Career Well-Being Drives Engagement and Retention

Risk management and consulting firm Gallagher identified career development as a significant factor influencing employee engagement and retention in its 2024 Workforce Trends Report on Career Wellbeing. Employee engagement, the report noted, has long shown a link with retention and a better employee experience.

To assist employees with their career development, employers are increasingly homing in on engagement drivers and prioritizing related strategies. In its report of 3,552 U.S.-based organizations, Gallagher found that more than one-third of surveyed employers amplified their emphasis on career well-being (in general, enabling daily personal and professional fulfillment), and more employers now have formal strategies for employee engagement than in 2022 (57% compared to 48%).

“Over the years, we found drivers in employee engagement [connected with] confidence,” said Rebecca Starr, a national managing director for HR consulting at Gallagher.

For example, Starr said employee confidence in the organization’s products and services, trust in senior leadership, relationship health, and overall connectivity between employees and their managers and supervisors all align with a career development pathway.

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How DEI Fits into Career Well-Being

According to Starr, a multitude of factors influence an employee’s experience and career well-being. A significant one is diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

Gallagher’s report found when workplaces prioritize DEI, job candidates are more likely to accept a role and stay longer with that employer. More than three-fourths of surveyed employers said they’re emphasizing DEI for these and other reasons.

Although compliance is still the biggest DEI focus for 49% of surveyed employers, leaders are thinking strategically about how DEI fits into every aspect of the employee lifecycle, and more than 1 in 5 employers are setting DEI goals for senior leadership and the C-suite.

DEI efforts should be thought of as part of a broader strategy to give employees positive, meaningful work experiences, said Gordon Frost, a partner and global rewards solutions leader at Mercer.

He also noted when organizations reflect on employee career well-being, it’s essential to consider whether they are experiencing higher turnover rates among specific groups. “Are we losing a disproportionate number of a certain population? What factors might be influencing this? Are we truly fulfilling the promise we’ve made to be the type of organization we aspire to be?”

Employees are looking for well-rounded rewards mixed alongside a supportive culture, Starr said, and how organizations reward employees relates to the right internal structure, starting with their DEI efforts.

Starr said that since DEI impacts most every aspect of the employee experience and life cycle, organizational culture efforts should prioritize meaningful commitment and a holistic approach; otherwise, organizations are unlikely to see progress toward their goals in this area.

“In our report, we found that leaders, communication, style and behaviors could absolutely make a difference,” she said, adding that organizations can place these strategies in a recruitment and retention context. “We talk about how the whole person comes to work every day, and a company’s comprehensive total rewards package should reflect this.”

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