A recent study of 520 Canadian firms with 50 or more employees found that companies whose staff regularly upgrade their skills report stronger innovation and lower turnover than those where few workers pursue further training. Even so, only about a quarter of employees take up the courses their firms make available. The study, says its author Corinne Whitfield, raises the question of why the gap persists and how it is best closed. "It matters," Whitfield says, "because in twenty-first-century Canada people like to believe, rightly or wrongly, that a career is built on effort, not on luck."

Marcus Leblanc, who teaches organizational behaviour at the University of Waterloo, argues that the shortfall is mainly for employees themselves to remedy, since it stems from the guarded way they approach a new course. Whereas some workers will readily sign up the moment a program appears, he maintains, most hang back until they are sure the training will not expose a weakness. "A good many people treat asking for development as somehow admitting they fall short," Leblanc observes, "and that hesitancy holds them in place, which is ironic, since the steadiness it reflects is exactly what demanding roles reward. The remedy, in the end, lies with workers, who simply need to step forward."