This autumn’s Employee Outlook report, produced in partnership with Halogen Software, finds there’s considerable room for improvement when it comes to employee development and career progression. The report reveals that 33% of employees say they’re unlikely to fulfil their career aspirations in their current organisation. Interestingly, the research also throws up a notable sector difference with employees in the public sector being significantly more likely than employees in the private sector to say they're likely to fulfil their career aspirations in their current organisation.

It's not just career aspirations that mar the otherwise generally positive outlook of this new report. Over a quarter of employees disagree that their organisation provides them with enough opportunities to learn and grow, and almost a quarter are dissatisfied with the opportunities on offer to develop their skills in their roles. Additional cause for concern comes from the noticeable implementation gap between the training that employees say they would find useful, and the training they actually receive. For instance, 92% of employees said they find job rotation, secondment and shadowing useful, but only 6% have experienced it in the last 12 months.

In response to these research findings, the CIPD is calling on employers to work in partnership with employees on their jobs and careers to align both organisational and individual needs. With historical hierarchical progression routes becoming less typical, employers need to think more creatively about development opportunities. Giving employees access to a broad range of diverse experiences is going to be vital if organisations are to hold on to valuable staff. That said, some of the responsibility for seeking out opportunities needs to be taken by employees themselves and they should be encouraged to share their career development goals with line managers.

The Employee Outlook is a twice-yearly tracker survey of UK employees to identify their opinions of, and attitudes towards, working life today. The survey has been running since 2009 and has collected a wealth of trend data. This current survey includes topical information on job satisfaction and engagement, well-being, attitudes to line managers and leaders and job-seeking intentions. It also examines the impact of Brexit and reveals the aspects of financial well-being that are most important to employees.