Smaller, high-impact training investments and strategic skills mapping can push performance metrics and productivity targets, say experts
“When people feel empowered to do their jobs with the right skills and updated skills, they feel more fulfilled, more engaged, and able to drive their own work into alignment with the organization's goal at the end of the day.”
So says talent strategist Tamara ElSahyouni, who believes that a strategic training and development program can drive not only retention, but also fuel the push towards an organization’s business goals. “At the organizational level, we're also making sure that whatever skills we need are provided to the staff, and the organization has more control over the kind of skills that are needed to align with the strategic direction of the organization,” says ElSahyouni, who points out the difference in necessary skills in a healthcare environment versus a financial environment, as an example.
However, many Canadian organizations are still treating learning as a discretionary perk, even as evidence shows it should be treated as a profit lever, says Alan Kearns, managing partner and founder of CareerJoy. “From a training perspective it's what we see comparatively is that that we tend to underinvest in training compared to the US, and companies that invest in a data-driven approach to learning development are 46 per cent more likely to be rated as high-performing organizations,” he says, citing his organization’s Work Made Better Report 2025.
Training investment lagging in Canada
According to Kearns’ research, the spending gap is stark. “Canadian employers invest roughly $889 per employee in training and about two-thirds of employers spend less than $500 per employee,” he says. “That’s well below US and European standards, so we underinvest considerably in Canada.
For Kearns, this isn’t an abstract HR concern. He sees low training spend show up directly in disengagement and turnover. “If you look at the return on investment, you're looking at $1.45 for every dollar invested in training, optimization, and engagement, materializing in less turnover and all the benefits of engagement,” he says.
He also says that most people want to grow in their career, and a talent development program is a key catalyst for that. “It's like a gas tank — you can't draw down, you've got to fill up your tank,” he says.
AI is a three-dimensional risk – and opportunity
If legacy training budgets are misaligned with business need, the gap around AI
is wider, according to Kearns, who calls AI a “three-dimensional ecosystem,” not just another desktop tool HR can roll out with a quick tutorial. “AI is much more sophisticated, much more comprehensive, and there’s much more opportunity to make a difference,” he says.
A 2025 KPMG study found that 24 per cent of Canadians said they had received training in AI and 38 per cent said they had moderate or high knowledge of AI, compared to 52 per cent globally. A 2024 study by the Future Skills Centre found that 44 per cent of employed Canadians who used AI tools at work had not received any formal training.
That mismatch is more than a skills issue; it’s a trust and change-management problem, says Kearns. “Organizations, I don't think, quite understand the fear people have of loss when you're introducing AI tools, which is a lot different than the SAAS age or the desktop age,” he says.
Guardrails before upskilling in AI
ElSahyouni agrees that AI is forcing HR to confront training as a strategic choice rather than an optional extra, but she says most organizations are still jumping ahead to tools and tactics before they have the basics in place.
“It's hard to answer the question of designing training for AI to be an effective tool if we don't take a step back and think about setting the AI framework in general on an organizational level,” says ElSahyouni. “My experience so far is AI is very promising and it has proved so many streamlining of processes in different areas, but there needs to be an organizational framework policy regarding the use of AI and the leverage of AI, and then it can trickle down in terms of people development and skills development.”
ElSahyouni also believes that that HR can’t ignore AI until the dust settles. “If organizations don't take hold of it and put on the guardrails and the framework, staff are going to use it, abuse it, and leverage it — and maybe risk the leaking of data, whether the organization wants it or not,” she says.
HR as a strategic operator that can push development
For years HR has been populated by “caring good HR leaders” who lacked the strategic toolkit to stand toe-to-toe with finance or operations, says Kearns. “I think the new generation of leaders are bringing that,” he says. “It really is the age of the strategic business advisor.”
ElSahyouni sees the same shift in her work in talent development. Instead of accepting generic course catalogues, HR leaders are starting with a skills map: “There's a performance management framework that allows HR leaders and organization leaders in general to get an overview of skills mapping in the organization and assess where there’s a risk to the organization,” she says.
Smaller, targeted investments to fill skills gaps
Once skills and training gaps are visible, the business case becomes sharper for HR leaders to bring to the table. “Skills and skills development don't always necessitate big investments,” she says. “You start by investing on the areas that have the bigger impact but sometimes smaller investment that will trickle down to the staff.”
In order to champion the value of training and talent development, ElSahyouni says she’s a believer in numbers. “In my opinion, successful HR leaders are able to translate behavioral numbers into organizational numbers and show the impact on the organizational productivity,” she says. “It does take work, but also taking a step back and looking at the overall performance in the organization.”
She also says that shifting the organization’s focus on skills and skills development doesn’t always necessitate big investments. “There are lots of settings and work environments where you can be quite creative in terms of skills development,” she says. “One is always making sure that you're developing your leadership because your leaders are your best coaches for your staff — they’re the ones who are exposing the staff to new skills or new projects, or probing them and challenging them into new opportunities or new skills — so you start by investing on the areas that have the bigger impact but sometimes smaller investment that will trickle down to the staff, and then translating into numbers and showing senior leadership which investment brought higher productivity.”
Talent development as a leadership pipeline
Both experts single out frontline and mid-level leaders as the highest-stakes bet HR can make for pushing training as a strategic imperative. Get leadership development wrong, ElSahyouni warns, and the consequences ripple through performance and retention.
“A good leader in place is someone who's retaining staff, having higher productivity, motivating staff well, and then growing the organization,” she says. “A leader that's not well trained in the organization is a sucker of their own leader’s time and has a direct consequence on employee relations because they don't know how to deal with their employees’ issues, as well as a burden on HR.”
This article is part of our Monthly Spotlight series, which in April focuses on training and development. Full coverage can be found here.
