"Employers and employees alike agree that career management programs are largely failing to meet these goals. This finding comes at a time when many employees believe their careers are stuck in neutral and say they would need to leave their employer to advance their careers," Towers Watson said in a release.

Among the findings:

59 percent of high-potential employees say their organization provides useful career planning tools;

42 percent report their employer provides advancement opportunities

40 percent of employees said they would have to join another company to advance their careers.

49 percent of employers said they were effective at providing traditional career advancement opportunities;

38 percent said they were effective at providing nontraditional career development opportunities.

Renée Smith, a Talent and Rewards director at Towers Watson, said building an effective career management program requires both attention to content on the front end and monitoring results on the back end. She cited the following reasons why most career management programs fall short of goals:

• Career architectures and paths are poorly defined. Less than half of employers (48 percent) report their organizations have career architectures (or formalized frameworks) and career paths in place.
• Managers are ill equipped to deliver. Only one-third of employers (33 percent) say managers are effective at conducting career development discussions as part of the performance management process.
• Technology is not effectively leveraged for career management. Less than half of employers (45 percent) make effective use of technology to deliver career advancement programs.
• Most organizations don't know if their programs are working. Only one in four respondents (27 percent) monitors the effectiveness of their career management programs.

"Many companies are failing to see the big picture when it comes to career management programs and are in danger of losing some of their best talent," Smith said. "The lack of career advancement opportunities is the number two reason that employees leave an organization. Pay is the No. 1 reason.  At a time when hiring and turnover are increasing, and employers are experiencing problems attracting and retaining talent, employers need to understand the importance of providing career advancement opportunities. Currently, their programs are coming up short."