The biggest issue learning and development pros face when investing in new software?
Budget approval.
We’re sure that comes as no surprise. New learning and development trends crop up every day: AI-driven experiences, skills-based talent management, and hybrid learning, to name a few, are probably all on your radar for 2025.
But which of these trends are actually going to serve your frontline workforce’s informational needs - and in turn, drive business impact for you? How can you avoid investing in expensive fads or gimmicks?
We set out to separate the above by interviewing over 1000 frontline workers and their leaders about their current training processes, their problems, and what they’re doing to address them. And the results might surprise you:
- 49% of leaders think their training is too difficult to use or access to be impactful
- 50% of workers remember their last lesson either “not well” or “somewhat well”
- 63% want their training to be shorter, but also “more fun” (39%) and “more interactive” (31%)
What’s clear is both process and content need to be equally optimized when it comes to training. L&D professionals need to deliver a high-quality training experience that’s easy to access and promotes long-term learning.
With that in mind, today we’re going to dive into current learning and development trends on both sides of the coin. We’ll cover what trends people are implementing, why, and how you can do the same for your own business.
Got a trend in mind? Skip ahead:
Process optimization trends:
Content optimization trends
- Length: the shorter the better
- Interactivity: putting learners in the driving seat
- Quality: a need for meaningful content
- Personalization: a must-have
First up, process optimization trends. Without further ado:
Trend 1: AI is on the rise
Right at the top of our list is artificial intelligence - no surprises there.
49% use AI formally (as part of a company-wide initiative) or informally (taking their initiative).
In the L&D space, AI is particularly good at eliminating bottlenecks in the training creation process. The frequency at which you publish and deliver training couldn’t be more important - if it’s irregular, your workers won’t form the habits and retain the knowledge they need - but can be challenging to get right.
SME availability, balancing dissemination of reactive and proactive content, and updating content can all drain internal teams’ time and block the production process - which is where AI-powered tools come in.
The best use AI to minimize the time creating, updating, reformatting, and localizing training content takes. As a result, employee training content is published and distributed at the right moments - and the frontline stays safe and productive.
McCoy’s Building Supply, a US retailer, was struggling to scale its paper-based training L&D program. One bottleneck was updating its training content - but AI-enabled tech allowed McCoys to quickly upcycle text-heavy training files into a more engaging format.
Jason Trail, the business’s Training and Development Manager, described the difference as “getting a course out quickly to everybody in a matter of minutes versus days or weeks”. Plus, using AI to update what the business already had was a lot cheaper than building the training from scratch.
How can you implement AI?
Let’s take a look at how else L&D teams are using AI:
- 25% use it for data analysis and insights
- 22% use generative AI; for example, text creation, research, or translation
- 20% use it to help with customer service
Whether you use AI as part of a major training process overhaul, or to make your processes more efficient, there’s no doubt that it can help you get ahead.
Trend 2: A growing appetite for BYOD
60% of frontline workers surveyed would like to access training on a mobile phone.
More specifically, 37% want to access it on their own phones rather than a company-owned device.
BYOD policies are growing more and more popular by the day - the market’s predicted to be worth over $308 billion by 2032 - and with good reason.
They save on hardware costs, reduce barriers to accessing and engaging with training, and go everywhere with the employee. This is particularly relevant for a frontline workforce, where some members may be working on-site (for example, warehouse workers or shop floor staff) and some might be off-site (delivery drivers or construction workers).
Being able to access knowledge in the moment of need can make a huge difference to worker safety - and business outcomes. Temco Logistics, a home goods delivery and installation solutions provider, adopted an approach to learning that blends in-person training with digital follow-up lessons delivered to each employee’s mobile phone.
Now, its workers benefit from hands-on training and can access the knowledge they need, exactly when they need it. As for the business, its Director of Learning and Development Dan Drenk explains:
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“The more ways we can put training in front of people, the more it crystallizes it in our larger culture.” |
This change had a huge impact on the business accident rate - which in turn, saved the business $600,000. On top of the money saved by letting employees use their own devices, of course.
How you can implement a BYOD policy
Of course, switching to a BYOD policy doesn’t come without its risks. Security reasons and privacy concerns are common concerns here. If BYOD is a no-go for your business, providing your employees with a dedicated mobile device is the next best thing.
