These days, employees expect competitive professional development opportunities. Forward-thinking organizations prioritize employee growth too, knowing it directly impacts overall business development and innovation.
Recent insights from the Top Workplaces Research Lab indicate that 87% of senior managers feel they have frequent learning and growth opportunities, but only 74% of mid-level team members agree. This gap highlights an opportunity for improvement but isn’t the only one. Keep reading to explore more data and insights from the Top Workplaces Research Lab.
Why employee growth matters
Employee development is foundational to ensure employees remain motivated and it helps recruit and retain top talent. Not only do learning and growth opportunities help employees improve their performance and progress in their careers, they also help employees and organizations become more adaptable in the face of future changes and challenges.
Employee development fosters a culture of continuous learning and innovation that benefits the organization and its bottom line. Growth also ensures that employees are more prepared for management roles in their organization, freeing up spaces for others to advance, and helping build a stronger funnel for succession planning.
Growth at Top Workplaces vs. other organizations
The Top Workplaces Research Lab recently gathered feedback about employee growth. Survey data shows that employees at Top Workplaces are more positive about growth opportunities than employees at “Aspiring organizations”, AKA companies striving to become Top Workplaces. Here are our insights:
- 67% positive at “Aspiring Organizations”
- 78% positive at Top Workplaces
- 93% positive at Top 10% Top Workplaces
Insights on employee growth
As part of Energage’s commitment to evolving the Workplace Survey to meet the changing needs and expectations of organizations and their employees, several new statements have been added to the survey. One of these new statements is on the topic of Growth:
“I have frequent opportunities to learn and grow at [this company].”
Growth and development are a key part of the employee experience, and are featured as one of the Workplace Experience themes: Enabled to Grow. This new statement allows us to expand on that theme with a broader measure of growth opportunities.
Since Growth was formally introduced as a research statement in Fall 2024, we have collected over 700,000 responses. Here are some quick stats that we’ve seen so far:
- Overall, 76% of employees rated their organizations positively on this topic. This number increased to 78% for Top Workplaces, and dropped to 67% for Aspiring organizations.
- While 87% of senior managers feel they have frequent opportunities to learn and grow, only 74% of team members agree.
- New hires are very positive on the topic, with 81% responding favorably. Following typical response patterns, middle-tenure employees scored lowest, at 74% favorable for those working at their organizations for 5-10 years.
Highest scoring sectors:
- Real Estate (80%)
- Advertising & Marketing (79%)
- Construction (79%)
Lowest-scoring sectors:
- Government (68%)
- Utilities & Telecommunications (69%)
- Healthcare (69%)
Supporting employee growth
Leaders
Embedding growth into the organization’s culture begins at the top, through allocating budget, providing a wide range of resources, and related policies and processes (such as allocating time to development and reimbursing tuition). Leaders can also create opportunities for advancement by prioritizing internal promotions and developing career paths.
Managers
Connect with individual employees to discuss their career goals, identify relevant development opportunities, and share resources and support. Managers can also offer challenging assignments, provide regular feedback and coaching, celebrate employee successes, and act as their champions for advancement opportunities.
Employees
No one is as interested in an employee’s development as the employee themselves, so they must take the reins in thinking about their career goals, discussing them with their manager, volunteering for or proposing projects that align with their interests, and seeking feedback and opportunities to learn from people with related skills or experience.
Best practices for employee growth
Getting started
- Assess the current state: Review the quantity, type, and quality of growth and development opportunities available to all employees and those in specific departments or roles. Look for areas to offer more, better, or different forms of learning opportunities.
- Review feedback: Use employee survey results, comments, and other feedback to identify gaps in learning opportunities and to improve existing programs.
- Broadcast opportunities: Ensure that learning and growth opportunities are regularly communicated to employees so they remain top of mind. These communications can include notes on the benefits of specific development opportunities, employee testimonials, and more.
- Grow your leaders: Provide manager- and leader-specific training to help these groups better support their employees in their growth. This could include training in providing feedback, coaching, resolving conflicts, and more.
Big picture plans
- Offer variety: Employees often have different interests, skill sets, availability, and learning styles that are hard to satisfy with a one-size-fits-all set of learning opportunities. Instead, provide access to a wide variety of resources that allow employees to select the learning opportunities that suit their needs best.
- Support outside learning: If employees are interested in pursuing learning opportunities outside the organization, offering reimbursement can be a great strategy. This allows employees to build skills that they otherwise might not be able to and for them to bring those skills back and use them in service of the organization.
- Connect employees with mentors: Mentors and coaches can provide experienced guidance, support, and feedback to employees. They can be especially impactful as they discuss their own career with the employee and work with them on an individual basis to address their current goals and challenges.
- Consider cross-functional growth: Employees who are interested in attaining new skills, future leadership roles, or simply the work another department performs can benefit from cross-functional development opportunities, such as job rotations.
Employee growth: What to watch for
Limited advancement opportunities
For an employee who has already mastered most of the skills required in their position, a new or expanded role may be the only path to continue growing. If there are no advancement opportunities, employees may choose to look outside the organization to find new challenges and growth.
Limited time or access
Employees already dealing with overflowing plates are unlikely to be able to prioritize additional training opportunities, particularly if they don’t clearly relate to their current work or goals. Make sure employees have room in their schedule to devote to learning, and that growth and development opportunities are offered to all employees, and not provided to a select few.
Lack of feedback
Feedback helps employees identify areas to improve, and allows them to be recognized and appreciated for skills they’ve worked to grow. Ensure that managers regularly provide feedback on their employees’ work, including both strengths are improvement opportunities, particularly in areas related to their current role or ones they aspire to in the future.
Unsupportive managers
Some managers intentionally or unintentionally act as blockers to employee growth. Managers should ensure they communicate learning and advancement opportunities, help employees find time for learning, emphasize the importance of continued growth, and work with employees to identify growth opportunities they may need or be interested in.
Ambiguous career paths
Clear career paths help employees understand how they can advance in the organization, and can provide information on what skills and credentials are required to get there. Without such clarity, employees may not be motivated to pursue development opportunities that don’t provide clear benefits.
How to measure employee growth at your organization
Want to know how your employees feel about growth and where there are opportunities for improvement within your organization? Energage’s confidential, 5-minute survey is the perfect way to collect and understand employee voices. Request a demo now to get started!
For more information on employee growth and development, check out our Field Guide to Growth and Quiet Hiring & Employee Development findings from the Top Workplaces Research Lab.
