Company HQ: Research Triangle Park, NC
Industry: Research Services
Company Size: 5,000+ Employees
Once we created the philosophy, we really pushed on the culture. This was a three-month conversation of culture change.
92 - 128
The Number of Mentor Relationships Has Increased by 36 Since February 2019
508 - 585
The number of Unique Users (Non-Managers) Rose by 77 Since the w/e 7th October 2019
70.2%
of Users Were Satisfied With the New Career Experience
62%
of Unique Logins Were Returning Users
31%
of Mentors Have Dedicated 10- 20 Years of Service to RTI International
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RTI International is an independent, non-profit research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Clients rely on them to answer questions that demand an objective and multidisciplinary approach — one that integrates expertise across the social and laboratory sciences, engineering, and international development.
Combining scientific rigor and technical proficiency, RTI International delivers reliable data, thorough analysis, innovative methods, novel technologies, and sustainable programs that help clients inform public policy and ground practice in evidence. They scale their approach to fit the demands of each project, delivering the power of a global leader and the passion of a local partner.
Their experts hold degrees in more than 250 scientific, technical, and professional disciplines across the social and laboratory sciences, engineering, and international development fields. Their staff of more than 5,000 works in more than 75 countries — tackling hundreds of projects each year to address complex social and scientific challenges.
Business Challenge
In 2017, RTI International’s Employee Survey results showed that their employees felt:
- Growth and development opportunities were not visibly available
- There was no clear connection to how learning impacted one’s work
- There was not enough time or resources to complete training
- No obvious way to gain leadership or management support, training, or development
- Verbatim comments included the word Mentoring often
RTI International was looking for a solution that provided a Mentoring application, a Feedback tool, as well as something that would help leaders with career conversations.
Solution
HR Tech Stack
System of Engagement: Fuel50
System of Record: Oracle
DEVELOP & GROW – An enterprise-level learning and development (L&D) vision and strategy to:
▻ Modernize, innovate, and meet the talent development needs of their global institute
▻ Enhance and spread the employee growth and development experience at the institute
RTI utilized a Design Thinking process to overhaul their current leadership and employee development programs. They phased the rollout of their programming to avoid overwhelming employees and worked to provide a scalable global solution: something for everyone but not everything for everyone.
“We did a ton of research on what mentoring should look like.” – RTI Leader
“Our talent is our number one asset.” – RTI Leader
Phase One
Introducing the ability to find and connect with others in the organization, both as mentors and mentees. A chance to learn from colleagues of all levels.
Phase Two
Providing leaders with key career insights for each of their team members and a platform to support, train, and develop them.
Phase Three
Giving people a clear line of sight to opportunities in the business, both lateral and vertical, for career growth and development.
Phase Four
Creating career development plans and empowering leaders to support greater internal talent mobility.
Results
Within the first year of implementing Fuel50, RTI International began to see strong outcomes in career engagement and mentoring. By November 2019, the number of mentor relationships had increased by 36 since February, reaching a total of 128. During the same period, the number of unique users (non-managers) climbed to 585, up by 77 in just over a month, reflecting rapid adoption and enthusiasm among employees. Engagement measures were also strong, with 70.2% of users satisfied with their new Career Experience and 62% of logins coming from returning users.
Beyond adoption and satisfaction, the platform delivered insights into the workforce’s values and career motivations. RTI employees identified their top career engagers as meaning, quality, learning, achievement, and balance, supported by personal values such as trustworthiness, integrity, reliability, kindness, and honesty. Development data highlighted leading talents in influencing, decision making and critical thinking, and strategic leadership, pointing to areas where Fuel50 was helping surface and develop critical strengths.
The mentoring program was reinforced by a deeply experienced group of contributors, with 31% of mentors bringing 10–20 years of service to RTI International. Career style analysis showed strong representation in Organizing Analytical and Creative Analytical profiles, further illustrating the depth of expertise and diversity of thinking within the workforce. Together, these results demonstrated the early success of Fuel50 in scaling mentoring, deepening career satisfaction, and providing actionable insights to guide talent development at RTI International.