Employers providing personal AND career development opportunities may realize competitive advantage

What is it about?

This article focuses on the ‘‘whole-life’’ approach to career development, which is defined as a focus on both career and personal growth and development. We review the ways in which career paths have been defined over time to demonstrate that increasing consideration has been given to non-work factors (i.e., personal life and family life) in defining careers. The whole-life perspective on career development acknowledges that employees are striving for opportunities for professional development as well as individualized work–life balance, which changes over the life course. Although the careers literature has emphasized inter-organizational mobility as the primary mechanism for achieving these goals, whole-life career development can also be achieved within a single organization when organizational leadership is willing to address employees’ work–family needs. This article addresses how leaders across organizational levels, including executive-level leaders and first-line supervisors, can foster whole-life career development. In addition to beneficial outcomes for employees, potential competitive advantages for organizations implementing the whole-life approach to career development are discussed.

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