Case study
MRK PARTNERS
Constructing Stable
Career Ladders
Case study
MRK Partners
Constructing Stable Career Ladders
Housing Developers needed to create career ladders for their workforce’s own development paths.
Client
MRK Partners Inc. is a Los Angeles headquartered real estate investment and asset management company specializing in acquiring, revitalizing, and preserving affordable housing nationwide to strengthen communities.
Challenge
MRK Partners consistently needed to go to market for senior-level talent with industry-specific skills.
Their workforce was lacking trajectory and development plans, leaving them stuck in the same roles not knowing where to climb up next.
Process
Compass immersed themselves in the critical functions of each department to understand and document their scope of work. In doing so, Compass was able to pinpoint where essential responsibilities differed and changed, how the scope of responsibilities increased within different levels, and put into words what was needed for each position and level to develop and achieve the next step within the department’s career ladder.
Over the past 18 months, MRK experienced significant growth and recognized the importance of providing employees with clear, actionable guidance on career progression. We partnered with our Compass team to develop Career Ladders—a visual diagram outlining the requirements and competencies for each role. The Compass team collaborated closely with us, iterating on the design, and refining the content as we fine-tuned the details. The final product was well-received and is already proving to be a valuable tool for coaching, mentorship, and enhancing employee satisfaction.
Meredith Esarey
Chief Revenue Officer, MRK Partners
Scope of Work
Assessed the current workforce titles and responsibilities to create a base line of current responsibilities.
Collaborated with senior management and leaders to identify the points of difference, responsibilities, and expectations of each applicable role by department.
Crafted departmental career ladders showcasing each role level’s scope of work, expectations, required credentials, and accountability to differentiate the differences between level, in addition to show casing what’s needed to progress to the next level.
Solidified career ladders within each group.
Conducted a compensation analysis for each role and crafted salary bands for each role to present to leadership.
Results
MRK Partners rolled out departmental career ladders during their annual performance review. Discussions included clarifying expectations and scope of work to employees within their current role, while also starting the conversation of what trajectory they could expect. Compass crafted these career ladders not just for employees, but also to provide hiring managers clear points on what to manage, lines of accountability, and provide MRK the opportunity to market for junior roles to eventually grow both their professionals and organization.
