A new Canadian survey suggests a lot of money set aside for digital training at some of the country’s biggest brands is going unclaimed at a time when it’s in high demand.

Three hundred and fifty managers, directors and front-line workers from 18 major Canadian brands were surveyed on how well they feel their companies support employee digital education. The survey was conducted through individual interviews by Course Compare, which offers a marketplace for tech education programs. While not a large enough sample to make conclusions about Canadian business as a whole, it does provide a window into how businesses from a variety of big employment sectors are readying for a digital future.

It found that while 70% of companies polled offer financial support for employee education, only 35% of polled employees took advantage of that allotment in 2017.

Companies surveyed include Canadian Tire, RBC, Corus, Coca-Cola, CBC, Uber and Loblaws, among others.

When respondents were asked why they weren’t tapping into dedicated education resources, most said they were too busy to take advantage. The second most popular answer, however, was that corporate learning programs weren’t well promoted within the company, with many respondents unaware that such programs existed.

Many marketers see digitally-savvy work forces as key to weathering the age of digital disruption. Data science ranked as the top subject of interest for further education among Course Compare’s survey at 58% of respondents, followed by digital marketing at 47%.

More than three quarters of the studied companies made some kind of per-employee dollar allotment for education in 2017.

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