EBOOK

Redefining Careers: Driving a

Culture of Learning and Growth

By Kurt Jones
Senior Manager, Product Marketing,
SumTotal
Keeping Millennials
Redefining Interested,
Careers: Driving Invested
a Culture and Productive
of Learning through Continuous Learning
and Growth

A New Perspective on Careers

Today’s up-and-coming employees are defining themselves and their careers in new ways—with

different milestones, different priorities and, ultimately, different ambitions. While baby boomers and

Gen X often define success through achieving a desired title or a corner office, today’s millennials and

Gen Z care more about engaging experiences and visualize their career as a series of learning and

growth opportunities.1

This can be confusing for employers, especially for HR professionals, who are more accustomed to

a hierarchical-growth mentality and are tasked with combining C-suite objectives with employee

satisfaction and engagement goals.

1 “What Do Millennials Want In Their Careers?” Joan Kuhl, Forbes, July 23, 2018.
2
Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth

see a millennial hoping to be challenged, but also

Career Paths Are No Longer
seeking flexible work opportunities.2
Linear (And One Size Does Not
Fit All) Generational priorities serve as a great baseline,

a starting point for understanding your people,

Many of today’s employees are looking to move
but every person is different. Each employee
through their career acquiring new skills and
has their own path to success. However, as the
conquering new challenges, and that path can take
workforce grows and changes over the next
many directions.
decade, or even the next five years, more and
The relationship between employer and employee more employees are hoping for challenging and
has always been one of push and pull in terms of growth-oriented opportunities to be and stay
career mobility. The employer shows their cards by engaged with their work.3
presenting pathways to success and the employee

can rise to the occasion, securing his or her role as

a high performing employee.

Look around your organization. You might find

boomers who are energized by today’s technologies

and regained a newfound passion for their industry

and job role. You might notice a cautious and risk-

averse Gen Z’er, a likely product of observing their

parents during the Great Recession. You might

2 “Millennials vs. Boomers: How Flexible Learning Is Bridging the Technology Gap.” Anne Fisher, Fortune, October 13, 2018
3 “What Millennials Want from a New Job.” HBR.org, Brandon Rigoni PHD. and Amy Adkins, May 11, 2016.
Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth
Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth

Generation Profile: Millennials—the Largest

Workplace Demographic

Millennials, more than any other generation, are looking to learn and grow. They also care about the quality of

their manager, their overall interest-level in the work, AND are looking to be paid fairly.4

• They long to deeply-commit to their employer and seek to work for a manager who will invest in their career

development. While this value is not entirely different from other generations, millennials place greater stock

37%
on opportunities to learn and grow and advancement.

• Money isn’t paramount, but it IS still an important factor. Between public salary data and Glassdoor reviews,

information regarding fair pay is always one click away. Also keep in mind that this generation is saddled with “ Only 37 percent of
more student debt than any other. They care about being paid fairly, but more than that, they need to make millennials believe business
ends meet.
leaders make a positive
If you’re the employer that has what they want and can keep them engaged, you’ll be rewarded with an impact on the world.6”
educated, passionate and loyal employee with the skillset to propel your organization forward.5 6
Deloitte

4 “What Millennials Want from a New Job.” HBR.org, Brandon Rigoni PHD. and Amy Adkins, May 11, 2016.
5 “Unlike Millennials: 5 ways Gen Z differs from Gen Y.” Kelvin Claveria, VisionCritical, March 9, 2019.
6 “The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2019.” Deloitte, 2019.
Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth
Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth

Section 1

Why cloud-based learning?

Generation Profile: Gen Z—Coming to a
Workplace Near You

Gen Z is coming in strong and is just starting to enter the workplace. While this generation has a natural affinity

with millennials, so far, they have shown some interesting differences as well.

• You can count on Gen Z to be tech-connected—and it’s not just about being comfortable around technology,

it’s also how they grew up learning.

• They also expect the flexibility that they’ve seen their millennial siblings, cousins, and friends experience— 56%
which means flexible hours and occasional work from home options when possible.
56% of Gen Z’ers surveyed
• Surprisingly, Gen Z craves more stability and security than their millennial neighbors. This generation has have ambitions to
never known a time without widespread terrorism, threats of violence, and neared adolescence as their earn wealth and /or a
parents experienced the Great Recession. While their minds are entrepreneurial, their budgets are firmly on
high salary.8
the ground. 7 8

7 “Generation Z: 12 Important Things Companies Need To Understand.” Forbes Coaches Council, Forbes March 3, 2017.
8 “The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2019.” Deloitte, 2019.
Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth
Challenge-Oriented Employees
Expect to Learn on the Job
Machine learning? Artificial intelligence? Internet
of things? These are exciting emergent fields—
both for professionals and for employers. Neither
employees nor their organizations have all the
answers—and this creates an opportunity to learn
and grow together.
Your challenge-oriented employees and new hires
want to get their hands dirty and work on new
technologies and be at the forefront of an industry.9
For these employees, being able to work on an
exciting project, explore emerging technologies,
and experiment can hold more value than a small
pay bump. It’s a chance to escape the monotony
and do something that gets their brain firing on all
eight cylinders.
9 “Want to Make Your Employees Happy? Ask Them to do Something Hard.” Rebecca Borison, Inc.
What Do Challenge-Oriented
Employees Want? TIP
It’s about making a difference. By taking
How do you know which of your
opportunities to learn and grow, trying new things,
employees are challenge-oriented?
and connecting back to personal beliefs, challenge-
They take an interest! Their eyes light
oriented employees want to make the world a up when a new topic is broached, they
better place. Today’s entry and mid-level employees volunteer to do research, and they
tend to read about these topics outside
are passionate and motivated—but only if they
of work.
believe their job rewards it.
And what’s great is that today’s workplace is
full of opportunities. If it feels like today’s pace
and expectation of technological innovation is
increasing at a rapid rate, it’s because it is. This has
led to new roles, requiring new skills, skills that
haven’t even been introduced on college campuses
yet. Your challenge-oriented employees want to fill
that gap—it allows them more freedom to innovate.
Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth

