Career Portals help drive job satisfaction; engage, retain employees
With an alarming low number of US workers loving their jobs, the winding down of the recession may fuel a war for talent as employees take their spot in the driver seat.

According to The American Workplace Insights Survey from Adecco Group North America<http://www.adeccogroupna.com>, only 39% of workers feel the economic situation has caused them to appreciate their jobs more — a significant dip compared to more than half (55%) of workers feeling this way a year ago. When it comes to Gen Y, the findings are eye-opening: a whopping 27% love their job less than last year, nearly a 10% jump over the 16% who felt this way last year. In fact, 17% of Gen Y and 20% of Gen X workers are thinking about jumping ship and going back to school.

“During the recent economic downturn, organizations have not had to spend much time or effort in retaining talent because employee have ‘hunkered down’ in their roles to try to stay employed in a market of high unemployment,” says Adam Alexander, Vice President of MasteryWorks. “As the economy recovers, these same employees will begin to look for new opportunities, and with the lack of a strong retention strategy in place many organizations face the prospect of losing top talent.”

With profits down, many companies cannot just increase compensation to retain employees. A recent Wall Street Journal article shows that over 33% of companies are looking to provide or enhance their career development efforts with their employees as a mean to motivate and retain employees as the economy rebounds.

As Alexander points out, an effectively planned and developed Career Portal can provide all employees with a framework for them to think about their careers, provide them access to useful self-discovery tools, and drive them to action at a very cost-effective price. Built around a proven framework for career development success, career portals can be used to:

* Communicate the importance that your organization places on people and career development;
* Give employees and managers the tools and resources to take ownership of their own career and professional development;
* Showcase career opportunities and highlight multiple ways to look at career opportunities – lateral, enrichment, vertical, exploratory, realignment and relocation; and
* Highlight existing HR systems and practices that foster career development.
* Maximize your ROI and help re-motivate employees in the process.

“And because employees can access these Career Portals on their own time and at their own pace they are especially appealing in today’s on-demand culture,” says Alexander. “Designed properly, a Career Portal can be utilized as a stand alone career development resource, or can provide ongoing support to career training when training budgets are restored.”

Adam Alexander is Vice President of MasteryWorks, a leading career development solution to large- to mid-size companies. He can be reached at aalexander@masteryworks.com<mailto:aalexander@masteryworks.com> or 703-256-5712.