When employees quit, it’s rarely just about pay.
Time and again, research shows that lack of growth opportunities is one of the top drivers of attrition.
LinkedIn’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report found that 93% of employees would stay longer if their company invested in their careers.
Retention is often more about whether people feel like they’re growing.
The simplest, most effective way to unlock that growth is through conversations about career development.
These conversations can give employees clarity, direction, and purpose, while aligning their growth with the company’s goals.
Without these conversations, or if they are below par, people can be more disengaged and eventually more likely to leave.
In this article, we’ll explore why career conversations matter, what’s broken about traditional reviews, and how managers can reframe the dialogue to retain and inspire their best people.
For decades, the default approach to career development has been the annual or bi-annual performance review.
The problems with these conversations are:
“Annual performance reviews are a terrible way to manage people.” - Laszlo Bock, former SVP of People Operations at Google
Employees today expect more. They want ongoing conversations about their skills, aspirations, and career paths, not a scorecard that gets filed away until the next cycle.
Performance reviews alone don’t keep people engaged. Growth-focused conversations are needed.
A career development conversation is different. It’s not about assessing what’s been done, but about co-creating what’s next.
At their best, these conversations:
Gallup research shows that employees who strongly agree their manager helps them set performance goals are 3.6 times more likely to be engaged. Engagement translates directly to retention.
Career conversations are a key retention strategy.
Great conversations require better questions.
Instead of vague and outdated questions around where employers see themselves in the future, try sharper prompts that encourage reflection and dialogue.
Here are some ideas:
The right questions transform career conversations from routine check-ins into energising growth sessions.
Unlike corporates, startups and SMEs don’t always have clearly defined career ladders.
Growth can’t just mean climbing the hierarchy. It has to mean skills, autonomy, and opportunities to make an impact.
That’s actually an advantage. Employees in smaller companies often get faster access to responsibility, broader roles, and the chance to see their contribution have a direct impact.
However, it only works if leaders make those opportunities explicit through regular conversations.
For example, Atlassian scrapped rigid annual reviews in favour of ongoing ‘Check-ins’ focused on growth and values alignment. They saw higher engagement and reduced attrition as a result.
Smaller, growing companies can’t offer endless promotions, but they can offer growth if managers connect roles to skills and purpose.
Career development is about aligning personal growth with company growth. Equity is one of the most powerful tools here.
When employees own a stake in the business, development conversations shift from ‘What’s next for me?’ to ‘How can I grow while helping us succeed together?’
Employee share schemes not only reward loyalty but also reinforce a culture of shared growth.
When employees know their personal development is tied to the company’s success, commitment deepens.
Retention isn’t solved by perks, and it’s not solved by pay alone.
It can be solved through career growth, and this starts with conversations.
Managers who master the art of asking better questions about skills and ambitions can unlock motivation and trust that no performance review can deliver.
Add ownership into the mix, and career conversations become the glue that holds talent through the highs and lows of scaling a business.
Ready to see how employee share schemes work for retention and career development? Book a free call with Vestd.