While younger generations are often defined by

Employers Need to Empower
Their People
The current battle for talent means companies
need to do all they can to retain their top
performers, particularly those that perform in
areas of challenge and innovation. By retaining
adaptive agile employees, employers are able to
maintain an agile organization. But how?
Employers need to provide employees with the
ability to self-educate, and devise an organizational
structure that rewards them for their initiative.
If you aren’t providing the opportunities for your
most-curious people, they will either find a job
where they can grow, or put all their passion into
a side project.
What organizations are called to do today is help
make their workplace a place of engagement
their attachment to their phones and addiction to
technology, surprisingly, research has shown that it
is their relationships with people that drives them.
By creating a culture of high-touch management
and trust, millennials and Gen Z are able to feel that
they are a part of something bigger, and truly on
a team.10
How Your Organization Can
Support Challenge-Oriented
Career Paths Today
Allow self-directed career pathing. Online
multi-modal content, training and conference
opportunities are great ways to provide fuel for
career growth. It also helps HR leaders see which
individuals are motivated, and which are ready to
step up and learn.

and excitement. Whereas before, successful

employers stressed hierarchy and a “paying

your dues” mentality.

10 “Generation Z: 12 Important Things Companies Need To Understand.” Forbes Coaches Council, Forbes, March 3, 2017.
Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth

Provide learning opportunities to all your Measure organizational progress. Leading

people and deliver it in ways relevant to each learning management systems not only provide

employee’s learning style. This means mobile- intuitive learner experiences and expansive

friendly, it means micro-learning AND deep dive content libraries to employees, they also track their

content. Today’s education needs to be available for progress and provide HR leaders the analytics they

employees whenever they have time to access it, in need to prove ROI and overall business value to

a way that is convenient for them. their C-suite.

Define your organizational needs and areas of

future growth. One of the best ways to help direct

and encourage challenge-oriented people is to

know where you need them. By doing the work and

identifying areas of high-priority growth within your

business, you can also share this information in

the workplace.

Allow digital tools to support your process.

Digital tools provide a vast array of personalized

learning options and can act as your main

educational driver. Today’s leading organizations

provide a comprehensive and personalized

learning-centered HCM solution spanning the entire

employee lifecycle—this means attracting the right

employees, engaging them, training them, tracking

their progress and rewarding them.

Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth

• Career Planning & Pathing: SumTotal provides

SumTotal Meets the Needs
tools that make developing a career or exploring
of Today’s (and Tomorrow’s) Learn more about how SumTotal can
areas of interest transparent and intuitive.
Workforce. help your organization meet the needs of
Employees that believe they can learn, develop
today’s workforce and retain them for the
Meeting the expectations of your workforce, in its and grow with your organization are more
long term by downloading the SumTotal
simplest form, is grounded in providing transparent engaged, productive and more likely to remain
Solution Brochure or visiting our website at
and personalized opportunities for employees to with you longer.
sumtotalsystems.com
learn, develop and grow. Our technology can help
• Performance Management, Mentoring and
you do just that with solutions that address the
Internal Mobility: SumTotal allows managers
core components essential to building a culture of
and employees to build toward growth and sets Power Your Talent
learning & growth. These include:
your organization up to have the perfect new Development with
• Continuous Onboarding: More than just a hire exactly where you want them…in SumTotal.
tool for an employees first 30 days, SumTotal your organization!
helps deliver onboarding that can support REQUEST A DEMO
new hires and those transitioning to new roles,

division or departments.

• Learning & Development: Central to talent

development success, SumTotal offers a modern

learning solution that meets the needs of today’s

learners and is flexible to be there for your future

needs as well.
Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth

About the Author

Kurt Jones is the Senior Manager of Product Marketing for learning solutions at SumTotal. Kurt has a

long history in the HR technology space, having held product, marketing and sales enablement roles

for several HR technology providers including SumTotal. He has a passion for helping HR Leaders drive

their organization’s talent strategies by maximizing the impact of their HR technology investments.

Prior to moving into HR software product marketing, Kurt was an HR practitioner with a focus on

talent acquisition.

Kurt Jones
Senior Manager,
Product Marketing,
SumTotal

linkedin.com/in/kurtjones1/
Redefining Careers: Driving a Culture of Learning and Growth

About SumTotal
SumTotal Systems is the most comprehensive and flexible HCM solution. Built on decades of providing solutions to the

most complex and regulated industries including airlines, financial services and pharmaceuticals. SumTotal incorporates

four key components – Talent Acquisition, Learning, Talent Management and Workforce Management. SumTotal

continuously invests in platform innovation to address the challenges of attracting, retaining, developing and engaging

today’s multi-generational workforce. SumTotal is the first LMS to fully enable content aggregation across xAPI, CMI5,

third party and custom content as well as unified access to the largest corporate learning library from Skillsoft. SumTotal

integrates Skillsoft’s market-leading, immersive, multi-modal content, enabling organizations to develop talent through a

knowledge-centric employee lifecycle. www.sumtotalsystems.com

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