Life Long Learning

September 8 2025 - For decades, the success of landing a desirable career correlated with someone's educational success. The traditional route to a career typically progressed from GCSEs, A Levels, a degree and finally landing a job, before climbing the career ladder.

However, it has become increasingly clear that candidates who have pursued a traditional education aren't always well equipped with the skills needed to enter the workforce. The demands of work are changing, and emerging technologies and shifting workforce expectations, have left many businesses with a challenging skills shortage.

Businesses can no longer rely on traditional education to address this growing skills gap, and instead, must shoulder the responsibility of upskilling the workforce themselves. As such, HR leaders are starting to rethink their learning programs, to close this gap internally.

Learning should last a life time

Formal qualifications from GCSEs through to PhDs once prepared students and young adults for their future careers. However, in a world of rapid growth and evolution, curriculums quickly become outdated and skills have a shorter shelf life.

As businesses face these challenges, many are rethinking their approach, Jess Powell, Learning and Development Manager at Node4, explained: "It is important for businesses to focus on evolving and enhancing their learning and development (L&D) strategies to ensure they continue to meet the needs of the growing workforce."

That means putting robust processes in place like SMART objectives and targeted training plans to help employees progress in ways that are specific to the individual. Powell added: "Investing in employee learning and development is essential - it enhances job satisfaction, grows a team with a diverse range of skills and improves talent retention."

This shift signals a bigger change for HR and L&D teams. With skills becoming outdated at faster paces, internal upskilling is now an imperative for businesses to stay competitive in their market.

Closing the skills gap is now a business strategy

The pace of technological change is accelerating exponentially, and as a result organisations are scrambling to close skills gaps before they widen further. In fact, across the economy, around half (44%) of businesses have skills gaps in basic technical areas.

As the growing skills gap continues to cause real business problems, many companies are doubling down on internal L&D strategies. With efforts made to empower employees to learn continuously, organisations not only strengthen their workforce but build capabilities from within.

Becky Wallace, Head of People at LearnUpon, discussed this latest business concern: "The pace of technological change is rapidly shortening the shelf life of skills. As technologies like AI transform roles once considered safe from disruption, skills stacks and competencies are often out of date the day they're published."

A focus on development goes beyond ticking boxes for compliance and other mandatory training. It's a strategic measure to create pathways that meet business objectives by keeping the workforce ahead of the curve.

Becky added: "Transferable learning skills will transcend the expiration of certain tasks and technologies, maintaining their value. By taking a fluid approach to skills development, organisations can support employees while ensuring their business is able to fully leverage every digital transformation investment that's made."

A continuous investment into the workforce, will keep business ahead of a skills gap. Additionally, with this in place, businesses can expect to see an advantage in use of technology.

From Onboarding to Everboarding

One of the biggest challenges organisations may face when implementing a new, more robust learning system, is overhauling the current structure. For many organisations, employee training has been front-loaded during onboarding, only to be neglected as an employee progresses within their role. However, this approach no longer works and businesses need to think beyond onboarding entirely.

Mark Williams, Managing Director EMEA at WorkJam, championed: "Continual learning is particularly important for the frontline workforce, who often have to pick up new tasks and skills on-the-go. For frontline employees, training shouldn't end with onboarding - it should evolve into everboarding: a continuous, tailored development journey that supports individual learning needs over time."

Technology can play a role and digital workplace apps now make it easier to deliver training in a manor best suited to the individual, allowing employees to learn at their own pace. Williams explained: "By providing easily accessible, bitesize training modules, frontline staff are able to complete these at a time that suits them - whether that is in a quiet period on a shift or to check processes in real time on-the-job - giving them the control over their learning and boosting engagement."

'Everboarding' isn't just about training, it's about developing a continuous program to help employees feel supported and become more confident in their roles.

Career Pathways

For many entering the workforce, the traditional narrative that a degree guarantees success is ringing untrue. Results days mark the start of a journey into further education, offering a gateway into future careers. But students don't need to have all the answers right now and they can use the years ahead of them to build valuable skills through less traditional methods of education.

Jessica Shorten Hood, Product Manager C&I at Epson, commented: "University is just one route to a fulfilling career. Apprenticeships and entry-level roles can be equally powerful starting points, offering the chance to earn while learning, gain industry-specific experience, and develop transferable skills such as problem-solving, communication, and teamwork."

Hands-on experience can be just as powerful as a university education, equipping employees with transferable skills that last a lifetime. Jessica added: "What matters most is maintaining curiosity and a willingness to learn."

Traditional education is no longer a golden ticket to a great career. Additionally, employers can't expect the skills gap to close for them and instead must invest in robust and ongoing employee training. This isn't just a HR initiative anymore, lifelong learning is now an imperitivebusiness strategy. Companies that embrace it will not only close their skills gaps but also strengthen employee engagement, retention, and overall performance.