By Kate Mansfield – CCS Programme Director
- How mature is your organisation’s approach to career development?
- Are you building an agile, future-ready skills-based organisation?
- Are career conversations happening in practice, not just in principle?
- Do your managers feel equipped to guide, not just evaluate, their people?
Career development is no longer a side issue. It matters deeply; to employees seeking purpose, to organisations striving for agility and to society that depends on a resilient workforce. Yet too many organisations still fall into a familiar trap: good intentions that don’t translate into meaningful, sustainable action.
Our Career Strategy Insights (CSI) research confirmed what wider studies also show: the gap between aspiration and reality in career development is stark. Employers talk about mobility, learning and opportunity, but employees often experience confusion, inconsistency, and limited support in practice.
Why Quick Fixes Fall Short
Wellbeing apps, stress workshops, or “career conversations” bolted onto performance reviews may look good in HR playbooks, but evidence suggests they rarely move the dial. The Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, in a landmark survey of 46,000 UK workers, found that individual wellbeing initiatives had no lasting effect on workplace wellbeing. Instead, the real levers are structural: job design, leadership behaviours, and career opportunities.
Similarly, our CSI findings show that career support collapses when it isn’t integrated into culture and systems. Career conversations blur with performance reviews, managers feel ill-equipped to guide employees, and initiatives fade when project leads move on.
What Works?
The role of embedding career coaching and career conversations
Evidence is mounting that career coaching, done well, has a transformative effect.
- A study of 662 healthcare professionals in England found that structured career coaching significantly improved wellbeing and resilience, with participants less likely to consider leaving their roles. Sustained programmes with multiple sessions proved most effective.
- In Nigeria, cognitive-behavioural career coaching helped public employees reduce anxiety and depression, linking career clarity to mental health benefits.
- And in our own Saint-Gobain case study, 74% of employees reported that career coaching positively influenced their decision to stay, while 66% said it opened new development opportunities.
These findings echo a wider truth: career development is not simply about helping individuals plan their next move. It is a strategic driver of wellbeing, engagement, retention and skills mobility.
At CCS, we have over many years supported numerous employers with creating sustainable in-house career coaching and career development solutions. One of our key values has always been sustainability; in practice, this means finding ways that employers can own their career solutions that align with their infrastructure and culture.
How can you convince others of the business case?
As a Career, Talent or People development leader, we know you care whether career development programmes are relevant, accessible, supported by managers, aligned to business goals and whether they’ll deliver measurable results that help attract, retain and grow talent.
We know the challenge is more about convincing others of the business case.
Here are some ideas of how to approach this:
Where can I start?
We developed the Career Strategy Insights Tool as a starting place to help organisations benchmark and improve their approach to career development.
Built on ten critical factors, from alignment with business strategy to manager capability, use of technology and the link between wellbeing and career, the CSI provides a starting point to consider what is being done well and where there is room for improvement.
It offers ideas and recommendations that can act as a roadmap for organisations to build career development programmes in a sustainable way for their culture and environments. It is practical, free of charge and we will also de-brief it in a complimentary consultation.
To set up a call, please contact kate@career-counselling-services.co.uk
CCS also offers a range of career solutions for employers:
Career Coach Skills Training
- Establishing in-house Career Coaching: Accredited Career Coach Training
- Advanced: Career Coaching Tools for Coaches
- Career coaching skills for Mentors
Career Coaching for your Employees
- Career Workshops on a range of topics: Strengths & Skills (When you are at your Best); Job Satisfiers & Motivation; Career Visioning; Goal Setting; Personal Brand; Networking; Managing Change; Career Wellbeing
Skills development for Managers and Leaders