What is a career lattice?

A career lattice is a model of career development that allows employees to make lateral, diagonal, and vertical moves within an organization. Compared to the traditional career ladder, it provides a more flexible and holistic approach to career growth.

A career lattice represents a more flexible, employee-centric view of career progression, accommodating diverse interests, skills, and work-life needs. Employees can move laterally, diagonally, or vertically, allowing for a more personalized and fulfilling career path. They can enter different roles, new departments, or even transition across functions to pursue their passions and ambitions.

What is the difference between a career lattice and a career ladder?

A career ladder is a traditional career progression model where employees move upward through hierarchical steps, typically within the same functional area.

In contrast, a career lattice offers multiple pathways for growth, including lateral (sideways), diagonal (cross-functional), and vertical moves, allowing for a more dynamic and flexible career trajectory.

Complimentary resource: Get inspired by these 10+ career progression examples and start offering more diverse growth possibilities to your employees.

How does a career lattice benefit employees?

A career lattice benefits employees by providing diverse opportunities for skill development, enhancing job satisfaction, and increasing engagement. It allows employees to explore different roles, gain a variety of experiences, and build a more versatile skill set, which can lead to greater career fulfillment and resilience in the job market.

Greater career flexibility

Broader employee opportunities can increase employees’ motivation to excel in their careers. While promotion is a common aspiration for employees, offering them opportunities to explore other skills and projects beyond their current roles or functions enhances their career flexibility.

Career growth

By moving laterally, diagonally, or vertically within the organization, employees can acquire a diverse set of skills and experiences. This broadens people’s knowledge base, enhances their versatility, and opens personal and professional growth opportunities.

Work-life balance

The career lattice often goes hand in hand with flexible work arrangements, allowing employees to achieve a better work-life balance. In addition, employees can adapt their schedules to accommodate personal commitments, reducing stress and improving overall well-being.

Enhanced job satisfaction

Career lattice empowers employees to align their work with their passions and interests. This sense of fulfillment leads to higher job satisfaction, motivation, and overall happiness in their careers.

How can a career lattice benefit organizations?

A career lattice can improve organizational performance by fostering a more agile and adaptable workforce. It encourages cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing, leading to innovative solutions and improved problem-solving.

Additionally, it helps retain top talent by offering varied career paths, reducing turnover, and building a more committed workforce.

Increase in employee retention

Employees are more likely to stay in a company when they see a clear path for advancement.

94% of employees stay longer in companies that invest in their professional development.

With a career lattice structure in place, you gain valuable insights into what your employees want and provide them with more options for career progression. In addition, it shows a commitment to their development, fostering loyalty and reducing turnover of high-performing talents.

Improved employee engagement

Another key advantage of implementing a career lattice is its significant boost to employee engagement. When you offer employees projects they find interesting, they feel valued and supported, and they are more likely to become productive and efficient.

Building an adaptive workforce

Encouraging employees to take on various roles and functions can give them new perspectives, skills, and innovative ideas to bring to their work. This promotes a flexible and adaptable workforce, which can effectively respond to changing market demands. By experiencing different roles and functions, employees can contribute to a dynamic and agile organization.

Enabling strategic succession planning

A career lattice aligns with succession planning by identifying and developing a pool of versatile and skilled employees prepared for leadership roles. It allows organizations to groom potential leaders through varied experiences and cross-functional assignments, ensuring a well-rounded understanding of the business. This approach helps build a robust talent pipeline and ensures continuity in leadership positions.

What are the steps for implementing a career lattice model in an organization?

Implementing a career lattice model in your organization requires careful planning and execution. It’s a significant shift from the old yet structured vertical growth approach. Here are four steps to follow.

Identify and map job roles and competencies

Begin by analyzing the job roles and skills that match your employees’ current skillset and interests. Then, establish an application process to ensure your employees can adequately transition from their current position to the new role.

Complimentary resources:

• 50+ Functional Competencies Examples to Add to Your Company’s Competency Models
• 30+ Technical Competencies Examples to Add to Your Company’s Competency Models
• Core Competencies Examples to Add to Your Company’s Competency Models

Promote internal mobility

Foster a supportive culture that recognizes and rewards career exploration and encourage employees to explore different roles and departments.

