Never mind what your recruitment literature says. When an employee arrives for their first day on the job, what is their actual experience?

Gallup notes several elements that employers should cultivate. It starts with building a career-minded culture employees experience from Day 1. Make sure you’re able to answer these key questions:

• What is your culture and onboarding experience?
• After onboarding, what career growth resources do employees see and experience?
• What do they hear from others or read on Glassdoor?
• Are employees getting the message that your organization cares about their personal and career growth?
• Are managers rewarded when they support learning and growth across the organization?

Focus groups and brainstorming sessions are a great starting point for defining what employees value the most. It may not be what you think, and it will vary across employee groups.

An employer with a career growth culture doesn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. It’s critical to offer — and to communicate — a variety of pathways for learning. Think about how these three types of opportunities will show up in your culture:

• Formal — Certifications, college degrees, tuition reimbursement
• Short-term — Conferences, workshops, virtual training, access to learning management systems
• Experiential — Mentoring, job shadowing, job rotation programs

The ecosystem of training and development opportunities must be built with diversity, equity and inclusion in mind. Not everyone has the same kind of goals and needs. Making sure multiple avenues are visible is key to showing all employees their values and needs matter.

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