gility. It is what the modern workplace demands. And it applies not only to the systems and but also to people, or emplpyees. The recent employee training statistics underline that employees need to evolve, while companies need an efficient system to help them do so and close a skill gap.
Wonder how HR and training departments navigate the change? Where the training market is going? Let’s dive into the latest L&D statistics to identify the trends, employees preferences, and ways to implement learning and development programs.
Employee Training Statistics Show a Need To Close a Skill Gap
With the rise of AI, adoption of new technology, and creation of new software systems, the job roles are evolving, implying that both hard and soft skills are redefined.
According to the Future Jobs Report 2025, 39% of workers believe the core skills will change by 2030.
Interestingly, it is lower than in the previous years and may be explained by the fact that leading organizations are adopting new approaches to preparing their workforce.
In this regard, it’s worth stating which types of skills would be subject to reskilling. Spoiler alert: they refer to soft skills and technology-related skills.
In particular, Wiley underlines that around 80% of respondents in their report on the workplace claim that soft skills are critical, especially in the face of AI development.
Well, it coincides with what the respondents of the Future Jobs Report list as the key skills in the upcoming years. Here’s the list of the most demanded ones backed by the share of employees who consider it vital:
- Analytical skills (69%)
- Resilience, flexibility, and agility (67%)
- Leadership and social influence (61%)
- Creative thinking (57%)
- Technological literacy (51%)
- Empathy and active listening (50%)
- Talent management (47%)
- AI and big data (45%)
Quite a list, right? Yet, it underlines that employees want to be ready for the changes and offer value. From there, it’s hard to ignore that reskilling and upskilling become defining factors for their career development.
For instance, according to SHRM, more than 50% of workers realize that the continuation of their career requires new skills to be learnt in the next years.
At the same time, the research of the University of Phoenix states that more than 70% of employees see learning skills as a necessity to advance in their career ladder.
The same goes for the organizations, as they are saying they experience skills gaps now and expect them in the future.
- McKinsey claims that almost 90% of companies experience such an issue, of which 43% are encountering a skill shortage now, 22% expect it in 2 years, and 22% will need to upskill employees in 3-5 years.
- Gallup underlines that 26% of U.S. employees believe that their organization advocates for learning new skills.
- LinkedIn L&D statistics show that 91% of L&D specialists deem continuous learning to be paramount for workers’ careers, while 88% of companies see the provision of learning opportunities as a key for employee retention.
For businesses, it becomes not only a matter of growth, but retention of employees. A strategic focus on reskilling allows building internal mobility and raising talents to lead the organization in the future.
L&D Statistics on Training Implementation
Yet, understanding the challenge and issues does not mean answering them, right? That’s why it’s crucial to understand how organizations are doing. A piece of employee training statistics from this section may tell you that you are doing just fine. Or not.
Let’s have a look at how the leading companies are doing:
- The PWC’s poll provides that around 46% of workers would agree with the notion that their employer offers sufficient training programs and other opportunities to support their career.
- The same Future Jobs research demonstrates the rise in the share of employees who have already completed training courses in terms of the L&D strategies at their workplaces, from 41% in 2023 to 50% in 2025.
- Simultaneously, Pew Research states that in 2024 more than half of workers took a class in the last year (53% to be specific). For a majority of them (62%), the rationale was to answer the industry demands.
- The 2024 LinkedIn Report says that about 40% of companies have well-organized and developed career development programmes.
- The data from Delvin Peck says that 20% of all training comes from social learning, in particular, mentoring, coaching, and knowledge sharing between workers.
Having this data, we can conclude that a fair share of companies worldwide implement training programs for their employees.
Highlight: It’s hard to ignore a growing and consistent focus on continuous education and implementation of L&D strategies. They recognize that it is the practical solution to anticipate future shifts and manage skill gaps.
How Do Companies Provide Training?
Now, if you are a trainer in the organization, you may be wondering how corporate specialists deliver training. Yes, there are plenty of delivery techniques, but what are more effective than others?
The learning and development statistics may give you some hints, and see what the best practices in training delivery are:
Forbes reports that around 40% of the companies in the Fortune 500 apply eLearning for professional development. The 2024 LinkedIn Report says that 68% of companies that have leadership and career initiatives rely on online training courses to implement them.
So, online training is really a common practice and may prevail over desktop training, if the format allows and where it is appropriate.
In this regard, we should underline that some industries still rely on traditional methods. Even though 66% of employees consider on-the-job training the most advantageous when improving expertise and learning, not all of them imply online training.
Moreover, Training Industry provides research showing that L&D departments prefer certain types of training to be delivered in person.
For instance, 41% and 40% of companies give up remote training for the in-person method of delivery when handling management/supervisory programs and onboarding, respectively.
Nevertheless, the role of technology is hard to ignore. The training and HR specialists will continue to find better ways to automate and make their job easier with new tools.
A piece of employee training stats from the UpsideLearning Report says that more than 70% of L&D specialists explore the application of mobile devices to back up learning.
There, it often coincides with the microlearning approach known to be a preferred method for training by 58% of employees for its relevance and conciseness (Oakinnovation).
Learning and Development Stats: Is there room for AI?
Notably, mobile learning is not the only innovative L&D specialists use.
The latest LinkedIn Report (2025) illustrates that AI may be a great helping hand, as 71% of trainers are actively experimenting with integrating AI technologies into the program creation and strategy development.
From there, we may suggest that workforce trainers and L&D personnel may not need to sacrifice scaling for personalization, just by finding a new solution that would help them scale.
Read more: Best AI-powered LMSs
Employee training statistics: What are the most used tools?
Lastly, it would be fair to show how corporate organizations and L&D implement online learning software and techniques in their training delivery. The aforementioned Training Industry research suggests that:
- Almost 90% of respondents use LMSs, 27% of them apply learning content management software, and 85% use virtual classrooms or conference tools to provide training.
- Knowledge management systems are used by only 18%, while 26% of companies use application simulation tools, and 17% integrate podcasting.
- Virtual and augmented reality remain are least used technology, where only 10% and 7% of companies implement them for training delivery.
Highlight: Companies are likely to look for a more universal solution, like an LMS or training platform that will offer a centralized approach that later may be improved or customized for specific departments.
Read more: Best Learning and Development Tools
L&D Statistics: Can We Outline Trends?
All in all, one can’t ignore that there’s a shift toward a strategic and tech-enabled approach in training at the workplace. Employees recognize the need to learn new soft and tech-related skills, while companies face growing skill gaps.
That’s why organizations bring in training strategies as they value the need of employees for upskilling and see long-term investment in it.
There, half of the workers now participate in learning initiatives, and many organizations embed continuous learning into career development strategies. So, a huge trend is that corporate training becomes more learner-focused.
What about delivery? Online and mobile learning, microlearning, and the use of AI in L&D are becoming the standard.
Besides, the widespread adoption of LMS platforms (used by 90% of companies) reflects the push for scalable and centralized solutions.
Yet, online training is not the perfect format for all. As some companies do switch back to in-person training.
Want to know more about trends? Read more about them in our next article.
