New research pinpoints career pathing practices that drive retention and engagement, without new headcount or additional tools
Managers who make time to develop their direct reports are the single strongest predictor of both retention and engagement. This is based on research published in September 2026 by Wiley Workplace Intelligence, the research division of Wiley, a global learning and development (L&D) company. The finding has significant implications for HR leaders deciding where to focus career pathing investment.
The study surveyed 1,459 individuals. It found that 84% of employees whose manager always has time to develop them say they are very likely to stay with their organisation. That figure drops to 41% when a manager never has time.
The findings reinforce the value of developing managers to support employee growth and engagement.
How does manager availability affect career pathing outcomes?
Engagement follows a similar pattern to retention in the Wiley Workplace Intelligence dataset. Among employees with an available manager, 76% say they are excited about their workplace culture. That figure falls to 23% for employees whose manager never has time for their development. As the study points out, protecting manager time is not a culture nicety. It belongs on the same priority level as any other retention initiative.
The research recommends HR leaders treat manager availability as a measurable retention metric, built into how workload is planned rather than left to individual discretion. Whether that time gets used for development depends on how manager workload is structured and whether organisations treat it as a protected resource.
What do employees say would most improve their career development?
Wiley Workplace Intelligence asked employees directly what would help them feel more engaged at work. Skills development and training came out on top, named by 67% of respondents. Mentorship followed at 54%, with greater visibility around advancement cited by 46% and more frequent check-ins with managers by 44%.
Aligning L&D investment with what employees and organisations actually need, rather than what is easiest to deliver, is a long-standing challenge. Practical guidance on building L&D plans that deliver real business impact addresses how to close that gap. Employees, the research suggests, already treat training as their primary career development pathway.
How can HR leaders act on career pathing research now?
Wiley Workplace Intelligence sets out four concrete recommendations for L&D and HR practitioners.
The first is to protect manager time for development deliberately, treating it as a formal priority in workload planning.
The second is to let data set L&D priorities rather than intuition. Employees have been clear about what they need, and skills development sits at the top of that list.
The third recommendation is to track manager availability as a retention metric. According to Wiley Workplace Intelligence, the difference in outcomes between managers with high and low development availability outpaces most formal engagement programs.
The fourth is to complement skills investment with more frequent manager conversations. Lightweight, regular check-ins give organisations a practical way to signal investment in people while longer-term training initiatives are being developed.
The study makes the starting point clearer: protect manager time and fund the skills employees have already asked for. Career pathing investment, the data shows, does not need to be complicated to work.