This approach also overcomes economic barriers to access. One worker we surveyed said “I’d like my company to provide me with a device, because I can’t afford it”. Providing individual devices allows you to use them to fill skill gaps, and be inclusive at the same time.
Trend 3: Apps are on the decline
So far, we’ve seen trends in the training creation process and in its distribution. We know frontline workers would prefer to access training on their phones - but what does that look like in practice?
Frontline leaders feel their teams have access to the right tech, but access alone doesn’t make a good experience. 49% think their training impact is stifled due to complexity of use or access.
The problem lies with apps. They’re the least-favored delivery method, with just 21% of frontline workers seeing standalone apps as desirable.
This might come as a surprise; after all, apps keep everything in one place, their usage is easy to track, you can see competencies at a glance, they meet frontline workers where they are…
But what about the actual experience for workers? Oftentimes using an app to access a work-related software involves being hit with a friction-filled entry process, whether that’s 2-factor authentication, account creation, password entry (if you can remember them), and, if it’s your first time using the app, an unfamiliar UI to get to grips with. Now imagine that there are upwards of 4 apps they need to access.
Using apps may be a reasonable expectation for a desk-based employee, whose work is based on a screen and involves multiple tools and technologies a day. But tech-based interruptions can damage a frontline worker’s productivity to the tune of 40%. Once they’ve been interrupted, it takes on average 23 minutes to get back to the task at hand - crucial time for a worker whose pay is based on how quickly and accurately they can complete a task.
Instead, companies need to make learning highly contextual - via mobile phone, yes, but also easy to access at the moment of need. Temco Logistics, for example, delivers training through SMS (a channel it knows employees check frequently) and contextual QR codes (for example, a QR code next to a piece of machinery leading to usage instructions).
How you can introduce contextual training
Hear it from your workers: 52% of the frontline want training embedded in locations they’re already using.
Think about what digital channels your workers already use in the flow of work, and deliver training through these (examples include an existing app like Workday, your email communications, or SMS). More than one flow is crucial to make sure as many workers see it as possible.
Trend 4: More training, more often
As we mentioned above, making sure your people receive training at a regular cadence is important. So, how are businesses measuring up at the moment?
64% of frontline workers say training is delivered “every few months” or “monthly”.
No surprises, then that 27% say they’d feel more set up for success if they had more frequent or ongoing training - and 50% remember their last lesson either “not well” or “somewhat well”.
Training frequency is key to counteracting the forgetting curve, which shows we lose 50% of all new information in one day, and 90% of all new information within a week.
How you can increase learning frequency
Repetition of new information is key to ‘offsetting forgetting’ - but that doesn’t mean delivering information in the same way, in the same format, over and over again.
To maximize worker knowledge retention, delivering information in new ways is more effective. This could look like an in-person lesson, followed up by a microlearning refresher a few days later.
Regular assessment is also important - actively recalling information rather than just re-absorbing it is proven to help the brain retain more effectively. Try a short quiz as part of a microlearning session or the gamification of a lesson.
We’ve covered content creation and delivery L&D trends for the coming year. That’s half of the puzzle. But with 48% of frontline workers saying they’d feel more set up for success if they had “better quality training”, how can we optimize the content itself?
Trend 5: Even shorter content
Longer training sessions are most definitely out. Just 16% of frontline workers say their training takes under 15 minutes. 63% want training to be shorter.
Time-consuming training is problematic for both frontline workers and leaders. The longer the lesson, the longer it takes to plan and execute, which, as we know, impacts training frequency and knowledge retention.
Regularly taking large chunks out of a day to learn impacts a frontline worker’s productivity, and potentially their earnings too. Needless to say, this doesn’t set up a positive learning culture.
Flagger Force, a short-term traffic control services company based in multiple states, used to have this issue: face-to-face training and testing via paper assessments required a huge time investment and was difficult to implement at scale. Introducing quick mobile-first training eliminated this issue - and resulted in a 94% lesson completion rate, a 60% reduction in injury, and $250k saved on claims.
Keep content short and your workers are far more likely to complete it. It also maximizes the opportunity for knowledge retention through repetition, without compromising on time.
