The new ROI of work: Why lifelong learning is now a competitive advantage

Markets are shifting faster than job descriptions. By 2030, employers expect nearly 2 in 5 core skills to change (World Economic Forum, 2025), and skills gaps are now the #1 barrier to business transformation (World Economic Forum, 2025). 

If your workforce strategy still treats learning as a perk, you’re leaving competitiveness on the table. Across Europe, the ambition is rising (60% of adults engaged in learning annually by 2030), yet participation is uneven: the EU sat at 46.6% in the last Adult Education Survey, with wide country level gaps (Eurostat, 2025). The takeaway: demand for learning is rising, but supply (and access) isn’t keeping pace.  

What the numbers say and how work actually feels today  

On Monday morning, a product lead realizes something subtle but decisive: the roadmap is stable, yet the capabilities needed to deliver it keep bending. That’s the new normal. The question isn’t “what will change?”, it’s how fast your people can learn when it does.  

As Sylwia Gorska, Future of Work Expert and former IKEA Chief People Officer, put it on stage at HR Summit, Bucharest Tech Week 2025: “We used to learn to qualify for a job. Today we work in order to learn.”  

In organizations that translate this mindset into career‑driven learning, the data shows a different performance curve: when skill growth is visibly tied to mobility (internal gigs, stretch work, leadership pathways), companies outpace peers on profitability, retention, and AI readiness (LinkedIn, 2025).

People learn faster when they can see the next step and take it inside the company. The pattern repeats at the civic level. UNESCO’s Global Network of Learning Cities keeps expanding because learning is designed into everyday life: streets, libraries, workplaces, homes (UNESCO, 2025). The corporate parallel is straightforward: when access and habit are designed‑in (not bolted on), participation rises and skills keep pace with work.

A simple operating model for lifelong learning in practice  

Sylwia Gorska argues for a 0–1–2–3 learning habit that scales from individuals to teams to organizations: 

• 0 – Intent & reflection: clarify why learning matters to your role and team now. 

• 1 – One hour/week minimum: make learning a scheduled, non-negotiable block (≈8.5 minutes/day on average). 

• 2 – Two goals: one personal microgoal + one role/organization aligned goal. 

• 3 – Share with three people: teaching compresses time to competence and spread practice. 

  
  

She links the habit to natural patterns of growth often illustrated by the golden ratio/Fibonacci motif in nature and then grounds it in practice: “…if we apply the model zero one, two three continuously, you see that compound growth which we saw in nature.” 

How to turn this into traction in Q1–Q2 

Starting from Sylwia Gorska’s 0–1–2–3 habit (0—intent, 1—one hour/week, 2—two goals, 3—share with three), we translated the personal practice into organization‑level levers. 

1. Design for habit, not heroics. Codify 1 hour/week of protected learning time across teams (managerowned), with two declared goals per person and a monthly peershare ritual. Tie shares to sprint reviews or allhands to normalize “learn → apply → teach.”  

2. Link learning to mobility. Adopt “careerdriven learning” paths (rolebased, justintime) and publish internal gigs/rotations as the default next step after a learning path.  

3. Build a metrics stack the business cares about. Move beyond course completions to timetocompetence, internal fill rate, skills coverage vs. roadmap, % roles with learningbacked successors, and revenue per employee in AIexposed workflows.  

4. Meet the macro with microcredentials. Map your top five “atrisk” capabilities (e.g., data literacy, AIassisted workflows, cybersecurity hygiene, green compliance, stakeholder communication) and issue stackable badges tied to performance outcomes not just content (promotions, project eligibility, or pay bands). 

Lifelong learning isn’t a program. It’s an operating system for organizations navigating AI, green transition, and demographic change. Start small, instrument it, then scale and let growth compound. 

Sources

1. World Economic Forum (2025). The Future of Jobs Report 2025 

2. Eurostat (2025). Adult Learning Statistics 

3. European Commission (2025). Education & Training Monitor  

4. LinkedIn Learning (2025). Workplace Learning Report 2025: The Rise of Career Champions. 

5. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (2025). 72 Cities from 46 Countries Join UNESCO’s Global Network of Learning Cities 

6. HR Summit 2025 - Sylwia Gorska, Future of Work Expert, Former IKEA Chief People Officer. Conference presentation and interview footage.