This key HR strategy is overlooked by 50% of ASEAN firms

To combat the most common ASEAN business challenges – increasing employee mobility, engagement and retention – firms should have a fully-fledged career framework in place to guide staff development, according to the latest report from Mercer.
 
The paper, Re-imagining Careers: ASEAN Trends in Career Frameworks, states that the purpose behind bringing in one of these career frameworks is to build employee capabilities through careful, proactive career strategies.
 
According to the authors of the report, firms using these frameworks will receive the following seven benefits:

• Creating a career philosophy which supports strategic goals
• Developing and aligning job families, competencies and accountabilities
• Defining critical experiences, knowledge and skills for career progression
• Enabling managers to have effective conversations that support employees
• Empowering employees to actively manage their career choices
• Using the framework to anchor other HR practices in the company

According to the report, only 10 per cent of ASEAN businesses have a full career framework in place while 40 per cent have implemented only a select number of components.
 
Those that do have a fully-fledged framework use them for the following means:

• Developing internal talent instead of recruiting externally
• Driving succession planning and talent management
• Offering transparency about compensation, rewards and pensions

Even amongst businesses with a career framework however, the study found that few actually used them effectively. Only one in five companies effectively linked career management to talent mobility while one in six used these tools to enable managers to more effectively communicate with staff.
 
From the businesses surveyed, those that implemented this framework properly reported higher rates of employee engagement and retention. Additionally, two thirds of respondents said that investing in a career framework delivered ROI.
 
Related stories:
 
Protection, progression and pride in MOM’s new labour strategy
 
Is banking a “stepping stone” career?
 
Upskilling must become a ‘way of life,’ PM Lee