How a Clear Career Path Keeps Your Best Employees Around

Ever wondered how to keep your top performers from jumping ship? Building a well-structured career progression path could be the answer. This case study dives into creating a tiered promotion plan for a singular role, the lessons learned, and the impact it had on employee retention.

You know the feeling: the first few months in a new job when everything clicks. You’re mastering new skills, performing with confidence, and riding that wave of enthusiasm. But what happens when that feeling fades? Stagnation in professional growth can make even the most committed employees start to look elsewhere.

In 2020, I faced this this challenge head-on. We were scaling fast—growing from about 20 to 50 employees in just 18 months. We needed more leaders and chose to promote from within, identifying top performers to fill newly created Team Lead roles. While many embraced the challenge, it became clear that not everyone wanted to manage people. This led to losing one of our longest-serving Account Managers and a realization that more could follow unless we made a change.

By Q4 2021, I launched the Account Manager Progression Path—a five-tier structure that laid out clear promotion steps, increased responsibilities, and new earning opportunities. A pivotal addition was a revamped bonus system tied to client retention, boosting potential earnings by 15%. Crucially, we designed this so that company profitability remained intact even after payouts.

If you're imagining a sophisticated, multi-layered plan, think again. It was simple—almost embarrassingly so (yep it’s the case study image). And that’s precisely why it worked. Start with clarity. Ensure your team grasps the basics, then build on it with details like role responsibilities, promotion criteria, and compensation structures.

The results spoke volumes. We stopped losing employees over limited growth options. The new structure also motivated the team to take ownership of their earnings, introducing them to a more proactive approach in tracking and planning their income. The newfound engagement was clear—employees saw that their growth was in their hands, and that made all the difference.

Can you introduce a growth path in your own organization? At Andress Advisers, we know how to craft simple yet effective development structures that keep your team engaged and committed. Let’s put our experience to work for you.