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Preparing for the future of work is one of the biggest challenges companies face. According to LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report 2025, almost half of learning and talent professionals don’t believe their employees have the necessary skills to execute their business strategy. And only 36% of organizations are considered to be “career development champions.”
An employee development plan is the starting point for equipping your team members with the tools and skills they need to succeed. This guide highlights how to select employee career goals, align them with overall company objectives, and provide resources to enable healthy progress.
An employee development plan maps out an individual’s professional goals within your organization, both in their current role and anticipated internal moves. The plan centers on the skills, training, and other resources required to support the employee in continuously developing and moving towards their goals.
The plan is both a process and a document. The process involves performance reviews, regular check-ins between the employee and their manager, and gathering feedback from peers. All this information comes together in a live document that outlines the goals and action items to be completed. Employees and managers should work in tandem to update and adjust the employee development plan throughout their time working together.
Managers who commit to building a career development plan with their employees will achieve the following benefits:
Gallup’s annual update on employee engagement finds that only 31% of employees are engaged, while 17% are actively disengaged. Overall, engagement has hit its lowest point since 2014.
Investing in this area can be the motivation your workforce needs to succeed. Employees want and expect their employers to care about their growth—as payoff, they feel more motivated when the organization makes this commitment to them.
Disengaged employees are likely to leave your company to find a role that excites them more and 46% of workers could be looking for a new job within the next three months.
Most companies have realized the role of L&D in reducing employee attrition. According to LinkedIn, 88% of organizations are concerned about losing talent and believe that “providing learning opportunities” is the top way to improve retention.
If they fail in this area, LinkedIn’s research highlights the top five skills that organizations are most likely to lose when employees head for the exit:
When companies invest in their employees, they equip them with the skills to produce higher-quality work. Studies such as “Employee Development and Its Effect on Employee Performance A Conceptual Framework” find a tangible link between employees taking ownership of their development and seeing progress toward their goals over time.
An enriching career path doesn't necessarily involve moving vertically up a career ladder. But, providing a breadth of internal mobility opportunities ensures your employees are constantly progressing and picking up new skills throughout their professional careers, in whatever promotion pattern best suits them and the company.
LinkedIn research highlights that 44% of organizations offer internal mobility programs that encourage existing talent to move to a new role. You can join them by offering professional development for your team members.
An effective development plan aligns company needs with employee ambitions. Follow these four steps to build a successful employee development plan:
Define clear organizational goals before mapping out individuals' objectives to ensure your people development plans are relevant. Some examples of company goals to consider include:
Example: If your company aims to become more sustainable and achieve B-Corps accreditation, you might consider offering training programs in green skills.
With your company goals in place, it's time to zoom in on the skills gap between your employees’ current capabilities and those required for their roles. Have honest conversations with your employees about their career aspirations, and make them aware of internal opportunities they may find appealing.
Depending on your employees’ goals, you can chart a course for their progression and create an action plan to acquire the necessary skills. Examples of individual goals might include:
Achieving these goals is only possible with investment and support from the company in terms of:
Download the benchmarking guide to learn more about the prevalence of professional development stipends and how companies are designing top-tier programs.
Accountability is integral to your employee development initiatives, with the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) finding that people have a 65% chance of reaching their training goal if they have an accountability partner. Managers can support here by creating a check-in schedule where they meet with employees to:
Ready to build your own plan? We’ve created a customizable employee development plan template designed for real-world use with your team. Access it to start building personalized growth plans that align with your company goals.
Not every employee grows the same way. Instead of offering a one-size-fits-all approach, focus on providing a variety of development opportunities, so your team members can gravitate toward the best fit for them. Consider some of the following:
Future leaders need confidence, judgment, and experience, arguably more than they need technical skills. A structured leadership track could include:
Example: A high-potential employee shadows a senior manager for a quarter while also taking the lead on a cross-departmental launch.
Career growth isn’t always upward. Sometimes, the most effective way to build skills and retain great people is to let them try something new. This might include:
Example: A marketing associate spends three months in customer success, gaining direct feedback from clients and strengthening empathy for the user journey.
When employees are focused on mastering something new, your job is to clear their path and fund their growth.
Tip: A professional development stipend makes it easier for employees to pursue the option that suits their learning style.
Sometimes, the best learning happens beyond your four walls. Encouraging outward-facing growth helps employees bring fresh thinking back in.
Example: An engineer presents at a regional tech conference and returns with new ideas for product optimization.
Ace employee development programs with the following best practices:
SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. These criteria help employees understand their goals and the steps needed to achieve them. A few SMART examples include:
If you have identified longer-term or complex goals, it’s worth building milestones into your development plans to stay on track. You’ll focus on what you need to do in the short term to complete your long-term objectives. The SMART method is also useful for setting milestones. You can consider implementing an employee recognition program to celebrate employees who achieve these milestones and larger goals.
Example: If your goal is to obtain a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, your first milestone might be to research and sign up for professional certification by March.
In busy work schedules, it’s easy to delay development plan check-ins in favor of tackling more urgent work. But neglecting progress will prevent you from meeting long-term employee and business goals. Essentially, you’re robbing tomorrow to pay for today.
Overcome this by creating a regular check-in schedule and stick to it. Encourage employees to provide feedback on their progress, and make yourself available to work with them.
Employee feedback should be a vital part of determining the direction of development. But feedback falls into two buckets: positive and negative. It’s tempting to focus solely on the negative and use it as constructive feedback to identify areas for improvement. But don’t overlook the positive feedback, highlighting employee strengths and areas where they show natural aptitude.
Example: Lina’s performance appraisal highlights her talent for public speaking. Lina works with her manager to provide more opportunities to hone this skill, including presenting to clients and speaking on behalf of the company at a small networking seminar.
As your company evolves, perhaps by targeting a new audience, opening a new regional office, or pivoting your services, it’s vital that you update individual career development plans to align with the business.
This should only happen for significant changes that genuinely impact your employees’ career trajectories and can also provide a variety of new opportunities for your workers to explore.
Many employees choose to change jobs to benefit from more professional development opportunities. But employers can prevent this turnover by offering effective employee development plans to retain highly skilled workers who want to progress in their individual careers.
The Benepass Professional Development account is a rewarding employee perk you can offer to support your team members with their personal and professional development. The plan is entirely flexible, putting your employees in the driving seat by choosing the development perks that make sense to them. Here’s how easy it is to set up:
Along with retaining your top talent, this type of developmental benefit is a game-changer in attracting the brightest minds in your niche to join your company. With a flexible benefit plan, employees have more power to spend their benefit funds on the development activities or resources that best align with their goals.
Ready to equip your team members with the skills they need to navigate the future of work? Sign up for a Benepass demo today, or contact sales@getbenepass.com with any questions. If you're interested in learning more about other types of flexible benefit accounts to round out your benefits package, check out our other guides:
