Are you gatekeeping your employees from reaching their full potential?

Imagine if a world-class swimmer hadn’t had access to a pool. Or if a future Olympic figure skater lived just far enough away from the ice rink that their parents didn’t make the drive. 

What if the family of your favorite gold medalist hadn’t had the resources to pay for classes, equipment, or travel before they were on the radar for scholarships?

It's easy to see how—with these constraints in place—the world could have lost out on an extraordinary individual’s potential.

[ Inspiring athlete stories like these is exactly why we're so excited to be supporting Team USA. ]

Of course, this phenomenon isn’t limited to the athletic world. Working adults who want to further their education and build key skills often face a wide range of challenges that can put their career goals out of reach—which also deprives companies of skills they need.

The ability to unlock people’s potential so they can reach their highest achievements ultimately comes down to a key variable: access.

Just as there are systems to cultivate promising athletic talent, it’s time to bring more creative solutions to the access-based obstacles that stand in the way of upskilling employees–delivering shared success for the employer and employee. 

Solving for access is an urgent need

CHROs and other People leaders understand how important it is to tap into the full potential of their workforce to meet business goals. And there are some key trends that show us that we need to act fast:

• Skills gaps undermine business goals: 72% of more than 1000+ C-suite and human capital leaders believe that the skills gap will cause business problems in the near future. This puts pressure on leaders to focus on where they can find or develop those skills from among their available talent — including providing greater access to learning.
• AI is changing the workforce: 44% of all working hours across industries have the potential to be impacted by generative AI. The technological changes impacting the workforce are increasing the urgency on leaders to expand their view of the skills they need and the ways they can open up opportunities for promising individuals.
• Employees need and expect more support: Employee expectations at work have reached an all-time high, yet employee confidence is muted and continues to lag behind benchmarks from recent years. When employees expect a lot and confidence is relatively low, there’s more risk of talented individuals looking elsewhere for opportunities. In this environment, providing access to meaningful growth opportunities can be an important differentiator.

Taken together, it’s clear that businesses should focus on broadening access to ensure the best talent is in place to help tackle the challenges ahead. With the right approaches in place, both companies and employees benefit.

How to develop a culture and structures that support access

There are a variety of approaches to increasing access that are very much within the purview of a CHRO. In fact, they can grow out of functions that likely already exist on an HR executive’s leadership team: learning and development, internal mobility, and talent acquisition.

Pay upfront for learning

It’s increasingly common for companies to support a culture of ongoing learning by offering a tuition assistance model where some or all of the fees for an education program are covered up front. 

Avoiding those upfront costs that come with older tuition reimbursement models dramatically improves access, which in turn encourages employees to take courses that either augment their abilities in their current roles or set them up to take on new challenges in different roles. For any companies that are still relying only on tuition reimbursement, it may be time to explore tuition assistance options instead. 

Prioritize career pathways for all employees 

Too often, career pathways that help employees understand how they can grow and develop are only available to certain role types (if they are available at all). 

Broadening access by designing clear pathways for all the roles in an organization — including the frontline — increases the likelihood that employees will want to stay over the long term and that companies will gain the skills they need for the future through the talent they already have in house.

[ Get step-by-step guidance on how to create career pathways for your entire workforce. ]

As a bonus, providing growth opportunities to employees will match up with what they consistently identify as a top priority for what they want from their employer.  

Train hiring managers for inclusivity

When we talk about access, we also have to think about how you’re broadening your talent pool. There’s been a lot of discussion about companies removing degree requirements from certain types of job descriptions, but skepticism remains about whether hiring managers are actually selecting candidates in more inclusive ways. 

In this situation, take a hands-on approach by training recruiters and hiring managers on what to look for. With an intentional discussion about the qualifications that are truly needed for a role and how managers can evaluate candidates from a broader range of backgrounds, it’s much more likely that qualified candidates with different forms of expertise will succeed in the hiring process.

[ How to think about equitably upskilling your workforce as you proactively plan for AI transformation. ]

This is an area that will continue evolving rapidly, especially as economic conditions evolve and AI continues its march through the business world. Throughout all that change, a steady focus on exploring where organizational culture and HR systems can adapt to create space for greater access will provide the greatest chance to unlock human potential—and transform your organization.

About Dean Carter

With over 15 years of experience leading global people and culture functions, Dean is passionate about creating and sustaining purpose-driven organizations that empower their employees, communites and customers to grow, thrive, and make a positive impact in the world.