Why aren’t young workers climbing the corporate ladder?

Larraine Segil is founder, chair, and CEO of The Exceptional Women Alliance.

At the Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA), we enable high level women to mentor each other to enable each leader to achieve personal and professional happiness through sisterhood. As the nonprofit organization’s founder, chair, and CEO, I am honored to interview and share insights from some of the thought leaders who are part of our peer-to-peer mentoring.

Here I’ll introduce to you Michelle Westfort, chief university officer at InStride, which helps companies provide debt-free educational experiences to employees, while tying back to corporate business goals.

Q: Michelle, you’ve had a significant impact on how corporations approach education and career development. Can you share your journey and the work you do at InStride?

Michelle Westfort: My career has always been centered around unlocking access to education—something I believe makes an enormous difference in people’s lives. At InStride, we focus on how to do this for working adults. By partnering with companies like Medtronic, Ascension, and Banfield Pet Hospitals, we create education programs that are not only life-changing for employees, but good for business. They lead to better employee retention, more promotions, and higher productivity and engagement. In my role, I make sure that our education programs are well-matched with what both the employees and these employers need, which is key to their success and helps working adults advance in their careers.

Q: There’s a narrative that Gen Z and Millennial workers are less interested in career advancement, or that they are dialing back their career ambitions to prioritize a healthier work-life balance. Is there truth to this?

Westfort: It’s a myth that younger workers are disinterested in career growth. A recent InStride survey found that when looking for a new job, over 80% of adults seek education benefits to help them advance in their careers. It isn’t that Gen Z and Millennial employees are shunning the corporate ladder; they’re just uncertain—about how AI will change or eliminate jobs, about the economy, job market, and what career mobility looks like at their job.

Q: What do you think is causing this uncertainty?

Westfort: Younger generations are finding their paths to advancement blocked—not by their own choice, but by a lack of employer direction and development opportunities. And when companies aren’t transparent about how to move upward or in a new career direction, employee engagement suffers. This worsens when there aren’t clear gains to pursuing a promotion or pivoting to a new role.

Q: Can you provide an example of a company that missed the mark on this?

Westfort: Take WeWork as an example. Before its failed IPO, WeWork was known for its chaotic internal culture. This included rapid expansion but a lack of coherent strategies for career advancement and professional development. The absence of clear career pathways combined with leadership controversies damaged employee morale and retention, ultimately contributing to the company’s broader struggles.

Q: What should companies do to address this issue?

Westfort: To do things right, companies must change their approach to consider what Gen Z and Millennials want: autonomy, purpose, and professional growth. The solution InStride found meets these needs and keeps employees climbing the corporate ladder. That solution is career education paths, which connects opportunities to learn and develop skills with opportunities to move onward and upward at work.

Q: Can you share a story of a company that successfully implemented career education paths?

Westfort: Intermountain Health, a healthcare system with 60,000 caregivers, offers career education paths in project management, social work, cybersecurity, and more. It funds tuition costs upfront through their education program, PEAK. Two years in, participating employees have a 2.5 times higher likelihood of promotion compared to non-participants, and Intermountain has retained 94% of all participants.

Q: What strategies can other companies use to build effective career education paths?

Westfort: Three main things come to mind.

1. Companies should make sure the educational programs they offer align with attainable career milestones. If your company tells you about the promising future of a career in cybersecurity, they should provide you with an understanding of how you can get there from your current position.
2. Employers should lay out the relevant education needed to grow into a role, along with the expected skills and experience—a clear path forward.
3. Workplaces should champion education as central to their growth strategies. This means providing financial support for courses and access to personal education advisors.

Q: Why is it important for companies to financially support education for their employees?

Westfort: Advancing in any career demands an investment of time, money, and energy. When a company financially supports education that aligns with career growth, it empowers employees to make decisions they are confident will pay off in the short and long term. By taking this approach to career education and mobility, companies can re-engage and retain their workforce and demonstrate a genuine commitment to employee growth, ultimately turning the tide on turnover and dissatisfaction.

Q: It sounds like it’s not that Gen Z and Millennials don’t want to climb the corporate ladder; they just need a clearer path forward.

Westfort: Exactly. These generations are eager to advance, but they need transparent and supportive pathways to help them navigate their careers.