Ask most organisations whether they take learning and development seriously, and the answer is almost universally ‘yes’.
New research from Lyceum Education Group and FT Longitude, based on insights from 2,000 UK employees, suggests that on the surface, this confidence is well-founded.
Employees broadly agree, with 79 per cent saying they would recommend their employer as a great place to learn. And 85 per cent say lifelong learning is part of their organisation’s culture.
However, ask employees about their recent training experiences and a more complicated picture emerges.
A chasm has opened up between organisations’ ambitions for building future-ready capabilities within the workforce and the on-the-ground confidence in these skills.
The most effective organisations are already bridging that gap. Our analysis of the 100 best UK learning organisations points to how.
Ambition is high and conditions for change are promising
A majority (70 per cent) of organisations report that they are actively planning for the skills and roles they will need in the long term. This figure suggests workforce planning has moved well beyond simply reacting to the immediate and the operational.
In practice though, the employee experience tells a different story. For instance, nearly half of respondents (48 per cent) rate their own capabilities in emerging areas such as AI, cyber responsibility and sustainability mindset as merely ‘adequate’ or ‘poor’.
Despite stated commitment to future-focused learning, many employees do not yet feel fully equipped to meet the emerging demands they are increasingly facing in their roles.
Businesses agree; 44 per cent say they are not fully satisfied with the current emerging skills capabilities within their workforce.
Data on how training has been received adds further texture to this picture. Almost one-third of employees express dissatisfaction with their most recent training experience. This is a striking finding in an era where learning technology has never been more personalised or accessible.
For many organisations, frustratingly, L&D has an ROI problem to solve. Resources are being poured into learning without it converting into notable capability growth.
Many employees do not yet feel fully equipped to meet the emerging demands they are increasingly facing in their roles
What the best employers do differently
The data from Lyceum Education Group’s index of the best 100 organisations to learn with hints at what separates the strongest organisations from those still finding their footing. It has considerably less to do with the scale of investment. It’s more to do with the intentionality with which they govern and evaluate it.
Among the top 30 organisations, 97 per cent own and champion learning solutions at C-suite or board level. This is compared to a significantly lower proportion among the lower-ranked employers.
When training is championed at the top, it ripples throughout the organisation and learning is more likely to be viewed as a priority.
Crucially, leadership ownership boosts the link between learning and business performance. When leaders shape learning agendas, capability building is more in line with priorities, ensuring training translates into impact.
This is reflected in outcomes. For instance, 89 per cent of employers see improved motivation and say it’s important for retention (88 per cent). While 85 per cent report higher productivity, alongside gains in customer relationships (62 per cent) and innovation (61 per cent).
The protection of dedicated budgets is another differentiating factor. Many top-ranked organisations (eighty-seven per cent) ringfence their L&D investment, insulating it from the short-term pressures that so often erode good intentions, compared to fewer than half of lower-ranked employers doing the same.
In a climate where discretionary expenditure frequently becomes the first casualty of financial pressure, investing in people is essential to long-term performance rather than incidental to it.
Professional development pathways
This sustained investment is reflected in the breadth of learning opportunities made available to employees. The index reveals a rich picture of the programmes and pathways that the UK’s best employers are putting in place.
The most widely offered include:
- Certifications (83 per cent)
- Advanced apprenticeships (78 per cent);
- Short courses (75 per cent)
- Higher apprenticeships (73 per cent)
- Internships (73 per cent)
- Work experience programmes (72 per cent)
- Alongside professional qualifications (63 per cent)
- Online learning platforms (57 per cent).
Apprenticeship adoption is particularly strong, with 85 per cent of employers offering at least one level and many providing progression routes across multiple stages.
Higher apprenticeships are especially prominent, reflecting their growing role as a vehicle for ongoing professional development.
Programme breadth is a clear differentiator. On average, leading organisations offer more than 14 distinct pathways. This ensures employees at different career stages, with different learning preferences, can access relevant opportunities.
This variety is strongly linked to overall performance. It reinforces a simple point: a diverse, well-developed learning offer is a defining feature of high-performing organisations.
On average, leading organisations offer more than 14 distinct pathways
You can only improve what you measure
But leadership ownership, protected investment and strong governance only create impact when they are clearly tied to performance.
Learning needs to be a practical tool that genuinely helps individuals perform better in their roles, build confidence in critical skills areas and affords them the agility to respond to a fast-moving technological landscape.
Almost all top 30 organisations (97 per cent) are tracking learning outcomes through defined metrics, creating feedback loops and data-led insight to understand what is working, what isn’t and refining learning on this basis.
This matters because when learning is delivered well, the positive impact is widely felt by teams.
In fact, 79 per cent of employees say that well-delivered learning increases their confidence and motivation at work, has a positive impact on loyalty (57 per cent), and improves their ability to perform in their current role and progress in their career (76 per cent).
This impact is even more pronounced in organisations that support more flexible, “squiggly” career paths. This is a term coined by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis, founders of the UK-based career development company Amazing If.
Employees at these organisations are 17 percentage points more likely to feel they are evaluated on skills over experience and are more likely to report increased enjoyment at work.
Importantly, the most mature organisations go further than tracking completion or satisfaction. They focus on whether learning is applied in the flow of work and whether new skills are embedded into day-to-day tasks and are driving measurable business outcomes.
Raising the benchmark for what ‘good’ looks like
One of the driving ambitions behind the index was to establish a new benchmark to not only celebrate those organisations performing well but also to raise expectations across the board for what effective L&D looks like in practice.
This is now more important than ever in a context where external change is accelerating, skills are becoming increasingly volatile and demand is outpacing what hiring alone can solve.
In this environment, adaptability becomes the defining capability. Organisations that treat learning as a continuous, strategic function will be best placed to respond.
