What is Employee Career Transition?
Let’s first understand the term ‘employee career transition’. Career transition is the process of changing jobs, or career direction. It is more than just moving from one job to another. Career transition includes the psychological barriers and breakthroughs as well as the physical ones. It also includes the range of exercises necessary to make the career move – training, networking, reskilling, understanding strengths and weaknesses. Career transition begins when one first starts thinking of changing roles or in some cases when business needs change and redundancies occur.
Career Transition Trends in 2021
2021 could be an interesting year for employee career transition. In 2020, there was a rise in redundancies, and this trend is due to continue. Therefore, there will be more job seekers in the market.
The ways in which employers responded to the pandemic has greatly affected their employee’s loyalty and trust levels, as we discussed in May 2020. Although it is a time of uncertainty, and people are handling a huge amount of change, the job market has in fact opened up. Remote working and flexible working will inevitably increase as organisations have learnt first-hand that these are viable, and sometimes even better, options than traditional office working. This means there will be more opportunities for job seekers than before, as they are no longer confined to job searching in their specific geography. Some industries have thrived during the pandemic and require more staff as a result. For example, the technology and IT sector have boomed.
Therefore, HR teams may have navigated through the pandemic well, providing their staff with support; however, there is still a need to continue to work hard to retain talent as a plethora of alternative opportunities become available.
2020 taught us to care and appreciate and people. This should extend to the workplace. Employers need to take more responsibility for their employee’s wellbeing and many organisations are taking huge leaps to do so. Many organisations need to restructure. However, HR teams can put processes in place to better understand their current talent pool. With this knowledge, it would be easier to move talent within the organisation. This will a) protect unnecessary job losses b) save recruiting and on boarding costs and c) increase employee loyalty and trust.
Supporting Employees
There are two sides to this story. Firstly, employees who have chosen to move away from your organisation for another opportunity, and, secondly, those who have had to move due to restructuring or a merger / acquisition. In the first instance, employees will require little support but must still leave the organisation with great memories. In the second instance, employees may need much more support, ranging from emotional to practical. There are a wide range of support options available for HR teams to use.