Learning at work: embedding AI in daily life

Photographic portrait of Gordon Sandford
Gordon Sandford

EY Canada Partner, Digital Transformation, Future Ready Workforce, Consulting

6 minute read 14 Apr 2026
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Workforce

Learning in the flow of work: use apprenticeship and on-the-job coaching to build AI skills, reduce change fatigue and turn ambition into advantage.

In brief

  • Tech change and instability are overwhelming workers; traditional training can’t keep pace, despite steady L&D spend and ongoing talent shortages.
  • Most employees use AI, but few organizations see big results; project-based, on-the-job learning helps turn AI use into new ways of working.
  • Embed learning in daily work via apprenticeship/mastery: adaptive content, personalization, role relevance, collaboration, and coached practice to de-risk AI shift.

As tech changes at an astonishing pace, it’s time for Canadian organizations to rethink learning at work. Turning advanced tech into a business advantage requires a new approach to skills development, one that’s grounded in apprenticeship and on-the-job learning.

People across the workforce are understandably overwhelmed. It feels like technology evolves faster than we can keep pace. While human knowledge is certainly increasing at an accelerating rate, the half-life of that knowledge is shrinking fast as the volume of compounding stressors grows by the day.

In addition to a dramatic uptick in technological advancements, people are also grappling with economic and geopolitical instability. These forces create additional anxiety about everything from rising costs to tighter job markets and tougher financial decisions.

Research from the Academy to Innovate HR shows that 90% of learning and development budgets stayed the same or increased over the last year.1 Even so, the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 indicates 63% of employers say talent shortages are holding back progress.2

And while workers across demographic groups want their employers to prioritize learning and development, EY found that most US professionals say they don’t feel their employers’ investments in that area.

The EY 2025 US Generations Survey shows only 36% of respondents have the impression their company is investing in their professional growth and development.

For employers, that’s sort of like joining a gym and wondering why you’re still out of shape. To capitalize on AI’s potential, organizations need to help their people learn new ways of working and support them in building the skills and with confidence they need to use AI effectively over the long term.

Yet, in environments that experience nearly constant disruption, people are being pushed to a tipping point: immunity to change takes hold, defensiveness kicks in and traditional learning models fall short.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Moving beyond those pitfalls requires more than just training. Reframing learning, training and coaching around hands-on experience can empower people to learn from one another and thrive even in the most complex operating environments.

This comes down to building an effective apprenticeship and mastery model that lets people learn by doing. While the technology is new, on-the-job training is a time-tested approach.

How EY can help

Apprenticeship learning helps organizations turn AI ambition into advantage

The EY Work Reimagined 2025 study shows that while 9 out of 10 employees now use AI at work, only 28% of organizations are getting big results from it. Employees are using AI to save a little time, but not changing how work gets done.

 

There’s a common theme connecting those 28% of organizations that are achieving transformational results from AI. These leaders have honed five people-focused capabilities that work together to support change.

 

This approach works by introducing practical, project-based learning so people can close gaps and learn in alignment with their day-to-day work. That’s different than traditional training methods, which have come to pose real challenges in the new landscape.

 

For example, traditional learning, like large-scale, online training programs, tends to be:

  • Static and delivered at a point in time. This limits learners’ access to instructors., and learning programs quickly become outdated.
  • Constrained to a virtual classroom or desk. One-time learning is often out of context and disconnected from people’s daily tasks in the digital era. In fact, science has shown that without reinforcement, we forget up to 90% of what we learn within a week.3

By contrast, when learning is woven right into the flow of work, it blends theory with practice.  Your people see the work, do the work and get coached while doing the work. Real projects, real problems, real-time feedback. They learn while producing value, not in some virtual classroom from three years ago.

 

Embedding learning in the flow of work creates value and derisks the shift to AI
 

How can you get started?

 

We recommend weaving learning academies into the flow of work in keeping with five guiding principles. Aim to foster learning that:
 

1. Keeps up with how fast things are changing. To stay ahead of change in the operating landscape, you need to monitor industry trends and adapt learning strategies accordingly. Continuous scans and regular reviews help learning reflect reality as the world continues to change.

Focus on:

  • Delivering industry-advanced, technical content with adaptive, enduring capabilities.
  • Providing immersive content that draws on day-to-day roles and experiences.

2. Feels relevant and personalized. Mastering complex skills takes repeated practice in real work settings. Think about the kind of learning that will be most impactful for your people and give them opportunities to personalize that learning to their own experiences. Bake that approach into your organization’s culture to support learning success over the long term. Research shows 65% of workers prefer to learn on the job. You can scale that impact and futureproof learning by providing meaningful and engaging experiences.

 

Focus on:

  • Shaping learning through tailored learner journeys and personas.
  • Sparking personal investment through relevant, on-the-job experiences.

3. Clearly connects with real work and real goals. When learning feels deeply connected to someone’s specific role and contribution at work, it takes on greater importance. At EY, we’ve seen this concept take shape through our EY Badges learning program. We strategically blended virtual learning courses with required real-world application to advance to the next accreditation level. This entrenched apprenticeship and mentorship within professional development, helping people see the daily benefit of new skills.

Focus on:

  • Inspiring a purpose-driven approach to work and learning.
  • Linking learning with performance management and growth.

4. Revolves around collaboration and real-world challenges. According to collaborative EY-University of Oxford research across 23 countries, 96% of organizations experience at least one turning point over the course of a project or transformation program. Addressing those moments by focusing on the human element can improve the chance of program performance by up to 12 times and improve the chances the learning will take hold. Collaboration and communication help ground learning frameworks in people’s true needs.

Focus on:

  • Embedding learning into the flow of work.
  • Sharing knowledge through a community of practice.
  • Working together to address problems and share experiences.

5. Supports learning through experience, practice and peer sharing. A leading global researcher on work and technology, Dr. Matt Beane consistently points out the importance of challenge, complexity and connection when learning valuable skills. People need opportunities to work near their limits, engage with the big picture and build bonds of trust and respect to truly master a new skill.4

A hybrid approach of learning channels embedded in an apprenticeship model allows for that to happen. When you create multi-lane learning journeys, your people can acquire a skill and test it out with guidance from someone who’s already mastered the skill and knows when to layer in new levels of complexity. We see this with our teams daily through our work in the Modern Government Academy. Over time, this empowers the learner not only to know different things, but to be capable of behaving differently in any context.5

Focus on:

  • Developing hybrid models that pair formal learning with apprenticeship.
  • Align coaches and mentors to identify pivotal moments in the challenge, complexity and connection journey.

What’s the bottom line?

Retrofitting old ways of learning onto new ways of working isn’t effective. Reframing learning through apprenticeship models that allow people to gain skills in the flow of work can make a positive difference. Embracing five leading practices to move in this direction can realign learning to support your people and unleash technology’s full potential.


Summary

Technology and instability are overwhelming workers, and traditional training can’t keep pace even as learning budgets rise and talent shortages persist. While most employees already use AI, few organizations see transformational results because AI is used to save time rather than change how work gets done. The document recommends shifting from one-time, static programs to apprenticeship-style, project-based learning embedded in the flow of work. Five principles guide this approach: stay current with change, personalize learning, connect it to real goals, build collaboration around real challenges, and reinforce mastery through practice, coaching, and peer sharing.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.