Case Name :      CH2M HILL: Reinventing Organizational Careers

Authors :           Karen Newman

Source :             North American Case Research Association (NACRA)

Case ID :            NA0219

Discipline :        Organizational Behavior

Case Length :    23 pages

Solution sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

This case addresses one over-arching problem – a broken career development system – and two concrete manifestations (symptoms) of the problem at CH2M HILL, an employee-owned engineering services firm. The first manifestation of the problem was unusually high voluntary turnover, at least by CH2M HILL’s standards, among newer employees. The second was a lack of qualified internal candidates for top jobs. The voluntary turnover problem was the most immediate issue. Exit survey data and engagement survey data pointed to a lack of advancement opportunity as the main reason for high voluntary turnover among new employees. The second problem was less acute but still serious. Though CH2M HILL thought of itself as a career employer, fewer than 25 percent of top managers in early 2012 had been promoted from within. Internal candidates were not filling positions near the top and some top positions were vacant for months because the right person could not be found for the position, inside or outside the company. Both problems suggest the larger issue needs to be addressed -organizational careers need to be reinvented in the firm. Jan Walstrom, Chief Learning Officer, had been charged with rebuilding CH2M HILL’s career development systems and processes. It fell to her to determine what steps she could take to solve the over-arching career development challenge while addressing the two concrete manifestations in the short run.