The career ladder of the 90s is more commonly found in a horizontal position, rather than a vertical one. With the continuation of downsizing and organization flattening, organizations are finding their employees not only concerned about whether they will have a job tomorrow, but what job it will be and is advancement possible in their future. This new reality has organizations facing a double challenge – motivating employees to self-manage their careers in a flatter organization and developing a new relationship that fosters retaining excellent employees who in the past, have been motivated to stick around for the next "rung" on the ladder.

An article in Personnel Journal (April 1994), indicates that only about 1/3 of all careers in the US today are pursued as traditional or vertical careers. The trend is for that to continue to decrease.

While employees find this change a significant departure from the career path guidance organizations fostered in the past, employers too, are finding the change from career advancement to career expansion a complex one. Employers recognize they must actively work to shift the responsibility for career management from solely the company’s responsibility, to a partnership with lead responsibilities resting on the employee.

Acknowledging career development/management as a new role for most employees, employers are finding creative ways to assist the transition by providing tools and resources to help. The major reason for providing this assistance is to retain talent and strengthen skills, so employees are flexible and ready to manage future changes in their industry. Companies like Apple Computer, Hewlettt-Packard, Motorola and John Hancock have found the following ideas to be helpful:

• Survey employees and ask what help they need

• Components of satisfying careers
• How to plan and develop a career

The benefit of satisfying work and non-work activities

• Offer a library of career resources including industry trends and professional associations
• Conduct brown bag seminars to keep employees current on business trends and technology
• Provide skill and interest assessment tools
• Offer one-on-one counseling
• Foster networking groups to cross-pollinate career information across functional areas
• Encourage internal transitions by posting job openings
• Reimburse educational efforts

It’s often difficult in today’s market to be certain where all this rapid change will take your business. Helping your employees proactively manage their careers is a win/win strategy for several reasons:

1. A benefit to replace the void of "job security" lost through the practice of downsizing
2. An opportunity for the employee to take control of his/her future and let go of the practice that employers will "chart the path to success."
3. Fuels energy, skills and versatility in your workforce to better equip your staff to deal with whatever the future may bring – assisting them to be employable, not just employed.