Voices

Employees want more discussion on career prospects, according to Robert Half survey

According to a new Robert Half survey, employees claim to want more feedback on their career futures with their bosses. The research claims that 40 percent of professionals say their managers never discuss their career paths with them.

The data also shows that 37 percent of employees said that they would like to discuss their career paths at least quarterly with their superiors, while 45 percent want to review their options annually.

Finance and accounting professionals were asked, “How often would you like your manager to discuss your career path with you? “and “How often does your manager discuss your career path with you?” Their responses were thusly:

 

 

How Often Respondents Would Like to Discuss

 

How Often Manager Discusses

Never

7%

40%

Annually

45%

44%

Quarterly

37%

11%

Monthly

9%

3%

Weekly

    2%

    2%

 

100%

100%

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“Supervisors who are not discussing career progression with their staff are missing an opportunity to engage and retain their team,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive director for Robert Half, in a statement. “Employees who don’t know when they’ll earn a promotion or raise, or understand how they fit into a company’s long-term strategy aren’t likely to stick around long.” 

Robert Half offers three tips for managers on conducting career path discussions:

1.      Ask employees about their objectives. Never assume you know where team members want to take their careers – not everyone wants to follow a linear path to the top. If you don’t know where staff members want to go, you can’t help them get there.

2.      Be up front about expectations. Educate your employees about the experience or skills needed to reach their goals, and then lay out a specific plan – including leadership development, mentoring and training opportunities – to help them achieve success.

3.      Don’t wait for the annual performance review. Set periodic check-ins with your employees to discuss their progress or where they need to make improvements to move up within your organization.

For more on Robert Half, head to their  site here.

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