Inside ICD Property's innovative HR initiative

ICD Property’s career map initiative was created as an innovative way to deliver a well-defined path for employees to achieve their career goals whilst integrating personal milestones.

Indeed, the initiative was so successful that ICD Property were recently named as one of HRD’s Innovative HR Teams for 2020.

According to Laura Burgess, HR Coordinator at ICD Property, The People Project (TPP) wanted to create a simple approach to career development that could be applied to “every ICDian to assist with their growth and achieving their full potential”.

However, they knew that this approach would need to be tailored to each individual and include personal milestones, as ICD is invested in each employees’ journey and wants to encourage a healthy work-life integration.

“TPP understood that if they could provide employees with a visual representation of their career map they would feel more motivated,” Burgess told HRD.

Consequently, the idea of the timeline was created. Employees can check in and look at their future and make sure they are on track for the goals they set from themselves. 

Burgess added that ICD’s workforce is “young and dynamic” and therefore it places an emphasis on growth opportunities for its employees through education, training and development programs.

“ICD empowers employees to be the driver of their own future hence the collaborative approach to creating the career map,” she said.

“Employees work alongside their managers and the HR team to map out what their future career will look like and what development opportunities they need in order to get there.

“Their managers and the HR team can also provide input from their experience with regards to what the employee needs to get to the next level and how this aligns with the company’s plans.”

So how does ICD approach encouraging staff to feel passionate their role?

Firstly, employees are encouraged to turn their role into whatever they want it to be.

“Of course, every role has a position description and core duties to fulfil but the way our company works allows employees to step outside of the usual way of doing things,” said Burgess.

“Everyone is encouraged to be innovative in order to find efficiencies and better ways of performing their core functions.

“Then with the time they have left they can pursue their passions within their roles. Our development team get to choose the projects they want to work on so that they can be part of projects they enjoy and are proud of their work.”