Implementing a corporate career lattice:
the Mass Career Customization model
Cathleen Benko and Anne Weisberg
T
hough key characteristics of the American workforce – its composition, attitudes and
family structures – have changed significantly over the past several decades, the
corporate ladder model of career progression has remained much the same. As a
consequence, the model, based on the assumption of continuous, full time employment,
does not now fit the majority of knowledge workers. As the traditional track becomes less
attractive for the majority, nontraditional career tracks become more appealing. In order to
attract and retain talent, corporate leaders will need to rethink how their organizations offer
career choices. The goal, of course, is to foster competitive advantage by providing choices
that are rewarding to the most talented men and women of current generations and also
inviting to future ones. Senior leaders can further this goal by encouraging a change in the
businesses culture, from corporate ladder to a corporate lattice model (see exhibit 1).
A corporate lattice system encourages a continuous collaboration between employer and
employee to design customized career paths, taking into account both the changing needs
of the business and employees’ changing lives. The result is an adaptive model of career
progression that offers employees career-long options for keeping their work and personal
lives in sync and employers the long-term loyalty of their best and brightest.
To facilitate the progression from a corporate ladder to corporate lattice culture, Deloitte has
designed a framework – mass career customization (MCC)e. MCC extends the notion of
mass product customization to careers in the workplace. MCC aligns current and future
career development options for the employee with current and future requirements of the
business in ways that are sustainable for both. In sum, MCC is an individually customizable,
scalable system designed to align workplace needs with today’s nontraditional workforce
and also to meet the challenges of the major long-term trends affecting the talent market.
Convergence of six workforce trends
The convergence of these six major workforce trends will require a coordinated response:
1. Knowledge worker shortfall. The shortfall of knowledge workers will likely increase in the
next decade as demand rises and a number of factors reduce supply. Accelerating
retirement of Baby Boomers, lower birth rates, increased competition for skilled workers
worldwide, stagnant college graduation rates, and declining competency in basic skills
such as writing and math by high school students and even college graduates are all
contributing to the impending talent shortage in the knowledge economy. The
Employment Policy Foundation estimates that by 2012 there will be a six-million-person
gap in the US between the number of students graduating from college and the number of
workers needed to cover job growth and replace retirees[1].
2. Changing Family Structures. Only 17 percent of US households today have a husband
who works outside of the home and a wife who does not, down from 63 percent a few
generations ago. Other changes, like the decreased rate of marriage, reduced or delayed
DOI 10.1108/10878570710819198 VOL. 35 NO. 5 2007, pp. 29-36, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1087-8572
j
STRATEGY & LEADERSHIP
j
PAGE 29
Cathleen Benko
(cbenko@deloitte.com) is
Vice Chairman and
Chief Talent Officer for
Deloitte & Touche USA
LLP and subsidiaries
and Anne Weisberg
(aweisberg@deloitte.com)
is a Director specializing in
talent diversity for the
Deloitte U.S. Firms. They
are co-authors of Mass
Career Customization:
Aligning the Workplace with
Today’s Nontraditional
Workforce (Harvard
Business School Press,
2007).
Note: The correct corporate
name is Deloitte & Touche USA
LLP and subsidiaries.