Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Deloitte rolls out career customisation - Pilot scheme allows staff to ‘dial up or down’

Deloitte has introduced a form of flexible career management that allows staff to “dial up” or “dial down” their professional life to suit their needs, according to Sarah Jepson, talent adviser, human capital consulting, at the firm.
The “mass career customisation” initiative has been piloted in the US by the professional services firm for a year, and will be particularly important for retaining and engaging staff as the economy recovers, said Jepson, speaking at the StepStone Summit in London.
“It’s based on an idea that an individual has times when they can dial up or dial down and take time out depending on their individual priorities. It’s an approach to career management that allows you to have that flexibility,” said Jepson.
Dialling down could take the form of career breaks or adopting more flexible hours, whereas dialling up could mean taking on an additional workload or moving to a different location, explained Jepson. About 10 per cent of eligible employees in the US had chosen to do one or the other, she added.
The pilot has resulted in increased employee satisfaction and has attracted new people into Deloitte, said Jepson. The firm is planning to roll out career customisation to all of its 42,000 US employees by May 2010 and is now starting to pilot the programme in Europe, she said.
Both dialling up and dialling down are monitored against specific criteria, explained Jepson. “These are whether people want to be fixed in a location, whether they want to work part time, and whether they are happy to stay at a certain grade or stretch themselves,” she said.
Jepson added that Deloitte wanted to engage employees through the initiative. “It’s about recognising that people have different values and expectations and alternative talent pools. It’s about attracting mothers and flexible workers. We customise products so why not customise careers and how organisations respond to individuals?” she asked.