There can be little disagreement with the statement we are living in difficult times.

Employees are being squeezed as the cost of living increases and a climate of uncertainty pervades. Not surprisingly organisations are seeking to increase productivity whereas employees' morale is falling.

I sense some employers hold the view that given the economic uncertainty there is little to worry about when it comes to what an employer needs to provide by way of ensuring employee retention. I think this a big mistake. True some employees are keeping their heads down, however the brightest and best, and hence the most productive, are always going to be the first to jump ship, as means of increasing their remuneration.

The CIPD recently published a research insight paper into "managing careers for organisational capability". The treatise being the ability to build capability i.e. having the right resources available at the right time, is how you develop organisational sustainability. Or put more simply helping employees manage their careers will help organisations prosper! However the message peddled by most organisations of late has been that it is the employee is who is responsible for their career management.

All the research into what employees want from their employers in order to be engaged tells us that employees need to feel they are developing, growing their expertise and subsequent employability. As the Macleod Engagement Taskforce initiative discovered employees crave mangers who are interested in them, listen to them and develop them. As the CIPD insight paper puts it, "Good career management drives engagement, poor career management breeds dissatisfaction". The Corporate Leadership Council in 2006 went as far as to claim a business case for improving the quality of job experiences, and thus career development for the individual because, they argue, the demand for monetary compensation can be reduced by up to 50% when employees are satisfied in their jobs.

So how do we reconcile the organisational need to develop the resources for the future in order to exploit market opportunities and at the same time meet employee expectations. The CIPD research reveals that this isn't easy. Less than 3% of employees receive their careers advice from their employers, indeed 18% were offered this service but didn't take it up. So here's the thing, how to reconcile the orgisational need to develop future talent to the individual's need to develop. How can we get them to coincide?

So let's take an example within our own profession. Learning and Development delivery used to be all face to face in the classroom then came along e-learning reducing the reliance on classroom delivery. The Learning and Development professional in order to ensure continued work needed to quickly acquire e-learning capability. How to put their content into e-learning. Those without these skills were less in demand as e-learning replaced classroom delivery. Organisations selling learning and development were forced quickly to adopt e-learning as the price of the product rapidly fell. So it can be seen there is a symbiotic relationship between the organisation needing to change the method of delivery in order to remain competitive and the employee needing to learn new skills to remain employed.

Career management is not so much about career paths but the need to build capability in order to exploit the market. Accordingly the employee in order to ensure continued employability needs to acquire the skills and knowledge now demanded by the marketplace. This win-win situation illustrates the strategic contribution of career management. Organisations need to have a clear view as to where they are going, the resources they need to get there, thereby building a workforce with the capabilities to exploit the market opportunity. Career management is that lever of change. Career management is win-win situation. It delivers an engaged workforce. It delivers a profitable, sustainable organisation.

A win-win situation.