The Real Way People Learn at Work
Picture this: You’ve just joined a new company. HR has handed you a 40-slide orientation deck, IT has set up your laptop, and your manager says, “All the processes are in the knowledge portal.” But the first time you actually figure out how to claim travel expenses is when your teammate whispers, “Skip the portal, just upload a PDF. Trust me, it’ll save your weekend.”
That, right there, is peer learning in action.
The Data Backs It Up
And it works better than we admit. A Deloitte survey found that over 70% of employees learn best from their coworkers. LinkedIn’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report says employees are 2x more engaged when learning with others than learning alone. Translation? Your colleague with a coffee in hand might just be more effective than the world’s fanciest LMS.
Why Peer Learning Works
Why does it work so well? Because peer learning is practical, relatable, and has no jargon tax. When a colleague says, “I’ve tried this hack—it works,” you believe them. When the same hack comes buried in a webinar called “Process Optimization Frameworks 4.0,” your brain quietly sneaks out for a snack.
How Companies Are Embracing Peer Learning
Companies are catching on. Peer learning is being built into onboarding, leadership programs, and even innovation labs. Reverse mentoring, learning circles, buddy systems. It’s no longer just about ‘sharing knowledge’, it’s about making learning feel like real life, engaging, and energizing, not another box to tick.
What It Looks Like in Practice
At Athiya, we’ve made peer learning central to our designs. In one leadership program, instead of death-by-PowerPoint, we set up peer coaching pods. Leaders brought their biggest work headaches, swapped strategies, and left with action plans, plus a WhatsApp group that’s still more active than most gym memberships. Another client workshop turned into a “story swap,” where participants traded workplace wins and failures. The laughter alone was a learning outcome.
Learning Happens Everywhere
Because here’s the truth: Learning doesn’t only happen in classrooms. It happens in hallways, on chat groups, during coffee breaks and in those “psst, here’s how I actually do it” moments. And when organizations design for that, learning isn’t just effective, it’s fun, sticky, and culture-building.