Communicate the benefits of transitioning to different career paths, such as potential increases in compensation, achievable targets, and additional incentives.

Provide relevant training and development opportunities

Employee onboarding shouldn’t just be for new hires. Ensure employees transitioning to new roles and departments feel supported throughout the transition process with the necessary tools and training to help them learn the ropes of the new position.

Identify gaps that need addressing through training to speed up the process and guide them on their onboarding journey.

Free templates:

• Individual Employee Training Plan Template
• 70-20-10 Employee Development Plan Template

Communicate with employees

Inform your employees about the career opportunities lateral and diagonal moves can provide. Afterward, advertise the available job positions through company-wide meetings or emails to ensure everyone knows the options they can pursue.

What best practices should organizations follow when designing a career lattice?

When designing a career lattice, organizations should:

• Conduct a thorough analysis of current and future skill needs
• Engage employees in the process to understand their career aspirations and interests
• Ensure transparency in the criteria and processes for career moves
• Provide continuous learning and development opportunities
• Foster a culture that values diverse experiences and career paths
• Align the career lattice with organizational goals and strategic priorities
• Regularly review and adjust the career lattice framework based on feedback and changing business needs

By following these best practices, organizations can create a career lattice that supports employee growth, enhances engagement, and drives overall business success.

Complimentary resources:

• How to Ask the Best Employee Development Conversation Questions

• How to Integrate Learning and Performance Management for Driving Business Results

• 15 Employee Development Opportunities Examples for Organizational Growth

• 7 High-Stake Development Areas for Leadership

Career lattice examples from top organizations

As workplace trends continue to evolve, the need to shift from the traditional corporate ladder to a progressive structure such as a career lattice is needed more than ever. Thanks to this modern approach, most companies have reported increased employee productivity and performance because of broader access to opportunities and more collaborative work methods.

Here are three examples of companies that have successfully shifted to the career lattice model.

Deloitte

Deloitte is a great example of a company that has successfully embraced the career lattice model. Their model allows employees to move laterally into different roles or departments, explore new capabilities, and even take sabbaticals or flexible work arrangements, all without compromising their career progression path.

Manika Agarwal, Manager in the Mergers and Acquisitions, started as a business technology and expressed her desire to expand her skill set beyond coding. Deloitte’s leadership encouraged her to pursue an MBA, and upon her return, she specialized in M&A IT with their full support.

Manika’s story underscores how Deloitte’s model allows employees to move laterally into different roles and empowers employees to contribute their expertise to the organization’s success.

IBM

IBM allows employees to create unique paths and be trailblazers in their careers.

Ali, a member of IBM’s Customer Success Management team, exemplifies the success of this model. In his previous role as a Solution Architect, he focused on bridging the gap between business problems and organizational solutions.

In his new role, IBM has allowed him to explore fascinating software and technologies to support clients in modernization and customization, showcasing IBM’s commitment to expanding employees’ skills, fostering growth, and empowering employees to reach their full potential.

Spotify

Spotify’s Steps framework is a perfect example of an organization that intentionally moved away from hierarchical upward mobility. Their approach to career progression, “thinking more about rocks in a stream than a staircase,” supports movement side-to-side or backward to eventually move forward.

What strategies can HR use to encourage employees to utilize the career lattice?

HR can encourage employees to utilize the career lattice by:

• Promoting a culture of continuous learning and development
• Offering career coaching and mentoring programs
• Providing clear communication about available opportunities
• Creating personalized development plans
• Offering skill-building workshops
• Recognizing and rewarding employees who take advantage of lateral and diagonal moves

Develop your workforce with Deel Engage

Experience a revolutionary way of managing professional growth within your organization with Deel Engage:

• Create career growth frameworks tailored to competencies and values to transparently communicate growth opportunities within your organization
• Define the requirements for each department, team, role, and level
• Assess your employees’ competencies and performance and assign them to the right level
• Set and track career development goals
• Offer training and development resources
• Check-in on progress
• Engage employees with reminders, tasks, and reflections

Additionally, Deel HR, our truly global HRIS solution, is always included for free.

Book a demo to see how our solutions will help you create a motivating career development system in your organization.