Professional training holds a unique place in the French economic landscape. Framed by public systems and partially funded by OPCOs, it remains underutilized by the majority of organizations, especially the smaller ones. As the regulatory framework tightens and jobs transform under the influence of artificial intelligence, the question is no longer whether to train teams, but how to align this lever with the company’s growth strategy.
Tightening of apprenticeship funding and impact on the training plan
Decrees No. 2025-585 and No. 2025-586 of June 27, 2025, have modified the conditions for covering apprenticeship costs. This tightening reduces the economic interest of certain arrangements that allowed companies to train at a lower cost through alternation.
For leaders, this means that the return on investment for each training action must be recalculated. A skills development plan built solely on the logic of subsidized alternation becomes fragile. Apprenticeship is also showing signs of slowing down after several years of expansion, according to Constructys’ 2025 activity report.
This evolution pushes companies to diversify their approaches. Short training sessions, internal certification pathways, or online modules are regaining interest, not as a trend, but because their costs are more predictable and their deployment faster. Platforms like Académie Entreprise provide access to structured pathways that align with this budget management logic.
Training for societal changes: an angle neglected by companies
Most articles on professional training focus on digital transformation. The BVA survey published in 2025 for Opco EP reveals a different angle: local companies express a need for training related to societal changes, not just digital tools.
Changes in customer expectations, new forms of work organization, adaptation to environmental constraints: these topics require skills that neither initial training nor a simple e-learning module cover. Training employees to understand changes in customer behavior has a direct effect on commercial performance.
What this changes for skills development
A training plan that is limited to technical skills misses part of the issue. Field teams, those in contact with customers, need frameworks for understanding societal changes to adapt their posture and offerings.
Concretely, this implies integrating into skills management modules that are not included in traditional catalogs:
- Training in customer relations in the context of energy sobriety or changing consumption habits
- Workshops on new employee expectations regarding work organization (flexibility, autonomy, meaning)
- Awareness courses on local regulatory issues that directly affect the company’s activity
Artificial intelligence and job transformation: training beyond the tool
The 2025 activity report from Constructys explicitly identifies the appropriation of artificial intelligence as a skills development issue. The nuance is significant: it is not just about learning to use software, but about understanding how AI transforms the very nature of jobs.
An accountant using an automation tool does not perform the same job as before. Their role shifts towards analysis, consulting, and anomaly detection. Training this employee on the tool without rethinking their position amounts to investing in a skill that will quickly become obsolete.
Mastering training time: a real operational constraint
The CSA/Factorial study on the relationship to work in 2025, reported by Actuformation, highlights a rarely addressed barrier: the time constraint increasingly weighs on employees’ ability to train. Long formats, multi-day seminars, and extended courses clash with the reality of schedules.
Companies that achieve concrete results with professional training are those that adapt formats to this constraint. This does not mean reducing everything to micro-learning, but designing pathways that respect the available time of teams.
Measuring the effect of training on growth: the limits of traditional indicators
Most companies measure the effectiveness of their training by participant satisfaction rates or the number of hours delivered. These indicators say nothing about the actual impact in terms of performance or growth.
The available data do not always allow for a direct link between a training program and an increase in revenue. Field feedback varies on this point: some organizations see measurable productivity gains after targeted training, while others struggle to isolate the training effect from other variables.
Some avenues allow for refining the evaluation:
- Comparing the operational performance of a trained team with that of a control team over a defined period
- Tracking the evolution of talent retention rates after implementing a structured training plan
- Measuring the time between training and the concrete application of acquired skills in daily professional life
- Evaluating the reduction of errors or non-compliance in the relevant positions
A training plan that does not include its own outcome indicators from the outset risks becoming an expense item without identifiable return. Skills management gains credibility with financial departments when it is accompanied by concrete, even partial, data.
The regulatory context is tightening, jobs are being reconfigured under the influence of AI, and employee expectations regarding professional development have never been so explicit. Companies that integrate training into their growth strategy, with adapted formats and reliable indicators, have an advantage that their competitors will take time to catch up with.
