The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
LONDON, United Kingdom — By 2020 millennials will make up the largest generational cohort in the workforce. To attract and retain the best of this new generation of talent, companies must tailor their HR practices to meet their preferences, and those of their Gen-Z successors, both of which place greater emphasis on career development opportunities than financial reward or other compensation benefits — a break from previous generations.
Decoupling Development With Management
However creating development opportunities and attractive career paths for every single employee is a challenging task, especially when many of the career trajectories that underpin the fashion industry fail to reflect the preferences of today's talent pool. Decoupling an individual's career progression from traditional markers of increased responsibility, such as managing other people (a skill which may not be so readily needed by digital or creative talents), can enable businesses to promote and develop employees in more diverse and novel ways. This includes further specialisation in a specific field, or through relocation into a different arm of the business.
The Increasing Importance of Leaders
As development becomes the most important measure current and prospective employees look to in assessing the attractiveness of a company as an employer, the significance of managers and leaders is increasing. According to BoF's survey, millennial and Ge-Z cohorts believe managers should be expected to provide a forum and the tools for their personal and professional development while they are at work.
Discussing Gucci's company culture, Bizzarri told BoF, "You need to rely on the leaders and the managers to foster internal talents, but we try to create a path that will help bring people around those leaders — and always make sure that they are in direct communication. For me, it's key that the talents who want to emerge are able to get the opportunities. We give possibilities to the people who have ambition — we're very open to the idea of employee mobility across functions and geographies."
Technology is already assisting leaders in identifying deserving talent and promoting it to a well matched role. Today, many of the most innovative practices in leadership and development stem from data analysis, through which managers can motivate their staff by tracking the positive impact of their individual output, making individual performance much more measurable.
At Farfetch, the leadership team uses regular surveys to keep on top of company culture amidst its fast growth. Rather than a biannual review, employees at Gap Inc. have informal monthly one-on-one meetings with managers, designed to create opportunities to learn "from both success and failure." Indeed, Gap employees are now given more opportunities to impress while learning new skills, rather than being remembered only for their failures.
However, that experience is far from universal. Only 68 percent of surveyed fashion employees believe that their managers are truly interested in their professional development. Although the investment and time required to rethink recruiting and training able managers is significant, the risks and potential costs associated with inaction are growing. Only 65 percent of fashion professionals expect to remain at their company for longer than two years and 35 percent expect to leave within a year.
Associated turnover costs costs could materially impact the bottom line at some companies. The American Centre for Progress, a public policy research and advocacy organisation founded by John Podesta, who previously worked for the Clinton and Obama administrations, estimates that the cost of replacing and retraining a skilled salaried worked could be as high as 213 percent of their salary.
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