I think we can all agree that the job market is wild right now. With employees quitting their jobs month after month in record numbers, there has been no shortage of headlines calling 2021 (and now 2022) the year of the “Great Resignation.” Very few companies, if any, have been spared by this large-scale job shuffle. When I log onto LinkedIn, it seems that everyone is posting job openings, in hopes of finding that extremely qualified candidate to fill a recent void. In speaking with many individuals who have recently left their jobs, personal and professional growth seems to be at the forefront of people’s minds, playing a large part in their desire to seek other opportunities. If businesses hope to retain employees, they must put growing their employees – and making sure those employees see that growth – at the top of their list.
Working at an entrepreneurial company seems like the perfect place to grow as an employee. Job roles and titles are flexible, and they often change quickly. As the company grows and adapts, its employees must grow and adapt as well. Unlike corporate America, where promotions and raises are closely linked to years of experience, entrepreneurial companies have less red tape and are able to focus on talent, rather than corporate politics. While this might seem like a wonderful environment for an employee to grow in and flourish, I have recently realized that for many employees, this type of growth can be difficult to quantify. While it is easy for me to recognize all the opportunity that comes with working at a company like One Energy (more on this later), I have noticed it is not always easy for others to appreciate their growth if they are not climbing a structured corporate ladder. Unstructured growth, the kind without predetermined milestones, sometimes does not feel like growth at all – at least not to an employee without a tangible frame of reference.
When I started at One Energy 10 years ago, I was one of a handful of employees. My original job title, “Staff Engineer,” was the first of its kind for the company. Every job title I have had since then has been the first of its kind for the company. My role grew as the company grew. My job evolved as we hired more employees, took on more projects, and pursued new business lines – all of which I had the opportunity to play a large part in. This is the experience that many of our employees have working at One Energy. They are hired on for a specific role, but then that role adapts as they (and we) identify new needs for the company. They build the ladder they end up climbing, and our employees end up growing exponentially faster than most of their peers as a result. I have realized, however, that it is much harder to see your growth when you are the one creating it. It was not until I started taking an active role in the industry that I truly understood how far I had come professionally in a short amount of time.
So, what’s a manager (at an entrepreneurial company) to do?
If your company has unstructured growth plans, it’s time to get creative in order to ensure your employees recognize their own professional growth. Provide them with opportunities to talk (and brag) about themselves – this will give them reference points that highlight how far they’ve come. Send them to conferences or industry meetings, where they can visualize their growth through interactions with their peers. Encourage them to pursue professional development opportunities, especially those that are outside of your company. Getting an external frame of reference for employees is important for helping them understand how far they have come personally and the amount of untapped professional opportunity that remains for them.
It is hard to lay out a formal plan for growth when your employees are solving problems that have never been solved. Depending on their solution(s), their career could take many different paths. But making sure that your employees know they are growing, (and how they are growing!) is vital to retaining them in this, and any, job market.
Jessica Grosso is the Head of Project Planning and Technology at One Energy.
