staffing, performance appraisal, and training.
One manager who participated in a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers quoted Mark Twain: “Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.”24 In other words, for your organization’s development efforts to be successful, you need to first make sure that you are hiring people who generally match your skill requirements and culture. Two major approaches to career direction are individual counseling and various information services.
Individual Career Counseling
Individual career counseling refers to one-on-one sessions with the goal of helping employees to examine their career aspirations.25 Topics of discussion might include the employee’s current job responsibilities, interests, and career objectives. Although career counseling is frequently conducted by managers or HR staff members, some organizations use professional counselors.26
Career counseling resources and other career planning resources can also be found online. The National Career Development Association, for example, develops standards for the career development field and provides resources and tools at www.ncda.org . Their website includes a search function that can be used to locate career counselors.
When line managers conduct career counseling sessions, the HR department generally monitors the sessions’ effectiveness and provides assistance to the managers in the form of training, suggested counseling formats, and the like. Having managers conduct career counseling sessions with their employees has several advantages. First, managers are probably more aware of their employees’ strengths and weaknesses than anyone else. Second, knowing that managers understand their employees’ career development concerns can foster an environment of trust and commitment.
Unfortunately, assigning career counseling responsibility to managers does not guarantee that the task will be carried out carefully. As with performance appraisal and many other important HR activities, managers may treat employee career development simply as a paper-shuffling exercise unless top management signals its strong support for development activities. If managers only go through the motions, there is likely to be a negative impact on employee attitudes, productivity, and profits.
Information Services
As their name suggests, information services provide career development information to employees. Determining what to do with this information is largely the employee’s responsibility. This approach makes sense, given the diversity of the interests and aspiration of employees in today’s organizations.
The most commonly provided information services are job-posting systems, skills inventories, career paths, and career resource centers.
-
▪ Job-posting systems are a fairly easy and direct way of providing employees with information on job openings. The jobs available in an organization are announced (“posted”) on a bulletin board, in a company newsletter, through a phone recording or computer system, or over a company’s intranet. Whatever the medium, all employees have access to the list. All postings should include clear descriptions of both the job’s specifications and the criteria that will be used to select among the applicants.
Job-posting systems have the advantage of reinforcing the notion that the organization promotes from within.27 This belief not only motivates employees to maintain and improve their performance, but also tends to reduce turnover.
Job-posting systems are a fairly easy and direct way of providing employees with information on job openings. The jobs available in an organization are announced (“posted”) on a bulletin board, in a company newsletter, through a phone recording or computer system, or over a company’s intranet. Whatever the medium, all employees have access to the list. All postings should include clear descriptions of both the job’s specifications and the criteria that will be used to select among the applicants.
Not everyone who applies for a posted job will get the promotion. It is important for managers to turn this potentially negative feedback into a positive development opportunity.28 For example, a worker who applied for a posted opening but wasn’t selected for the promotion should be told why he or she did not get the promotion. Most important, the manager needs to discuss with the worker what he or she can work on so that the next time a similar promotion opportunity comes along, the worker will be better positioned for it.
-
▪ Skills inventories are company-maintained records with information such as employees’ abilities, skills, knowledge, and education.29 The company can use this comprehensive, centralized HR information system to get an overall picture of its workforce’s training and development needs, as well as to identify existing talent in one department that may be more productively employed in another.
Skills inventories can prove valuable for employees as well. Feedback regarding how they stack up against other employees can encourage them to improve their skills or seek out other positions that better match their current skill levels.
-
▪ Career paths provide valuable information regarding the possible directions and career opportunities available in an organization. A career path presents the steps in a possible career and a plausible timetable for accomplishing them. Just as a variety of paths may lead to the same job, starting from the same job may lead to very different outcomes. Figure 9.6 provides an example of alternative career paths that a bus person in the hotel business might follow.
To be realistic, career paths must specify the qualifications necessary to proceed to the next step and the minimum length of time employees must spend at each step to obtain the necessary experience. This information could be generated by computer.
Figure 9.7 presents examples of two survey forms based on jobs in the hotel industry that might be used to collect career path information. Form A asks employees to indicate how important certain skills are for the performance of their job. The skills included on the form can be determined by examining job-analysis information and by interviewing individual employees. Employee responses can then be used to develop lists of critical and desirable skills for each job.
Form B asks employees to judge the extent to which experience in other jobs in the organization is needed to perform their current job adequately. The lowest-level jobs, which still involve the skill requirements uncovered with the use of Form A, would not require previous job experience within the organization. Higher-level or more complex jobs would likely require more job experience.
Career paths point out development needs and options for workers. Whereas traditional career paths usually become very narrow at the top, broader options are available if lateral career moves, such as across departments or functions, are allowed. The types of options offered through broad career paths can be particularly appealing for younger workers who are looking to keep their jobs varied and interesting.30
This is a generic example of alternative career paths. Actual career paths should specify a time frame for each job.
