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by James Kosur

Recognizing that workers often quit or become unproductive when they feel stuck or bored in their roles, Michelin encourages employees to move around frequently within the company. The result is an incredibly high 97% retention rate.

Founded in 1889, the French conglomerate is the world’s third-largest tire manufacturer and employs 111,000 people around the globe. In addition to the Michelin brand, it also owns BFGoodrich, Kleber, Tigar, Riken, Kormoran, and Uniroyal.

Business Insider recently sat down with David Stafford, chief human resources officer and executive vice president of personnel for Michelin North America, to discuss the company’s unique approach to career development.

Since allowing employees to jump around as they see fit would be a logistical nightmare, Michelin employs nearly 400 “career managers” to help workers and managers have productive discussions about future goals and needs.

The first question career managers ask employees is: “What is it that you are really passionate about?”

“You can’t always satisfy that passion,” Stafford says, “but it’s good to know what they want.”

Career managers also look pragmatically at an employee’s past performance and their skill sets to help ensure they will be set up for success in the position.

“Our managers look at three key areas — passion, proven history, and an employee’s willingness and ability to adapt to change and take on new things,” Stafford says.

Michelin uses a three-part “triangle” plan during job-placement discussions. The process starts with a discussion about what skills employees want to grow and what they are currently doing. Then the manager and employee use a job-posting system to find relevant jobs and career paths the employee might want to explore. Finally, an employee can talk to other employees who have pursued paths in certain disciplines they are interested in exploring.

Stafford divides Michelin employees into two groups.

The first group bounces around from one job to another. They might start in accounting, move to research and development, and end up in operations. Stafford says these workers want to “go wide” in their careers and to “broaden themselves” as people.

The second group is focused on “going deep.” They tend to join the company and work their way up the corporate ladder in of one specialty.

For the full article, click here.