Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • December 13, 2022
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review Digital Articles

6 Ways Companies Fail to Help Workers Grow

By: Joseph Fuller, Matthew Sigelman and Nik Dawson
  • Format:Electronic
ShareBar

Abstract

The authors recently studied Fortune 250 companies and ranked them based on the lived experience of three million of their U.S. workers. One of their key findings was that even top-ranked firms fail to deliver consistently on worker advancement. To understand why this is happening, the authors then grouped underperforming companies based on measures of opportunity creation and were able to identify six archetypes of underperformance. In this article, they describe each of those six archetypes in detail and then recommend three main areas that underperforming companies should focus on to improve the upward mobility of their workers: consistently measuring outcomes, investing more in training, and letting go of archaic business models.

Keywords

Personal Development and Career; Training; Business Model; Outcome or Result; Performance Evaluation; Opportunities

Citation

Fuller, Joseph, Matthew Sigelman, and Nik Dawson. "6 Ways Companies Fail to Help Workers Grow." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (December 13, 2022).
  • Register to Read

About The Author

Joseph B. Fuller

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Into the Raging Sea: Final Voyage of the SS El Faro

    By: Joseph B. Fuller and Mel Martin
    • 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Managing Workforce Risk in an Era of Unpredictability and Disruption

    By: Joseph B. Fuller, Michael Griffiths, Reem Janho, Michael Stephan, Carey Oven, Keri Calagna, George Fackler, Robin Jones, Sue Cantrell and Zac Shaw
    • January 16, 2023
    • Harvard Business Review (website)

    40 Ideas to Shake Up Your Hiring Process

    By: Joseph Fuller, Nithya Vaduganathan, Allison Bailey and Manjari Raman
More from the Authors
  • Into the Raging Sea: Final Voyage of the SS El Faro By: Joseph B. Fuller and Mel Martin
  • Managing Workforce Risk in an Era of Unpredictability and Disruption By: Joseph B. Fuller, Michael Griffiths, Reem Janho, Michael Stephan, Carey Oven, Keri Calagna, George Fackler, Robin Jones, Sue Cantrell and Zac Shaw
  • 40 Ideas to Shake Up Your Hiring Process By: Joseph Fuller, Nithya Vaduganathan, Allison Bailey and Manjari Raman
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College