Unlocking talent mobility and reskilling

Brian Donn from Ceridian, Australia and New Zealand, explains how organisations need to find creative ways to do more with less in a rapidly changing business landscape.

With limited resources and many organisations slowing hiring, there are big benefits for employers who are willing to rethink traditional career paths and invest in their workforce through skills training and development programmes. This approach not only helps to ensure workers have the relevant skills to drive the business forward it also creates a supportive environment for employees to grow their careers and is a powerful driver for retention.

Seventy per cent of New Zealand workers are a flight risk.

For organisations looking to move faster, work harder and build resilience in the new world of work, here are two places to start.

Build a framework for internal mobility

The traditional career path has created internal boundaries that can hinder the movement of people between departments and teams. According to Ceridian’s 2023 Pulse of Talent survey, 70 per cent of New Zealand workers are a flight risk. But when these flightrisk respondents were asked if they would consider staying with their current employer for internal career opportunities, most (79 per cent) said yes.

When asked about internal career opportunities, nearly half of New Zealand workers (47 per cent) said they would like to contribute skills to new projects from within their current role, while over a third (38 per cent) were interested in moving into a new role in a different department or team.

Despite this interest, less than half (43 per cent) said they saw a clear career path with their employer, and only 9 per cent felt they had a high degree of control over their career path.

Here are actionable steps organisations can take to reimagine career paths and embrace internal mobility:

• make internal opportunities available to those who seek new roles and those who want to experiment with a job rotation on another team – true career flexibility involves options

• use technology to help employees identify open roles internally that are relevant to their skills and interests

• set internal hiring goals and use data-driven insights to help place the right people with the right skills in the right place within your organisation.

Prioritise learning and development

Skills gaps have a significant impact on employers and employees alike today. While it is vital to identify the skills gaps that exist within your organisation, understanding employees’ needs, interests and career goals is also important.

Less than half of New Zealand respondents (43 per cent) said they saw a clear career path with their employer.

According to the Pulse of Talent data, while 62 per cent of New Zealand workers strongly or somewhat agreed that their employer has a good understanding of the skills they have, less than half (48 per cent) felt their employers had a good understanding of the skills they would like to have.

It’s up to employers to take the initial step towards bridging this divide. Modern human capital management technology can be a powerful way to drive upskilling and retraining programmes and cultivate a culture of learning and development in the following ways:

• create personalised, actionable roadmaps for all employees, to sharpen existing skills and acquire new skills of interest

• help employees understand how their skills could be used in other roles and teams

• promote a culture of continual learning and development that makes learning a daily part of the employee experience.

By transitioning now to a culture of learning, organisations can build a workforce ready for the future.

It’s time to modernise traditional learning strategies and provide the ongoing development workers need to grow and thrive in an evolving business environment. By transitioning now to a culture of learning, organisations can build a workforce ready for the future. Not only will your employees be better equipped to do their jobs and drive productivity, they will also be more engaged, innovative and likely to stay the course with you, whatever the future may hold.

Brian Donn is the Managing Director of Ceridian in Australia and New Zealand. With more than 20 years of market experience, Brian has held leadership positions across the Asia-Pacific region, including Oracle, Verint Systems Inc, KANA Software and Sword Group. At Ceridian, Brian is focused on empowering customers with the digital transformation of their people processes in a constantly changing world of work.