The following are five steps to help you help employees grow skills, navigate around career roadblocks, and contribute to your company:

Acknowledge the current climate. A 2021 ICC Workforce Trends study reports that, heading into this year, talent retention remains one of business leaders' biggest concerns. The pandemic didn't cause, but did likely accelerate, this talent migration. Today's generation of workers has already shown that they will go where the opportunities are. So, employers can forget about holding onto workers unless they create opportunities.

Employers must acknowledge that they could do a better job of reducing the systemic career roadblocks that exist in most organizations. That may mean a willingness to change everything from how and when employee skills are evaluated to expanding learning opportunities beyond tuition reimbursement. It definitely means that upskilling and conversations about advancement can no longer be just the responsibility of human resources.

Communicate paths to advancement. At the end of the day, employees must own their own careers. But employers can and should play a role, by creating an environment where employees can grow their skills and openly share their career goals. That means creating pathways for advancement and communicating those pathways, so employees don't have to sniff out a way forward through office networking, rumor, and overheard watercooler conversations. It also means actively outlining a way around roadblocks and through skill barriers. When you make an employee's end goal part of the conversation, they can visualize that ultimate destination and how to get there.
Change the culture. Managers spend a lot of time telling employees how they could do better in their current role, but little or no time telling them how to advance. Often, that's because managers are busy worrying about other departments poaching their prize employees. Fixing that requires a culture change in the organization, one that comes from the top and acknowledges that encouraging employees to move up or over is good for the company.
Create a map to the employee's career destination. Don't leave your employees to guess which skills you are going to need next year, in five years, or in 10 years. That's the company's job.

Once again, communication is key. Employers think they are providing everything employees need to gain relevant skills and employees are saying we don't know what we're supposed to do. A University of Phoenix/EdAssist survey bore that out, reporting a significant discrepancy between the credentials employees are pursuing and those that managers want them to have.

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5 ways to help employees around career roadblocks

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