How you can reduce training time
The key to getting this corporate learning and development trend right is microlearning: delivering content in short (3-5 minute) chunks at the time of need. Microlearning formats include:
- Text: short paragraphs
- Images: photos or illustrations
- Videos: quick explainers, similar to what you might see on TikTok
- Audio: snippets of speech or music
- Interactive elements: quizzes, games, or flashcards
Blend learning with microlearning, and you’re redelivering information in a more exciting way, reinforcing other training touchpoints, and consolidating knowledge - helping your team to upskill and stay productive.
Trend 6: Putting learners in the driving seat
31% of frontline workers want more interactive learning experiences. This is good news: interactive is more effective.
Active learning - encourages learners to think, recall, and apply what they’ve learned, as opposed to passive learning, which just requires reading or listening.
We’ve all been there: it’s easy enough to skim over a piece of text or accidentally zone out when you’re listening. You can’t do the same if you’re, for example, being tested on a piece of material. Active learning encourages neuroplasticity - and in turn, knowledge retention.
How you can make training more interactive
We’ve already covered quizzes, which can be delivered at the end of a microlearning lesson or as a follow-up to in-person training. But active learning for the frontline doesn’t stop there.
Immersive learning activities like digital roleplays are perfect for teaching soft skills: they allow workers to apply critical thinking and problem-solving to situations they’re likely to come across on the job. Augmented reality location tours are another common use case: new starters can learn about where they’ll be working before their first day, shortening onboarding times and preparing them from the get-go.
Trend 7: More meaningful media
When asked how they would improve training content, the most common employee answer was ‘make it more fun’.
If that sounds like a lot of pressure, it doesn’t have to be. E-learning content that’s properly optimized - which, as an adopter of the AI learning and development trend, you now have more time to create - can be novel and exciting, which in turn improves the learning process.
Let’s take an example. What sounds more exciting:
- A two-minute, grainy video embedded from YouTube on how to replace the heating element on a customers’ dryer, or
- A video featuring a colleague at another location, in your company uniform, replacing the heating element in a customers’ home in real time, which has later been edited down into re-watchable looping steps, and overlaid with supporting text, to reinforce each step?
We’re sure you said the latter: but why? 22% of people will stop watching a video if it feels boring or uninteresting - and 67% admit to not giving training videos their undivided attention.
A video pulled from another content source feels like an impersonal one-size-fits-all approach. It also lacks the relatability factor: 59% of frontline workers report their greatest source of knowledge is peer-based knowledge sharing, and 21% want their peers or themselves to be involved in training creation.
How you can make more meaningful content
Let’s go back to the above example of a bite-sized piece of content, featuring a company employee completing a task and overlaid with supporting text. There are three reasons why it works.
- It features someone relatable: worker-generated video drives 3x more employee engagement
- The learner can move at their own pace: looping videos are more attractive UX than having to pause and rewind one video when learning a new skill
- Text, audio, and video combined are better for learning: Mayer’s Multimedia Principle shows words and pictures are more effective than just words
Use these principles in your own learning content, and you’re creating something that’s far more likely to stick.
Trend 8: Training built for your learning needs
When the frontline workers said the most important success factor to them is better quality training, a component was ‘training that is relevant to me’.
Personalization is positively related to learning enjoyment (and therefore learner engagement), a trend that can be attributed to social media delivering hyper-relevant content based on a user’s location, interests, and previous content consumption.
How to make your training more personal
If your training tech connects with your people data, you can set up personalized learning paths based on segmentation. For example, you might deliver a different training module to different roles, or make your training distribution event-based.
It’s worth noting this data-driven approach - where the business distributes the content - should be combined with self-directed learning, where the user has access to a catalog within the learning platform that supports their wider skills development. When your workforce has tens or even thousands of people, you need to leave room for individual approaches to learning alongside the mandated parts.
Looking to the future of work, it’s likely segmentation-based learning will be automated thanks to AI: a hyper-personalized approach for workers shouldn’t mean an increased workload for you.
Learning and development trends: Final thoughts
Speak to 2025’s frontline workers and leaders, and it’s clear they want more from their training: better processes, better distribution, and better content.
Keep abreast of their wants and needs, and use new technologies to help, and you’ll have a program that keeps up with current learning and development trends - and drives the business impact you need, too.
There’s plenty more where that came from. We interviewed over 1000 frontline workers and their leaders to understand the true state of frontline training, and the tech and trends coming up in 2025. Download the full report here.