FIGURE 9.6
Alternative Career Paths for a Hotel Employee
Form A: Skill Requirements
Instructions: A list of various skills that apply to various jobs is presented below. Use the scale provided to indicate the extent to which each skill is applicable to your current position.
Circle the Most Appropriate Number Not applicable Somewhat desirable, useful at times Very desirable, but not essential Critical— could not perform job without it Skills 1. Determine daily/forecasted production and service equipment requirements. 1 2 3 4 2. Clean guest rooms. 1 2 3 4 3. Set up, break down, and change over function rooms. 1 2 3 4 4. Handle security problems. 1 2 3 4 5. Clean public areas/restrooms. 1 2 3 4 6. Assist in menu development. 1 2 3 4 7. Register/preregister guests into hotel. 1 2 3 4 8. Participate in the preparation of sauces, soups, stews, and special dishes. 1 2 3 4 9. Prepare and serve salads, fruit cocktails, fruits, juices, and so on. 1 2 3 4 10. Participate in the rating of meats and other dishes. 1 2 3 4 11. Care for, clean, and distribute laundry items. 1 2 3 4 Form B: Experience Requirements
Instructions: A list of work experience by job titles is presented below. Use the scale provided to indicate for each item: (a) how important previous experience in this work is for the successful performance of your current job duties; and (b) the amount of experience that constitutes adequate training or exposure so that you are able to function efficiently in your current position.
Circle the Most Appropriate Number Importance of Requirement Minimum Experience
Not very important Very desirable, but not essential Critical— could not perform job without it 0–6 mos 7–11 mos 1–2 yrs 3–5 yrs 6 yrs Work Experience 1. Storeroom Clerk: Accurately compute daily food costs by assembling food invoices, totaling food requisitions, taking monthly inventory of food storeroom, and so on. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 2. Liquor Storeroom Steward: Maintain adequate levels of alcoholic beverages and related supplies; properly receive, store, and issue them to user departments. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 3. Pantry Worker: Prepare and supply to waiters salads, fruit cocktails, fruit juices, and so on. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 4. Pastry Cook: Prepare mixes for baking cakes, pies, soufflés, and so on. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 5. Short-Order Cook: Prepare short-order foods in assigned restaurant areas. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6. Sous Chef: Assist executive chef in all areas of kitchen production; directly supervise the operations of the kitchen in his or her absence. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 7. Waiter or Waitress: Take food and beverage orders from customers and serve them in a restaurant or lounge. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 8. Beverage Manager: Supervise and schedule personnel as required and maintain budgeted liquor cost and supplies for the lounge and/or banquet functions. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 9. Assistant Banquet Manager: Assist in the coordination and successful completion of all banquet functions, such as coordinating staffing requirements, ensuring that function room is properly set and tidied, and keeping banquet manager fully informed of all problems or unusual matters. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 FIGURE 9.7
Two Career Path Information Forms
-
A ▪ career resource center is a collection of career development materials such as workbooks, tapes, and texts. These resources might be maintained by the HR department either in its offices or in an area that is readily accessible to employees. Companies with many locations might publicize the availability of these materials and lend them to employees who express interest. Some colleges and universities maintain career resource centers, and many consulting firms (particularly those specializing in employee outplacement) provide career development materials as well. Career resource centers can help people identify for themselves their strengths and weaknesses, career options, and educational and training opportunities.
In addition to the traditional career information sources, social media is emerging as a means to share career information. Competence with social media is also increasingly becoming a skill that is needed to perform many jobs. The Manager’s Notebook, “Reaching Out to Develop Careers: Social Media as a Skill and a Tool,” explores these issues.
MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK Reaching Out to Develop Careers: Social Media as a Skill and a Tool
Technology/Social Media
Social media may be more of a factor in your career than you might recognize. Having facility with social media is a factor that employers are seeing as relevant to many jobs. In addition to core job skills, social media can be important because it is increasingly being used as a means to connect with customers. Some employers are finding that expertise with social media can differentiate them in the marketplace. Certificate programs and continuing education classes in social media are being offered by universities and community colleges. Because social media is becoming integrated into how many businesses connect with customers, having competency in this area could facilitate your career opportunities.
Social media is also being used to reach out and help people to develop their careers. In addition to building a customer base, social media is being used to develop a talent base of potential employees. For example, The Limited, a fashion retailer that you might be familiar with, is using social media to ask customers for their success stories. These stories can reflect how someone got ahead in their personal or professional life. The stories are being collected as a means for people to share life experiences and what they have learned about moving forward. You can find some of these stories at [no longer online] http://50.thelimited.com . For each story submission, The Limited is donating $1.00 to Dress for Success, a nonprofit organization devoted to career advancement for disadvantaged women. Through these efforts, The Limited is positively contributing to the community while helping to build a talent pool by helping people recognize the company as a career opportunity.
