Designing a Workforce That’s Built to Move: Beyond the Traditional Career Ladder

Time to break up with the career ladder?

For decades, the career ladder was the gold standard for professional growth: a single, upward path where each promotion marked progress.  This approach assumes stability, linearity, and a clear destination at the top.

But today’s workplace looks very different. Job tenures are shorter, industries are evolving, organizations are transforming and the skills required to thrive are changing rapidly. Only a small fraction of employees makes it to the next rung, leaving many feeling stalled, even when they’re learning and contributing in meaningful ways.

The modern workforce demands adaptability. As the pace of change accelerates, continuous learning and development have become critical for both employees and employers.

Rethinking what career progression means

Today’s employees aren’t content to wait for five years for a new job title; they want visible and ongoing growth. That means fresh challenges, skill-building opportunities, and the chance to stretch themselves in meaningful ways. This could include leading a cross-functional project, learning new technology, or moving to a different team. These “micro-moves” often build more valuable capabilities than formal promotions, yet they’re rarely recognized as real progress.

Another flaw in the classic career ladder is that this assumes everyone wants to manage others, but that’s may not be always true. Some employees thrive as individual contributors and want to deepen their expertise rather than move into people management. Organizations also risk losing key contributors by promoting them without understanding whether they aspire for the role or if they have the skills to do so.

Finally, not every business has room to promote everyone. Organizational hierarchies naturally taper, and if promotions are the only recognized form of growth, disengagement and turnover become likely outcomes.

The power of sideways movement

Lateral moves are fast becoming a key lever for engagement and retention. Forward-thinking organizations are investing in upskilling and reskilling programs to empower employees to gain new skills, and move across functions and roles, often at the same organization level, while gaining valuable skills and experience.

In an era of constant business transformation, internal mobility helps companies stay agile. By moving talent across departments or onto high-impact projects, organizations can:

• Close skills gaps quickly
• Reduce hiring costs and onboarding time
• Redeploy talent to high-priority areas with minimal disruption
• Boost employee engagement and retention
• Build a resilient, adaptable and future-ready workforce

Mapping growth to skills not roles 

Instead of climbing a single career ladder, equipping and enabling employees to navigate a career lattice, one that allows them to move in varied directions based on their skills, interest and business needs will prove to be more rewarding both for employees and the organizations.

Using data-driven assessments to identify skills strengths and gaps and provide targeted learning, organizations can shift focus from titles to capabilities. By valuing lateral and cross-functional experiences as much as vertical promotions, and making these career opportunities visible, companies can build cultures where continuous learning and agility are the norm.

Ready to help your people grow in every direction?

Explore how SHL’s Talent Mobility solutions can help you unlock hidden skills, design flexible career journeys, and build a future-ready workforce.