Perceptyx's European State of Learning & Development report draws on the 989 employees surveyed across 11 European countries as part of a broader July 2026 Workforce Panel of 2,992 employees across North America and Europe. The question running through it is the same one that shaped the global study: employees clearly value the learning they're getting, but do they know where it's supposed to be taking them? Across Europe, the findings show meaningful variation by job level, industry, and country.
Seventy-one percent of European employees say learning happens within the flow of their daily work rather than separate from it. The same proportion also says it produces behaviour change that sticks. More than three-quarters rate their organisation's approach to learning as at least moderately effective. Confidence runs high on the personal side too, with 72% of employees saying they're confident they can learn whatever their changing job requires, and 69% already knowing which skills they personally need to build next.
The takeaway from all of this is that employees aren't waiting to be convinced that development is crucial. Most have already made peace with it.
Only half of European employees see a clear learning strategy at their organisation for the next year or two, a 21-point difference from the 71% who say learning produces real change. In practice, a visible learning strategy means employees can see how their development connects to where the organisation is headed and which capabilities it considers most important. Fewer than six in ten say learning keeps pace with how their role is actually changing, and just 55% believe their organisation is actively building skills for the roles ahead of them.
Employees are confident they can adapt, but they're considerably less confident their organisation has a plan for what they're adapting to. Closing that gap requires giving employees a clearer view of which capabilities are becoming more important and why, not simply adding more content to the learning catalogue.
Sixty-six percent of employees say they have access to learning that could support their career, but only 52% can point to an actual opportunity waiting for them inside their organisation, a 14-point gap between what's available and what employees can see coming from it. That gap matters because employees are more likely to stay with organisations that connect learning to visible career outcomes. Part of the fix here is definitional. Development doesn't have to mean a straight line to promotion. Lateral moves, reskilling, and expanded responsibility all count as real destinations, but only when organisations treat them that way and make them visible rather than leaving employees to assume promotion is the only outcome worth chasing.
Sixty-four percent of employees say their work environment supports applying what they learn, and 60% say their manager actively encourages it. Both numbers provide a positive signal, but they sit on top of a much shakier foundation: only half of European employees say they have enough time during working hours to participate in learning in the first place. That constraint shows up everywhere. Across four of the largest industry groups in the study, the share who feel they have enough time for development never climbs above 51%. Manager support helps, but it doesn't solve a problem that ultimately comes down to hours in the day.
Sixty-seven percent of executives see a clear learning strategy, compared with just 39% of individual contributors, and that same split repeats across career opportunities, feedback-driven updates to learning, and whether the organisation keeps investing in development during uncertain times.
Country and industry data show meaningful variation in both strategic clarity and time for development. Among the three largest national samples, employees consistently rate the learning experience itself more favourably than the strategy surrounding it, though how wide that gap runs varies from country to country. The pattern holds across industries too: limited time for development shows up as a constraint everywhere, even as strategic clarity and future-role preparation swing more widely depending on the sector.
Employees on both sides of the Atlantic report similarly strong behaviour change from learning—just three points apart. The gap widens meaningfully once the conversation shifts to pace and time. European employees are 12 points less likely than their North American counterparts to say they have enough time for development, and 9 points less likely to say learning is keeping pace with how their role is changing. Together, these findings indicate that the two regions diverge less on learning quality than on the capacity employees have to put that learning to use.
The findings point to a few clear priorities:
Make strategic direction visible. Organisations need to be more explicit about which capabilities matter next rather than trusting that employees will keep adapting on their own. Employee confidence is already high; what's missing is a clear signal about where that confidence should be aimed.
Broaden the definition of career growth. Lateral moves, reskilling, and expanded responsibility should read as real destinations, not as consolation prizes for employees who aren't on a promotion track.
Address capacity directly. Manager encouragement and a supportive environment cannot substitute for actual time, and that shortage cuts across nearly every industry and country in the study.
A workplace learning strategy is an organisation's plan for building the skills employees need to meet current demands and future goals. It covers what employees should learn, when they learn it, how that learning gets delivered, and how the organisation will measure whether it worked. Perceptyx's 2026 European State of Learning & Development report found that only half of European employees can see a clear learning strategy at their organisation for the next year or two, which points to a common gap between plans that exist internally and plans that have been made visible to the people they're meant to serve.
Most organisations invest in learning content but stop short of communicating the strategic rationale behind it. Perceptyx's 2026 European State of Learning & Development report shows a 21-point gap between the 71% of employees who say learning produces lasting behaviour change and the 50% who can describe a clear learning direction for the next year or two. When employees don't know which capabilities the organisation is prioritising or why, they keep developing skills without understanding how those skills connect to where the business is heading. Closing that gap requires organisations to be explicit about which capabilities matter next, rather than trusting that employees will keep adapting on their own.
Time is the primary barrier, not motivation or manager support. Only half of European employees say they have enough time during working hours to participate in learning. Perceptyx's 2026 European State of Learning & Development report found that across four of the largest industry groups in the study, the share of employees with adequate time for development never climbs above 51%. Sixty percent of employees say their manager actively encourages learning, but encouragement alone does not create more hours in the day. Organisations that want employees to engage with learning need to protect dedicated time for it, not just endorse it in principle.
See how your organisation's approach to L&D compares with the Perceptyx People Strategy Assessment, a free diagnostic covering six areas: organisational priorities, scale, culture, listening maturity, AI maturity, and L&D.
Read the full State of Learning & Development in Europe report for the complete findings. If your organisation is ready to measure where these gaps exist in your workforce, Perceptyx lifecycle surveys and AI Agents can identify L&D barriers at the employee level and surface priorities your leadership teams can act on.