Traditional career paths are becoming rarer. Fewer people are staying with one organisation for long periods of time to work their way up the career ladder through internal promotions. With professionals changing organisations more regularly, this has given rise to a new trend: lily padding.
Lily padding is a series of deliberate job changes, with each one chosen to build new skills, widen a professional network, or gain broader experience. It is slightly different to ‘job hopping’, as lily padding is calculated with an end goal in sight. Professionals look to hit certain achievements within an organisation, then use these achievements to find a position with greater seniority or more development opportunities elsewhere.
But what does this shift in employee behaviour mean for employers? And how can organisations adapt to professionals changing jobs more regularly, and in a calculated manner?
Why has lily padding become a trend among professionals?
Professionals are finding that it can be faster to advance their careers, gain a better salary, and get more responsibility through well-judged moves than waiting for an internal promotion, if they are willing to accept the trade off that brings to job security in an uncertain economy.
The varied pace of development across businesses in different sectors also plays a role. Some organisations are evolving so quickly that the skills required to succeed shift rapidly. Professionals are looking for opportunities accelerate their learning and help them to stay ahead of the curve.
Through these professionals’ eyes, development and accomplishments should also be quickly rewarded. They are ambitious: they aren’t willing to wait for pay rises and opportunities for promotion with a single employer. Instead, they’ll examine the whole job market to see where they can get what they want.
“There's also a strong financial case,” notes Chris Willsher, Regional Managing Director at Reed. “Loyalty doesn’t always pay in the world of work. Strategic moves often come with salary increases that outstrip what most people would receive through an annual internal pay review, and over the course of a career that difference can add up considerably.”
Lily padding doesn’t have to be a negative for employers
While this trend might appear detrimental to employers, handling employees prone to lily padding the right way can make them a real asset to your organisation.
As highlighted above, part of these professionals’ calculations when changing job is which skills and competencies they can acquire and develop in a new position. Therefore, throughout their career, they will acquire some or all of the following attributes that can help drive your team forward:
Faster skills development: Exposure to different organisations, sectors, and challenges will broaden experience more quickly than staying in one place, simply because the individual has had to adapt to new ways of working each time they moved.
Broader professional networks: Working across several organisations helps someone build wider connections. Those relationships can open doors for your organisation as well as for the employee themselves.
Sharper self-awareness: Exposure to different workplace cultures helps people work out where they perform at their best, which often translates into a clearer sense of what they need from your organisation to thrive.
Proven adaptability: As an employer, you will place a high value on people who can adjust to change, pick things up quickly, bring fresh perspectives, and settle into new teams with ease. Someone who has made several successful moves has already demonstrated they can do exactly that.
For professionals early or midway through their careers in particular, a series of carefully chosen moves can help make them a compelling hire.
Is your organisation equipped to support these professionals?
Some employers will see frequent moves as a warning sign. There will be scenarios where this caution is well founded.
When assessing professionals who have a history of career moves, the first aspect an employer should examine is whether the organisation is built to satisfy their needs.
Lily padders are naturally ambitious, looking for increased responsibility and room for progression. If your organisation can continually offer those opportunities to advance quickly, then you’ll likely be a perfect fit. If you can’t, your organisation will likely just be another hop on their career path.
With the cost of hiring higher than ever before, you must also consider the impact if the employee leaves after a short period of time. Can you be confident that your hire will justify the time and investment you give them?
Also, consider what your organisational priorities are. Do you have long-term projects that require consistency to deliver successfully? How would recruiting multiple times throughout the project impact it? These types of projects can be very attractive to lily padders, as this is where they can learn and achieve results that help enhance their careers. But, as an employer, you need to be certain they will not leave midway through.
How should you evaluate professionals who have regularly changed roles?
Employers shouldn’t discount professionals with a history of lily padding out of hand. Instead, you should start by examining whether there’s clear progression or a demonstrable pattern to someone’s career history.
Ask whether each move represents a step forward. Have they developed a new skill, a step up in responsibility, or exposure to a different sector? Look for evidence that the person achieved something tangible in each role before moving on. If there’s a clear pattern of short stints with no obvious progression or explanation, then this raises a red flag.
If you choose to progress these professionals to the interview stage of your recruitment process, this is the perfect time to get an explanation of why they have changed roles regularly.
How they phrase their answers will quickly indicate whether they have made calculated choices to advance their career, as Chris explains:
“A vague answer such as ‘I wanted a change’ tells you very little and suggests unreliability. Instead, look for a more convincing response where they explain their reasoning and the development opportunities they seized with each move.”
You must also use the interview to identify what a lily padder wants to achieve within the role and determine whether it is mutually beneficial to both parties. If so, there is a strong argument to accept the risk. Misaligned expectations will increase the risk that they’ll leave if their goals are unfulfilled, or they feel they’ve progressed as far as they can.
“Don’t exclude talented professionals who have several short-term roles without understanding the context behind this history. Rather than penalise movement, a hiring manager needs to understand whether an individual’s goals are aligned with the role for which you’re recruiting,” adds Chris.
As lily padding becomes more common, employers need to become more comfortable assessing candidates who have advanced rapidly across multiple roles. Taking the time to understand the motivations behind those moves, and whether they demonstrate clear progression, could help you uncover a high-performing employee who might otherwise have been overlooked.
Need help with filling your next role or a professional searching for your next opportunity? Get in touch with your nearest Reed office today.
