On a couple of occasions recently I’ve seen this phrase trotted out: “What if we train our people and they leave? vs What if we don’t and they stay?”

Nice sentiment, but I think there’s a deeper – and far more significant – driver behind this that many employers are failing to embrace. Everyone knows jobs for life are long gone. People need to develop the agility and multi-faceted employability to thrive in unpredictable times. Counter-intuitively, investing in your employees to give them portable skills and experiences that make them more resilient, in case they need to find another job, actually makes them more loyal and committed to you. This is Career Capital.

Inkson and Arthur coined the term in 2001, but it’s had surprisingly little exposure. Career Capital describes the value we build for ourselves as we acquire skills and experience. As we add to it, we become more attractive to future employers.

I think most people are inherently aware of their own Career Capital – their own marketability. And an employer that actively helps them build their asset base, safeguarding them against any future career shocks that may occur, is rewarded with more loyalty.

Recognising this as a powerful element of the psychological contract is beneficial to both parties. If the employer says, ‘We’ll develop your skills in line with what we need as a business, but this will also help you achieve your future career objectives – whatever they might be’, most sensible employees will think, ‘That’s great! Not only am I developing in my current role; but I also have more to offer other employers in future. I like this approach, I’m going to stick around to see what other aspects of my employability I can enhance while I’m here.’

Of course, this assumes the employee and line manager have had a decent conversation about career goals, preferences for development areas and future opportunities within the firm (which we know doesn’t always happen!) But if it does, both parties are mutually invested in growing the assets in each employee. The organisation benefits for as long as it needs those skills and abilities; and the employee benefits by being better able to land a new role when the time comes to move on.

Managers might be scared about having these conversations, feel vulnerable that their direct reports might be after their jobs or don’t want to encourage a valuable member of their team to transfer internally. They should be reminded that if they don’t have these conversations to find out how their people most want to develop, they’re going to leave to find that advancement elsewhere anyway.

This needn’t be costly either. Small adjustments and on-the-job opportunities to develop can be low-cost or no-cost ways to help your people add to their Career Capital. Reallocating tasks and responsibilities amongst a team can help play to individual strengths or provide stretch assignments for people; short secondments or project work can develop the desired skills and offer new experiences (and network connections); and mentoring can work very well. It also provides opportunities for mentors to add to their Career Capital as well as benefits for the mentee.

Research also shows that 75% of people are prepared to invest their own time and resources in their development. So if you’re offering opportunities to build Career Capital consider asking for a contribution from the employee – such as time outside working hours, if not an actual financial contribution.

The final benefit to committing to invest in building employees’ Career Capital is the positive impact it will have on your employer brand when they do leave. Think about how favourably you recall a former employer who invested in you in some way that has improved your ability to further your career. Have you ever recommended them to others or talked in glowing terms about your time there? Wouldn’t you like your alumni to say the same about you?

So, think about the learning and development opportunities you provide your people as investments in their Career Capital fund. Explain them as such. You might be surprised at the positive effect you’ll have on engagement, loyalty and commitment.