How HR leaders can help employees embrace lifelong learning and why closing the mindset gap matters for Australia’s workforce
A new report from Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), released in November 2026, reveals that roughly 63% of adults aged 25 to 64 – close to 8.6 million people – had no interest in structured learning or workplace training in 2024-25.
For HR leaders, the question is not simply whether training programs exist. It is whether people believe learning is worth their time at all.
How can HR leaders build the case for lifelong learning?
JSA’s report, Adult Learner Cohorts: Unpacking Adult Learning Participation and Demand, identifies four distinct adult learner segments. The largest, by far, is those with no demand for learning whatsoever.
“It’s never been more important to participate in lifelong learning,” said Megan Lilly, JSA Deputy Commissioner. “Increasingly, that will depend on not only being supported by our employers to gain and apply new skills, but our own individual willingness to adapt and learn.”
That individual willingness is where HR leaders can intervene. The JSA report draws on adult learning literature to identify a key driver of disengagement: low self-efficacy, or a reluctance to try because people doubt they will succeed. Participation in almost any form of learning has been found to improve self-efficacy over time.
HR leaders should not begin with high-stakes mandatory programs. Low-cost, low-risk opportunities — taster sessions, peer learning circles, or bite-sized modules — build confidence before bigger commitments are introduced. Organisations prioritising learning and development as a strategic priority are better positioned as skill demands accelerate.
Job design matters too
The JSA report makes another finding HR leaders should take seriously. Highly routine, low-autonomy work actively suppresses motivation to learn. When employees see no opportunity to use or develop skills in their current role, the perceived value of learning outside it also drops.
Job design is not just an operational concern — it is a talent development tool. Stretch assignments and cross-functional projects make learning feel purposeful rather than imposed. Bottom-up job crafting lets employees shape parts of their role to align with developing interests.
Framing learning and development differently helps, too. Training positioned as growth rather than a gap to be fixed lands differently with sceptical learners.
What about women with unmet demand?
One group deserves particular attention: women face compounding structural barriers at work.
The JSA report found that three-quarters of work-related training undertaken by male employees happened during work hours only, compared with two-thirds for female employees. Women were also more likely to self-fund their own training, according to JSA’s analysis of the NCVER VET student outcomes survey, 2016–25. Among women in households with children under 15, unmet demand for learning peaked mid-career, between ages 35 and 44.
Flexible scheduling and employer-funded training are good starting points. Both directly address the cost and time barriers the JSA data identifies as the most common obstacles for women with caring responsibilities.
Just 31% of Australian adults engaged in formal or non-formal learning in 2024-25 – down from 40% in 2013. The figures come from JSA’s analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Work-Related Training and Adult Learning survey. HR leaders cannot solve this alone, but starting with job design and low-risk learning opportunities is a practical first step toward shifting the culture around lifelong learning.
