The strategic advantage of career pathways to grow your people and your business

HR thought leader, Josh Bersin, shares insights from his latest report “Career Pathways: Building Tomorrow’s Workforce Today” and unpacks the current landscape for U.S. workers and employers. During the pandemic, roughly ⅓ of the workforce changed jobs – the highest quit rate the U.S. has ever seen. 45% of those who left changed industries altogether.¹ He also highlights that 41% of people who left their job between April 2021-April 2022 walked away because of lack of career growth opportunities.²  Today’s workforce is mobile, becoming more empowered, and if they work from home, they can change employers by changing email addresses versus changing cities or office buildings. The workforce is very agile and will continue trending in that direction. 

Additionally, with fertility rates in most developed countries around the world dropping, Bersin argues that population growth is not keeping up with replacement needs in the workforce. As such, reskilling, educating, and growing existing employees will become a matter of business survival. 

Bersin also addresses the ever evolving states of industry today. In an effort to become more agile, more innovative and more profitable, cross industry pollination is happening across sectors. Retailers are entering into healthcare. Telecommunications companies are bleeding into the media’s realm. Different job types, job models, job skills, and objectives need to be developed, but many organizations are only at the front end of building career pathways for their frontline workers.