Fostering meaningful careers and essential career development with EY wavespace™

EY is seizing the moment to reimagine talent management, creating fresh opportunities for individuals to pursue meaningful development that feel tailored and personal. Learn more.

In brief

• In today’s fast-paced world, top talent is seeking more than just a job; people crave learning experiences that resonate with their personal values and aspirations.
• Organizations that recognize and respond to this need help their people thrive and cultivate a sustainable talent advantage in a competitive landscape.
• The EY wavespace Rotator Program is our commitment to empowering employees on their unique career journeys. We believe every client engagement is more than just a task; it’s a chance for our team members to acquire new skills, develop essential capabilities and shape their own growth paths.

Leading organizations evolve ways of working to foster talent. They also humanize employee experiences, recognizing the need to enhance continuous learning experiences using individualized development. At EY Canada, meaningful initiatives like the EY wavespace Rotator Program allow us to integrate client work into flexible career experiences that nurture a talent advantage and benefit everyone involved.

Why is it essential to integrate personalized growth opportunities to empower employees on their unique career journeys and retain top talent? Many employees are actively seeking new opportunities, embracing shorter tenures, and pursuing a more authentic and personalized work experience that aligns with their aspirations.

As talent flow becomes foundational in Canada, it’s increasingly important for organizations to create a talent advantage grounded in aligned strategies for an untethered culture, expanded rewards and agile skills building.

This individualized approach to talent management can help employers here attract — and retain — top talent. In fact, the EY 2024 Work Reimagined Survey shows 32% of organizations with this kind of strategic, advantaged people function are 7.8 times more likely to say their company has successfully navigated external pressures.

At EY, we embrace this thinking and evolve our learning offerings continually. For example, EY wavespace is an immersive, professionally facilitated experience that exists to help clients collaborate and address complex challenges faster. These sessions bring relevant stakeholders together and use design-thinking methodologies as well as innovative technologies to codevelop thoughtful approaches to strategic questions. Important: EY wavespace experiences also represent an opportunity for our people to develop their skills and help them think differently.

Transforming EY wavespace Rotator Program into purposeful employee growth opportunities

Conceived to provide a real-life learning lab for our employees, the EY wavespace Rotator Program offers staff a six-month learning and career advancement opportunity. Participants join hands-on client workshops and collaborative sessions, bringing their diverse perspectives to complex business challenges.

Through this process, our people sharpen their individual skills, turning existing capabilities into powerful assets. By focusing on skill specificity and personal growth, the program helps pave the way for further development and career trajectory.

Specifically, those who complete the EY wavespace Rotator Program:

1.Grow with purpose.
 We created this program to help people continue developing as leaders, innovators and connectors — designing their EY wavespace experience as a launchpad. This kind of experience can be a career gamechanger.

Says Julien, a recent program participant: “The trust and opportunities the team provided were huge for my self esteem.” The experience allowed him to embrace his authentic self and discover a newfound passion for design thinking.

Similarly, Amanda shares her experience: “At EY wavespace, I had the opportunity to explore innovation and creativity in business in a whole new light. I learned to design engaging and memorable thematic workshop experiences for clients while discovering an unexpected sweet spot for applying my artistic skills through illustrated deliverables and graphic recording. This experience has enabled me to effectively combine my creativity with strategic business objectives in a professional services context, giving me the tools to continue to craft novel and differentiated experiences for our clients.”

Today, Julien’s not just a tax professional; he’s an EY wavespace champion in his department, leading sessions with major clients and significantly enhancing those relationships.

2. Impact the team.
 Participants become catalysts for change: people enabled with fresh methods, creative energy and a new lens for approaching complex problems. These individuals build their own brand as EY wavespace champions and often become ambassadors in their business units who share their journey internally, help others grow and expand their professional networks.

Like Julien, Emma’s EY wavespace Rotator Program journey was enlightening. In her words: “I’ve developed strong facilitation skills and pushed myself out of my comfort zone.” The creative freedom she experienced let her explore her unique style and contribute to real initiatives now being implemented by account teams. Emma has gained invaluable experience, strengthening her confidence in leading impactful discussions in her practice group at EY and beyond.

Ceren also gleaned significant insights from her time in the program. She discovered that much of what she learned could be directly applied to EY’s Consulting practice. “Defining the problem space and cocreating with clients instead of just presenting them with a complete approach has been key,” Ceren explained. The networking opportunities she encountered also led to her being staffed on a project, marking a significant milestone in her career.

3. Join a community.
 The program journey doesn’t end after six months. Employees then have the option of becoming a member of the EY wavespace alumni and provide employees with the chance to stay connected with the EY wavespace team. This empowers program participants to reinforce learning and tap into supported growth over the long term.

For instance, program alum Sophia said she honed essential skills in hosting large-scale client sessions focused on innovative approaches to problems. Bringing her experience from her assurance background, Sophia led sessions that showcased audit tools and the EY investment in technology and AI, empowering our workforce. Now a manager, Sophia contributes to initiatives like “Win Digital” and “Talent Activation,” facilitating client sessions that highlight innovative tools to enhance audit capabilities as part of a thriving community of EY wavespace professionals in Canada and around the world.

Connecting our people through initiatives like the EY wavespace Rotator Program benefits the organization. By offering genuine and personalized employee experiences such as this, we can address their unique needs and individual expectations, enabling people — and the business — to move forward.