Some organizations are bringing technology to people who often don’t have access to the Internet and may not have an understanding of career options. Fifth Third Bank has retrofitted city buses with satellite technology and is taking these “eBuses” into areas of low-to-moderate income. The facilities on the eBuses can be used by community members to access financial information and to receive credit counseling. In addition to providing banking-related services to traditionally underserved neighborhoods, the eBuses offer a multimedia program that includes topics such as resume and cover letter preparation, assessment of career direction, and interviewing skills. The eBuses provide the bank a means to penetrate a relatively untapped market but also provide people with awareness of career options. Some of the community members might choose a career with the bank. Whatever the nature of the careers, if the eBus project has a positive effect, it will end up providing the bank with better customers and improved business.
The Development Phase
Meeting the requirements necessary to move up in an organization can require a great deal of growth and self-improvement. The development phase, which involves taking actions to create and increase skills to prepare for future job opportunities, is meant to foster this growth and self-improvement. The most common development programs offered by organizations are mentoring, coaching, job rotation, and tuition assistance.
Mentoring
Mentoring is a developmentally oriented relationship between senior and junior colleagues or peers. Mentoring relationships, which can occur at all levels and in all areas of an organization, generally involve advising, role modeling, sharing contacts, and giving general support. Mentoring can be either voluntary and informal or involuntary and formal. Informal mentoring is generally more effective than mentoring done solely as a formal responsibility,31 although there are situations in which a formal mentoring program may be the better choice.
Mentoring has been found to make a real difference in careers, with executives who were mentored early in their careers tending to make more money at a younger age and more likely to follow a career plan than those who were not mentored. Research findings support the conclusion that effective mentoring can improve outcomes such as performance levels, promotion rates, upward mobility, income, and job satisfaction.32 For mentors, particularly those nearing retirement, the mentoring role can offer new challenges and reignite enthusiasm and motivation. A survey of mentees found that the supervisors are often considered the most effective mentors.33 However, survey respondents also viewed the roles of supervisor and mentor quite differently, with the supervisor focused on results and the mentor focused on the person. Mentees report that mentors build confidence, stimulate learning, and serve as a role model and sounding board.
The mentoring program at Intel provides an innovative example of matching mentors and mentees.34 The Intel program matches people by skills and needs, not by position in the organization. The company utilizes interest and e-mail to make global mentor and mentee matches.
Mentoring relationships can be particularly important for minority employees.35 For example, African American managers who have had mentors have been found to achieve greater levels of career advancement. The promotion rate for African American women was found in one study to be 70 percent for those with mentors and 50 percent for those without. An effective mentor can help sensitize and educate a mentee about political and cultural issues that might arise to which a minority employee may not have had previous exposure.
Like women and minorities in large firms, people who work for a small business or are self-employed may find it difficult to find a mentor. These people can benefit from membership in professional and trade associations. This form of “group mentoring” may complement individual mentoring or serve as a substitute for it.
Coaching
Employee coaching consists of ongoing, sometimes spontaneous, meetings between managers and their employees to discuss the employee’s career goals and development. Working with employees to chart and implement their career goals enhances productivity and can spur a manager’s own advancement. Then why do so many managers give short shrift to employee coaching? For one thing, in today’s flatter organizations managers have more people under their supervision and less time to spend on developing each employee. For another, some managers may view “employee development” as a buzz phrase unless top management clearly and strongly supports it. Finally, managers may be more comfortable working on job-related tasks and may believe they lack the skills needed to be an effective coach.36 Many managers view their role as one of providing answers, pointing out weaknesses, and diagnosing and solving problems. This role is effective if the purpose is judgment or assessment, but it is not conducive to effective coaching.
Job Rotation
Job rotation assigns employees to various jobs so that they acquire a wider base of skills. Broadened job experience can give workers more flexibility to choose a career path. And, as we discussed in Chapter 8, employees can gain an even wider and more flexible experience base through cross-functional training.
In addition to offering more career options for the employee, job rotation results in a more broadly trained and skilled workforce for the employer. The job rotation process can also keep things fresh for employees and keep them energized.37
Although job rotation programs do have advantages, note that they can also have some disadvantages. Such programs do not suit employees who want to maintain a narrow and specialized focus. From the organization’s perspective, job rotation programs can slow operations as workers learn new skills. Although the development benefits of job rotation may be high in the long run, firms should be aware of the short-run and intermediate costs. From an employee’s perspective, the opportunity of job rotation may be a survival mechanism. Specifically, downsizing in an organization may focus on eliminating an obsolete area. When employees broaden their skills through job rotation, they help to ensure their longevity and usefulness to the organization.
Source:© Marmaduke St. John/Alamy.
Tuition Assistance Programs
Organizations offer tuition assistance programs to support their employees’ education and development. Tuition and other costs of educational programs (ranging from seminars, workshops, and continuing education programs to degree programs) may be entirely covered, partially covered, or covered contingent upon adequate performance in the program.
Verizon Wireless is recognized as a company that invests in its employees. The company has partnerships with numerous universities and colleges and offers on-site degree programs with prepaid tuition at some of its locations. Bases on its assessments, Verizon has concluded that the tuition reimbursement program has increased job performance and reduced turnover.38