In today’s workplace, the idea of career growth as a steady, upward climb has become obsolete. Change is no longer episodic; it is constant, accelerated by AI, shifting demographics, and an employee base that increasingly seeks personal, professional, and purposeful development. In such a landscape, growth cannot be a milestone. It must be an environment.
Across India, this need is sharper than ever. A 2024 upGrad Enterprise report found that 50% of the workforce received no training in FY 2024–25, while 75% of those who did only participated because it was mandatory. As organisations grapple with automation and AI, this development gap represents not just a talent challenge but a competitiveness issue. At the same time, an ET–Great Learning 2025 survey reveals that 85% of Indian professionals are actively planning to upskill in the coming year, signalling a workforce that wants to grow if employers build the systems for it.
Within Mint India’s Iconic Workplaces framework, the principle of Boundless Growth becomes especially defining. It asks organisations to move beyond incremental upskilling towards a deeper cultural shift: from static job descriptions to evolving capabilities; from episodic learning to everyday development; from treating growth as compensation, to treating it as the core of how work is experienced.
Breaking the Plateau: Why Long-Term Employees Need Reinvention, Not Routine
One of the clearest tests of an organisation’s growth culture lies with its long-term employees. Tenure brings wisdom, but it can also bring inertia. When routine replaces challenge, even the most committed employees risk disengagement and this is not out of lack of ambition, but because their environment stops stretching them.
Atul Goyal, CHRO, VCL Group, captures this tension with nuance, “Growth for long-term employees should feel like evolution, not mere repetition. Over time, many employees become comfortable in the same environment, which can lead to professional stagnation. For such employees, organizations must actively nurture curiosity and create fresh challenges to keep even the most seasoned talent engaged and motivated.”
Goyal also adds how this reinvention can be enabled: “Organizations should give employees an opportunity to reinvent themselves through expanded roles, specialist tracks, or refreshed titles that make them feel valued through lateral movements.” He further emphasizes that when organisations introduce internal job mobility through cross-functional projects, interim rotations, or stretch assignments, it sparks curiosity and fresh thinking, ensuring that learning never stops and purpose stays alive. This is a powerful reminder that long-term employees don’t plateau because they lack capability; they plateau because the workplace stops being a place of discovery.
Prateek Dubey, CHRO, Mankind Pharma, brings an evocative metaphor to this challenge, drawn from Indian mythology, “Like Lord Hanuman, who discovered his boundless power only when reminded of it, our long-term colleagues too hold immense potential waiting to be unleashed. Through digital enablers, future-ready growth plans, and purposeful challenges, we empower them to rediscover their strengths, break barriers, and become the true enablers of transformation and impact.”
The message is clear: organisations must remind employees of their own power. Growth is not something given; it is something unlocked.
The New Shape of Growth: Personal, Professional, Purposeful
Today, growth is multidimensional. Employees want to build skills, but they also want to build identity, autonomy, and meaning. As Goyal notes, “Today, employees aspire for holistic growth: personally, professionally, and with a sense of purpose. Organizations can no longer rely on traditional career ladders alone; they must create environments that nurture every dimension of growth.”
This demand is reflected clearly in India’s emerging workforce. According to a recent IANS-reported survey, 60% of Gen Z and fresh graduates in India are actively upskilling in AI and data skills, signalling a decisive shift toward continuous learning and future-facing capabilities. Complementing this, LinkedIn data shows that Gen Z professionals in India spend 73% more time learning than older generations, driven largely by their desire for digital fluency, leadership readiness, and long-term relevance.
Digitisation and AI are reshaping how this learning is delivered. Goyal adds, “Employees can now learn in the flow of work, receive real-time feedback, and explore stretch opportunities without waiting for formal training cycles. Technologies like AR and VR make learning immersive and impactful, while AI ensures that the one-size-fits-all model of training gives way to tailored learning journeys that meet individual needs.” Beyond skills, he emphasises, the future of growth lies in helping individuals find meaning in their contributions.
AI: From Enabler to Learning Architect
AI and digital tools are no longer support systems, they are becoming the architecture of personalised, predictive learning. Dubey captures this evolution through Mankind Pharma’s scientific lens, “We see the future of learning much like the evolution of medicine, from generic to personalized, from reactive to predictive, and from manual to AI-enabled precision. Digitization and AI are our modern-day Sanjeevani Booti, not only reviving potential but also accelerating upskilling with the precision of molecular design. Just as researchers map genomes to discover hidden cures, AI will map skill genomes; uncovering adjacencies, predicting future competencies, and creating adaptive learning formulations for every individual.”
This idea of a “skill genome” reflects a broader macro trend. According to NITI Aayog, accelerated AI adoption could add US$ 500–600 billion to India’s GDP by 2035, making AI-driven workforce transformation an economic necessity, not just an HR priority.
Dubey’s outlook is equally future-facing, “In the next five years, growth will not be a one-size journey but a living lab of immersive simulations, predictive analytics, and continuous re-engineering, ensuring that our people are not only industry-ready but truly future-ready and purpose-ready.”
Leaders as Growth Translators
Growth environments cannot thrive without leadership that communicates change with clarity and care. In India, 61% of professionals report high or complete trust in their business leadership, a strong foundation for transformation. AI and workplace digitisation have the power to unsettle people, but leaders can convert that uncertainty into inspiration.
Salil Lal, Executive Director & CHRO, Maruti Suzuki India, puts it this way,“The future of work is being rewritten by AI and innovation. Our role as leaders is to make this evolution humane; to connect every transformation with meaning, opportunity, and shared purpose so our people move forward with confidence, not fear.”
Lal also underscores the importance of internal employer branding in this context,“The strongest employer brands are built from within. When employees deeply believe in the company’s mission and see their role in its journey, it fosters clarity, alignment, and a lasting emotional bond that no external campaign can replicate.”
This inner alignment, between organisational purpose and personal aspiration then becomes critical.
The Promise of Boundless Growth
In an era where disruption is constant and skills risk becoming obsolete overnight, investing in Boundless Growth is the bedrock of resilience. When companies design for perpetual reinvention, be it through lateral career paths, AI-powered learning ecosystems, and leadership that speaks to meaning, not just metrics; they do more than empower individuals: they future-proof themselves. In building such environments, they don’t just create workplaces; they forge organisations that are alive, where each person’s potential is neither capped by tenure nor defined by role, but measured by possibility.
For those striving to become truly iconic, the Mint India’s Iconic Workplaces Program, in partnership with Deloitte, provides a roadmap for embedding this unending rhythm of growth: renewal, purpose, and collective evolution. Because in tomorrow’s transformative world, it is not the strongest who survive, but those who keep growing.