Y-Career: what is it and why is it the future?

The Y-Career is a different way of offering career paths within an organisation. In this day and age, offering a truly functional plan for rising through the ranks within one's own company is very important and conveys a number of benefits to the employee. 

Throughout this article you will learn:

• what is a Y-Career?
• what are its differentials?
• how to implement in the company? 

What is a Y-Career?

When we think of a traditional promotion track within a company, the most logical path is:

analyst > supervisor > coordinator > manager/director

Of course, the number of positions may vary according to the size of the company and the needs of that specific area, but, in short, the order is usually that. That is, with time, the tendency is for the employee to assume a management position in the company, working as a true leader. 

However, this type of career plan ends up being quite limiting, as it means you either stay stagnant in the operational side of the organisation forever, or you progress to a managerial position. 

The Y career emerged to change this concept and bring new possibilities for today's professionals. In the model, the traditional way of rising to a leadership position still exists, but there is also a new way of rising.

If it is the case of a professional who wants to develop but has no interest in pursuing a managerial leadership position, they have the option of becoming a technical expert in their field. 

In other words, he will not be a leader, but he will have chances to continue developing and will no longer be stagnant. 

What are its differentials?

Now that you understand what a Y career is, it is much easier to understand the differentiators of this type of modality. 

The first concerns the diversity of profiles and competences that can be harnessed by an organisation, making the work environment much richer and more heterogeneous. There will be more employees who share the company's values in senior positions, and they will be able to bring more success to the organisation. 

In addition, it is important to keep in mind that not always an employee is interested in being a leader. But that doesn't mean they are any less capable of moving up the career ladder, so the plan becomes much fairer. 

For a long time, technical knowledge was not properly valued, and with the Y-career this has completely changed. The practice also prevents people from seeking to rise to managerial positions by only aiming for the higher pay, and not all the responsibility that comes with it. 

In other words, profile incompatibilities are also reduced in this modality, avoiding a stressful situation for other employees and for the company leadership. The organisation will become even more attractive to potential candidates, will show respect for differences and may even experience an increase in productivity.  

How to implement the Y career in the company?

To implement the Y career in your company you will need to make some gradual adaptations. The first step is to communicate to employees that there will be an update in the career plan model and that everyone can, if they wish, train their way up to technical expert.

Then it will be needed:

• think of targets and criteria to evaluate the professionals who are already in the company, in order to map profiles and knowledge;
• define, in practice, which posts will be created;
• define the remuneration for these positions based on market research for each of the new levels in all areas. Remember to ensure pay equity in relation to those who have decided to pursue management;
• start identifying employees and make the proposals through pitch presentations, where the employee sells themselves in a short speech about themselves and their work. 

What did you think about learning more about Y-career and how it can help your organisation bring in even more great employees to work there? To access more articles like this and learn differentiated strategies for the company, keep following Alymente's blog!