In Part 1 of this Career Architecture Tech series, we looked at the fundamental role played by Job Evaluation, and our tool Evaluate. Here in Part 2 we take a step further with Innecto’s new Pathfinder tool and explore how it can revolutionise career planning and strategy by empowering the employee for the good of the business.
As businesses strive to stay agile in a hyper-competitive environment, the intersection of reward strategy and employee experience has become a critical focus. How can HR leaders bridge the long-standing gap between reward strategy and career development? And how can we unblur the line between HR intent and employee perception?
The growing importance of career pathways
As people costs continue to rise, HR and Management are under increased pressure to optimise organisational structure and squeeze every ounce of value from each role.
Replacing an employee is a costly undertaking when you consider recruitment, drop in productivity, onboarding and training. And yet, frustratingly, they often leave because of a perceived lack of opportunity. Conversely, investment in career pathways pays dividends:
- For organisations – they help establish job architecture, ensuring roles are appropriately levelled and positioned.
- For employees - they provide clarity around available opportunities and the actions needed to advance, capitalising on transferrable skills and experience.
Retention is no longer about ‘locking in’ employees, it is about enabling movement within and across teams, retaining institutional knowledge and supporting workforce agility. According to LinkedIn’s 2024 Global Talent Report, employees who transition internally within two years are 75% more likely to stay, yet 4 in 10 workers are unaware of other roles or teams they could move into.
The new Tech Disruptor: Pathfinder
For HR leaders grappling with this conundrum of talent retention, internal mobility and the growing demand for personalised employee experiences, a digital solution geared specifically towards talent management provides the answer. The right tech tool can help by bridging the gap between reward strategy and career development and – ultimately - between HR’s intent and the employee’s perception.
Employees today expect more than pay progression, they want transparency, autonomy and visibility. They want to understand how their current role connects with future opportunities, and how their skills and aspirations align with the company’s business needs.
A digital solution like Innecto’s new Pathfinder tool (due to launch Q4 2025) addresses this head-on by enabling employees to take ownership of their career through a clear, interactive, and self-directed digital interface, rather than relying solely on HR-led progression planning. The tool empowers employees to own their careers, visualise potential pathways, identify gaps in skills or experience, and develop their own opportunities.
Key Pathfinder features:
- Career Path Visualisation - employees can explore lateral and vertical career options, view skill requirements, and understand how roles connect across departments
- Setting Target roles – starting from an employee's current role or desired aspirational role, the tech can lay out a ‘perfect’ career path
- Skill Gap Analysis – where new skills are needed to progress, these can be highlighted
- Real-time Insights – by integrating with Job Evaluation tech like Evaluate, and all the roles and data that already has in-built, the tech can also adapt to business changes and strategic priorities.
Driving Strategic Impact Across the Employee Lifecycle
One of the key strategic impacts of Pathfinder is its ability to bridge that divide between HR policy and the lived employee experience. Rather than feeling opaque and disconnected from reality, an employee’s “career development” becomes a tangible line of sight showing how they can grow within an organisation. Not only does this fuel engagement and motivation, it also aligns individual ambition with business need in several ways:
- Retention through visibility - when employees can see multiple future paths within their organisation, they’re more likely to stay and grow
- Internal mobility made real - HR can break down silos by mapping interdepartmental movement and surface talent hidden in plain sight
- Agile reward design - reward structures can be more closely aligned to real progression, not just tenure or vague promotion criteria
- Informed Pay & Progression – clear and visualised pathways provide a defensible foundation for pay progression, bonus criteria, and incentive design.
Career experience is reaching a pivotal point where empowerment, transparency and strategy are beginning to converge. The future of talent isn’t just about finding the best people - it’s about helping them find their own career path.
By making pathways visible and accessible to all, Pathfinder reduces ambiguity around internal opportunity and acts as a catalyst for internal mobility. This kind of digital solution – one that enables employees to take control of their career aspirations, and businesses to align theoretical strategy with lived experience - will soon be essential infrastructure.
