A new study from the IZA Institute of Labour Economics (Silliman & Willén, Beyond Training: Worker Agency, Informal Learning, and Competition, Sept 2025) shows what many of us already feel: most skills at work aren’t built in classrooms or course catalogues. They grow informally; on the job, with peers, through mentoring, and self-study.

The findings are clear:

• Informal learning drives higher-order, transferable skills.
• Competition makes people learn more and workers push themselves, firms invest more.
• Worker agency is the key to skills that stick.

This shifts how we should think about L&D in the UK. It’s not that firms shouldn’t offer training, or that content has no value. It’s that content alone won’t deliver the skills that matter.

What’s missing is investment in the context where learning actually happens.

So the next time you buy a library or a course catalogue, ask yourself a harder question:
Where will the learning actually happen?

If you can’t answer that, or want help with it, get in touch.