The AI era is massively reshaping the workforce. As companies deal with a tight labor market, they’re looking to enhance productivity with technology. At the same time, workers are looking to boost their skills so that they too can evolve alongside their companies, not only ensuring they keep their jobs but advance in their careers.
“Employers and leaders are being asked to do more with less, and that means you need each person inside of your organization to be the best possible version of themselves, because you need the output and productivity to go up,” said Bijal Shah, CEO of education benefits company Guild, which provides a platform for employees to earn degrees and certificates to advance their careers.
Shah, who was named to the 2025 CNBC Changemakers list, said that disruptions like AI that reshape companies and the economy require workforces to be more resilient. That’s needed for both workers and their companies to stay competitive. On top of that, Shah said this form of workplace mobility, or the ability of workers to adapt and evolve to fill in-demand jobs, is a crucial indicator of what companies and workers will adapt to these disruptions or fall behind.
“CEOs and their leadership teams are spending a lot of time thinking about, ‘How am I going to do more with less?'” Shah said. “Therefore, things like ensuring that your best possible people stick around, those that carry domain expertise and knowledge, is really important.”
Key to that, Shah said, is a focus on building out career ladders within organizations: it’s those workers who not only can grow into critical talent but are also more likely to stay with their companies.
Paul Marchand, chief human resources officer at Charter Communications, the telecoms company that employs more than 90,000 people, said there is a “virtuous cycle” when it comes to implementing these sorts of talent development programs.
“The more somebody is with us and working hard and growing and developing, the more they’re going to be committed to the customer experience, ensuring customers are satisfied and taken care of, which leads to that retentive nature of a customer,” Marchand said. “Ultimately, that’s our business goal.”
In 2023, Charter launched a tuition-free education benefit for employees in conjunction with Guild, providing a structured career progression program. Marchand said that to-date, about 13% of the company’s workforce had either enrolled or completed courses, the vast majority of those employees being in frontline, customer-facing roles.
For employees that have taken advantage of the program, they’ve been promoted at a 20% higher rate than other workers, Charter data showed. Those workers are also 19% more likely to stay with the company, the data showed.
“We’re seeing the desire for a career path and a promotable ability, as opposed to, ‘yeah this is just a job,'” he said. “Now they feel that they’re part of a team, they feel engagement, they feel empowered, and they feel like there’s a pathway for them, and that opens up all these conversations.”
Shah said in this workforce environment where companies are looking for highly productive workers, making sure these sorts of programs are available and that workers are aware of those types of pathways is critical.
“People who are willing to invest in themselves, people who are willing to stick around at their employer, and people who are willing to evolve their competencies and become better at their job are all becoming increasingly more important,” she said. “You’re starting to see employers grapple with this, and then ask themselves, ‘What can I do to help my workforce keep up with what’s required?'”
