In early 2019, the Integrity compliance training team gathered insights and compliance training trends from 134 global firms who collectively train 2.7 million learners each year. Participants were drawn from senior compliance learning professionals in North America, Europe and Asia who deliver training to workforces in 103 countries every year.
Collectively, their insight provides a bellwether of the compliance learning industry at large and the challenges ahead for 2019.
We invite you to be part of the conversation.
Courses are finally getting close to the magic 30-minute mark
Analytics
Across all 134 companies surveyed, the average duration for an individual compliance eLearning course was 35 minutes. While some firms have gotten their training down to 5-minute bites, many companies are stuck with 2-hour courses to meet mandatory state requirements for sexual harassment.
Integrity Insight
2019 is likely to be the year compliance and ethics courses finally break the 30-minute barrier. As an industry, we’re getting close to delivering learning that matches the expectations for a modern workforce.
Financial Services continues to have the heaviest training burden
Analytics
While the global average of annual compliance training came in an at a respectable 2 hours 20 minutes, financial services continued to place the heaviest burden on its employees, expecting each employee to complete an average of 3 hour and 30 minutes of compliance and ethics training a year. Healthcare, an equally heavy regulated industry, led the way requiring only 47 minutes of annual training.
Integrity Insight
With the variance in annual training burden between two heavily regulated industries, financial services and healthcare, there is a mandate to shorten training without impacting efficacy. It can be done using tools such as diagnostic testing and role-profilers that tailor training to the individual – the bigger inhibitor bringing down the compliance training burden is likely cultural.
Compliance Training Budgets Are Strong
Analytics
75% of respondents reported their compliance budgets were stable year to year with 19% experiencing year on year growth while only 7% of the companies experienced a decline in their funding.
Integrity Insight
A culture of compliance and ethical behavior is seen today as a business asset and companies are willing to invest in it.
Training is still too long in the US, while Europe battles technology
Analytics
The top complaint by workers in North America was their training was simply too long and boring. In Europe, learners were more likely to struggle with technical issues.
Integrity Insight
A compliance learning program is often only as strong as the weakest element. Too long, technical issues, boring learning or irrelevant content. Any one of these can undermine the success of your compliance eLearning program. However, with tools to shorten learning, new media, stable learning technology and tools to tailor training to individuals, the industry has the resources to run effective programs.
Customization is Multi-Faceted
Analytics
In our survey, just less than 70% of companies deploy their compliance eLearning using ready-made learning. For firms using off the shelf learning, customization was equally split between simple branding edits, light content edits and heavy customization.
Integrity Insight
With the tools available today for customization such as advanced framework branding, custom topic sequencing, image swaps and live text editing, more firms are rolling out readymade solutions without compromising the level of customization they can achieve.
The Rise of Learning Campaigns over One Time Training
Analytics
In both Europe and the US, we saw a healthy mix of campaign-based learnings, competitions and live in-person events with limited reliance on email. The US led the way with employee competitions and workplace incentives while Europe is mature in its use of campaign based learning materials.
Integrity Insight
Compliance and ethics eLearning has matured beyond single eLearning events to a true awareness campaign that builds awareness and impacts culture. Most firms, regardless of region, are making campaign assets such as video vignettes, workplace signage and quizzes backed by live events such as company-specific Ethics Week and town hall style meetings.
Preventing Harassment and Protecting Data Privacy Dominate the Training Agenda
Analytics
There were no surprises in the top compliance subject trends for 2019 with Anti-Harassment topping the list of priorities for compliance learning professionals. Data Privacy featured second on the list closely followed by Anti-Bribery and Code of Conduct.
Integrity Insight
Compliance and ethics professionals have done an admirable job aligning training programs to respond to what has happened in society more broadly, specifically putting an end to workplace harassment and respecting everyone’s right to data privacy.
This report would not have been possible without the input from our partners and contacts. Interactive Services would like to thank you for reading, participating, and helping to shape our industry. This research is ongoing, however, so we encourage you to provide feedback on these findings, so we can continue the dialog around what makes great compliance training.
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