Executive coaching for all 

We’re back! And today, we’re taking a deep dive into one of the hottest corporate benefits on the market at the moment: executive coaching. Except it’s no longer just about the executives. More companies are providing access to coaching as a benefit at every level of the organization.

Leaders know that in order to stay competitive in today’s still-hot job market, it pays to offer more personalized and exclusive perks. That being said, career and personal development companies everywhere are seeing a windfall. Tech companies ranging from Meta to Zendesk have deployed coaching services to swaths of employees.

• Coaching platform Ezra is one of the many companies that has seen a major boost from the new interest in offering more personalized perks. This year alone, Ezra is expected to deliver about 250,000 coaching sessions in 86 countries to a variety of different types of groups within organizations.
• “I think part of the reason why coaching and all of these companies are getting into this space is because, as human beings, we are so used to having everything completely personalized. And yet, when we turn up in our office, most of the stuff we do is not personalized,” said Nick Goldberg, founder and CEO of Ezra.
• One of the companies that has embraced coaching services as a benefit is Envoy, a workplace tech company. It’s dove in headfirst, allowing its employees to choose what career development support they feel they need most. The company offers all its workers access to an L&D credit that can be spent on any executive coaching service or learning development.

What can you expect to get out of offering coaching to your employees?

• The services, though still very much an effective tool for career development, are really being leveraged more as a secret weapon for engagement and retention. While many companies are employing coaching to solve leadership challenges related to DEI, change management and leadership development, it turns out it’s also a proven way to get employees to stick around.
• Coaching service Torch found in its own data that employees who’ve had coaching have a 38% higher retention rate and teams are 15% more engaged compared to their uncoached cohort.
• Torch also did a case study with Zendesk after it kicked off a leadership development program aimed at training employees and managers to address the challenges experienced by underrepresented talent in the workplace. What they found: 91% of participants saw an increase in their motivation to take on more responsibility and own their careers.

After learning all of this, I wanted to find out for myself what employees can expect from these cushy new services and benefits hitting the market. A couple of weeks ago I did a trial with Skye, a coaching marketplace with a majority female user and coaching base.

• So, full disclosure: I’ve been to therapy (highly recommend this to all). I mention this because I thought I should be good at this whole coaching thing! Spilling my guts to a stranger? Easy! But the first thing you learn in coaching is that this is NOT therapy. It may look and sound a lot like it, but your coach does not want to know your deepest, darkest secrets.
• What they do want: for you to show up and be honest about your values as they relate to your career so they can better help with your development.
• With Skye, I started by filling out a profile in which I had to identify my core values to be matched with an appropriate coach for my career and development goals. I then participated in a virtual consultation with Skye’s co-founder Jessica Wolf to do further reflection to find out just what type of coach I needed. While I thought I needed a straightforward career coach to help me figure out how to be an even better journalist and employee (you’re welcome, editors), it turns out I was actually much more in need of a coach who could help me focus on clarity and honing all my ideas.
• So how did the actual session go? Though it’s not therapy, it is very much an intimate and personalized conversation. I spoke with my chosen coach for an hour, engaging in self-reflection exercises and identifying my values and the work that ignites my interests.
• The one unexpected hang-up I had was moderating just how much I thought I should share. This is probably something that will give many employees pause. Though there are confidentiality agreements with coaches on all the platforms, it’s natural to be concerned that some information could get back to your bosses if they are the ones paying for it (though every service I spoke to guaranteed strict confidentiality).
• Last, though the focus is professional, the coaching sessions do venture into the personal. Many coaches want to know more about your personal life to better understand how you approach various situations and challenges at work. I personally welcomed this, but it might not be for everyone.
• Overall, I’m a fan of this trendy new benefit and left my coaching session more energized and focused than before joining the call. Hold on while I go ask my HR rep if I can renew my subscription.

— Amber Burton, reporter (email | twitter)