As we move into 2025, we’re seeing clear patterns emerge in the learning and development (L&D) priorities of our customers here at Learningbank—particularly those with frontline workers.
From retail to hospitality to manufacturing, businesses align around three key areas: onboarding, compliance, and skills development.
These priorities reflect the growing need for streamlined, efficient, and accessible training solutions for employees who often are on the move and have limited access to traditional learning resources.
In addition to these priorities, many of our customers see a greater need for and focus on blended learning as a critical approach to meeting their needs. And all though it might not be on everyone's agenda, AI is still a hot topic for many.
In this post, we’ll have a look into why onboarding, compliance, and skills development are top of mind for businesses in 2025, and how blended learning and AI can play a key role in delivering on these priorities.
1. Onboarding: Setting the Stage for Employee Success
We are happy to see businesses honing in on proper onboarding foundation. Onboarding is the foundation for a thriving employee journey. It slashes turnover rates and pushes new hires toward success. In sectors with many frontline workers, onboarding must be engaging, straightforward, and accessible at any time in order to tackle unique challenges head-on.
Focusing on tailoring the onboarding to specific departments or regions, will boost employee engagement and consistency.
For frontline workers, onboarding should weave them into the company culture, ensure safety understanding, and empower them to master their roles swiftly.
2. Compliance Training and Certificates: Staying Ahead of Regulations
As digitalization increases so do IT and compliance threats. Ensuring compliance is vital for businesses with frontline teams to uphold operational excellence by sticking to safety protocols, legal standards, and company policies.
But health and safety regulations are also in the spotlight. So, it's essential for businesses to keep their teams ready and informed. Frontline workers often face hurdles accessing certificates or getting training during their shifts, so leveraging digital tools that work here is crucial.
The flexibility of having it all digital ensures that employees can stay up to date on required certifications, reducing the risk of fines, legal issues, or safety incidents.
3. Skills Development: Empowering Employees for Success
Staying ahead of change and on top of the game means empowering employees. Especially those on the frontlines. Skills development is the heartbeat of any solid L&D strategy, keeping companies nimble and paving the way for growth.
Upskilling is essential for frontline workers navigating the waves of technological change and rising expectations. According to Gallup, one of the top reasons people were leaving their jobs in previous years was due to a lack of development and advancement. And 66 % of workers ages 18-24 ranked learning new skills as the third-most important perk when evaluating new job opportunities.
In 2025, we see businesses zeroing in on skills development to elevate performance, nurture and attract talent. Continuous learning is one of the ways to create long-term employee retention, especially for frontline workers with limited advancement opportunities. Providing access to relevant training boosts engagement and slashes turnover.
Employers are harnessing digital platforms to deliver accessible, consistent training across technical skills, customer service, or leadership. This is a practical way to keep the data and training available anytime without disrupting work.
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Blended Learning: The Key to Flexibility and Consistency
In 2025, many of our customers will embark on a journey to centralize their training efforts. In some cases this means uniting all training—be it physical or digital—in one platform (read: Learningbank) for smooth management and enhanced visibility.
That said, our customers are at different stages in their “blended learning journey”. For some, it is about getting all courses digitalized, eliminating paper and Excel sheets, and saving time on course management and course creation.
For others, it means working with blending the experience for real, with journeys – combining digital modules and fysical events.
Blended learning can be the approach to marry digital and in-person training, crafting a learning experience that's as flexible as it is consistent. And we see how it's becoming the go-to strategy for many of our customers eager to meet the L&D needs of their frontline heroes, especially those spread across various locations.
With blended learning, employees can enjoy the freedom to dive into digital content whenever they need, while still savoring the personal touch of face-to-face interactions, workshops, and team activities.
For our more global customers, the blended approach is the perfect way to centralize their training strategically. For example, where training needs to be done locally, but needs to have a global overview and better consistency across markets and locations. Logging both digital and physical training initiatives in one place is the way to go for them for sure.
AI in 2025
We cannot make a priority list for 2025 without mentioning AI. What we see amongst our customers is that it's no longer just a buzzword, but a "can't-avoid-no-longer"-kinda topic. In what way AI will be used differes from company to company though.
We see it sneaking in in various ways, from implementation of internal tools to support processes, to general knowledge and how-to for employees.
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As we look ahead, it’s clear that businesses with frontline workers will continue to prioritize onboarding, compliance, and skills development. These elements are essential for building a strong, engaged, and well-trained workforce.
Blended learning and AI offer great solutions to these challenges by providing a flexible, scalable way to deliver training that is both effective and accessible.