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Employees who cannot see a path forward leave. This guide gives HR teams and managers the language and structure to make career growth visible, specific, and actionable.
Covers: level architecture and definitions, what distinguishes each level from the next, the role of performance vs tenure in progression decisions, how to structure a career development conversation, and how progression decisions are made and communicated. Links to the Professional Competency Bank for competency-level mapping.
FAQS
Q Why do employees leave when career progression is unclear?
Employees who cannot see a clear path forward will look for one elsewhere. Career development is consistently in the top three drivers of voluntary attrition — ahead of pay in many surveys. A progression framework makes growth visible and specific, reducing the sense that advancement depends on being noticed by the right person at the right time rather than on demonstrable achievement.
Q What does the framework define for each level?
For each level: what it represents in terms of scope and autonomy, the core competencies expected (linked to the Professional Competency Bank), what distinguishes this level from the one below and the one above, the typical indicators that someone is ready to progress, and how progression decisions are made and communicated. This gives both managers and employees a shared language for career conversations.
Q Is this framework industry-specific or broadly applicable?
Broadly applicable. The level definitions and progression criteria are written generically rather than being technology-specific, so they adapt to health tech, professional services, operations-led businesses, or any other context. The Professional Competency Bank provides 50+ level-differentiated competency definitions to populate the framework for your specific industry context.
Q How does this framework connect to the performance review process?
The Career Progression Guide defines what the next level looks like; the Performance Management Template assesses how someone is performing at their current level. Having both means every review conversation can include a clear, evidence-based discussion about where the employee is in their progression journey — not just how they performed this quarter.
Employees who cannot see a path forward leave. This guide gives HR teams and managers the language and structure to make career growth visible, specific, and actionable.
Covers: level architecture and definitions, what distinguishes each level from the next, the role of performance vs tenure in progression decisions, how to structure a career development conversation, and how progression decisions are made and communicated. Links to the Professional Competency Bank for competency-level mapping.
FAQS
Q Why do employees leave when career progression is unclear?
Employees who cannot see a clear path forward will look for one elsewhere. Career development is consistently in the top three drivers of voluntary attrition — ahead of pay in many surveys. A progression framework makes growth visible and specific, reducing the sense that advancement depends on being noticed by the right person at the right time rather than on demonstrable achievement.
Q What does the framework define for each level?
For each level: what it represents in terms of scope and autonomy, the core competencies expected (linked to the Professional Competency Bank), what distinguishes this level from the one below and the one above, the typical indicators that someone is ready to progress, and how progression decisions are made and communicated. This gives both managers and employees a shared language for career conversations.
Q Is this framework industry-specific or broadly applicable?
Broadly applicable. The level definitions and progression criteria are written generically rather than being technology-specific, so they adapt to health tech, professional services, operations-led businesses, or any other context. The Professional Competency Bank provides 50+ level-differentiated competency definitions to populate the framework for your specific industry context.
Q How does this framework connect to the performance review process?
The Career Progression Guide defines what the next level looks like; the Performance Management Template assesses how someone is performing at their current level. Having both means every review conversation can include a clear, evidence-based discussion about where the employee is in their progression journey — not just how they performed this quarter.
