Career Coaching: A case study in evaluating impact

As the volume of workplace coaching has increased, so too has the research literature on coaching outcomes for both individuals and employing organisations, and how to measure these. However, much of this evidence relates to leadership coaching, coaching for job performance and, to some extent, coaching to improve wellbeing at work.

Much less has been done to help employers articulate the value of career coaching in their workplaces or to establish robust measures of its success. Yet effective evaluation of career coaching is crucial when introducing such interventions or refining existing ones. 

In this paper we explore the evaluation of employer-sponsored career coaching through the lens of one career coaching programme as a case study to shed light on some questions relevant to employers:

• What might be the short-term and longer-term effects of an employer-sponsored career coaching programme?
• How can the results be evidenced?
• What can we share about evaluating career coaching that may be helpful to other employers and career coaching providers?

Overall this case study should help other employers and coaches feel that the evaluation of workplace career coaching is both possible and worth doing. The positive findings should also encourage employers to invest in a sustained way in supporting the career development of their employees. Many feel this is worthwhile, but few have attempted to evidence this.