Frédéric Hébert unpacks findings from Rise Up’s 2025 State of Learning Report, exploring why L&D is gaining influence but still struggles for strategic investment. To truly lead growth, learning must align with business outcomes and speak in a language the board understands or is at risk of being left behind.
Across industries, the perception of workplace learning is shifting. Roles are becoming more fluid, the need for upskilling and reskilling is increasing as technology evolves, and businesses are trying to find value wherever they can amid uncertain economic times.
That means L&D, once viewed as a basic support function for compliance or onboarding, is becoming one of the most reliable engines for business growth. In an increasingly scarce talent pool, the ability to upskill people quickly and keep them engaged has become a competitive advantage in and of itself.
The importance of L&D has never been clearer
Organisations that treat learning as a strategic investment rather than a standalone business function are seeing the payoff in more agile teams, stronger performance cultures, and better retention. But while the importance of L&D has never been clearer, its place at the decision-making table is still not guaranteed.
Perception is reality
According to Rise Up’s 2025 State of Learning Report, more than half of business leaders (51%) now consider L&D initiatives central to organisational success, up from just 41% last year. However, despite this progress, there remains a gap between the perception of what L&D should be and the reality on the ground, primarily due to uneven uptake at the board level.
Only 30% of leaders approve more than three-quarters of L&D initiatives, suggesting that many initiatives still get turned down, either due to budget constraints or a failure to demonstrate the true value of L&D and communicate it up the chain. It’s respected for the impact it has on people, but L&D is still fighting to prove its quantitative impact on revenue and growth. The coming year may well decide whether learning cements its role as a strategic growth driver or continues to sit on the sidelines of business planning.
The proof is in the people
For all the challenges around budgets and boardroom buy-in, the evidence that learning can be a substantial driver for growth and a competitive differentiator is mounting. According to the report, 55% of L&D leaders reported measurable improvements in employee engagement, 41% saw higher retention, and nearly a third (31%) noted significant productivity gains since increasing their focus on L&D.
Teams that feel equipped to do their jobs well are more motivated, more loyal, and more resilient to change. And in that sense, L&D is more than just a mechanism for teaching skills; it’s the foundation for building a long-lasting, resilient culture. But there’s still an imbalance in how that kind of success is being measured.
The most celebrated wins remain internal, focused largely on people and performance, while the data linking L&D to outward-facing metrics like customer satisfaction, innovation, or revenue growth is still thin. Only 18% of respondents said they could directly tie learning expenditure to revenue gains, and even though that figure nearly doubled from last year, it signals there’s more work to be done. It’s progress, but slow progress.
Learning has proven its worth in shaping better workplaces, but it hasn’t fully closed the loop to show how those improvements ripple outward into broader business performance. Until that connection is drawn using language that executives truly care about, L&D will continue to be praised in principle but underfunded in practice.
The alignment gap
This tension between L&D’s rising influence and the limited executive backing it receives runs deep. Despite the clear evidence of its beneficial impact, many L&D leaders say their proposals still struggle to gain traction at the top. Comments from respondents in this year’s report reinforce the idea that L&D tends be one of the first areas to get deprioritised when things get tough. Learning budgets are among the first to be cut, initiatives are “diluted across teams with no coherent oversight,” and leadership often “feels there isn’t time to dedicate to L&D.”
This points to a fundamental misalignment between what L&D measures and what business leaders prioritise. Even when L&D teams do a good job of proving engagement and retention gains, senior decision-makers are looking for harder proof, metrics that tie directly to growth, revenue, or customer outcomes.
That disconnect also plays out in how budgets are managed and reported. One in five respondents admitted they don’t know what their organisation spends on learning, and more than a quarter were unsure whether budgets had changed over the past year. This lack of visibility weakens L&D’s case for greater investment and makes it difficult to establish accountability for outcomes. In effect, L&D is caught in a feedback loop: it’s expected to demonstrate value without the resources or data to do so. Breaking that cycle will require a shared language between L&D leaders and the board that frames learning not as a business cost, but as a business enabler.
Reframing learning and development
If L&D is to secure lasting influence, it needs to make a stronger commercial case for its existence. That means shifting the conversation from course completions and satisfaction scores to outcomes that resonate with senior leaders such as productivity, innovation, customer experiences, and ultimately, revenue. There are some promising signs of this evolution, but consistency is key. Until learning data is tracked, analysed, and shared with the same rigor and enthusiasm as financial performance, L&D will continue to operate on the side-lines of business and its potential will remain locked.
Frédéric Hébert is Chief Learning Officer of Rise Up
