Workplace Trends 2023: Build A Better Approach Based 2022’s Best Research

Author:
Gary
PUBLISHED ON:
September 12, 2022
June 26, 2023
PUBLISHED IN:
Must-Read Articles

If you think coming out of the pandemic in 2022 means we’re in for an easy ride across 2023, you’re in for a shock.

Workplaces are facing a whole raft of new challenges, from supporting employees under financial pressure to working out what company culture means at a time when making friends at work has slipped down the pecking order.

Here are some hard numbers that hopefully give you a flavour of what we mean:

😟 21% claimed they’d lost motivation as a result of financial concerns.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 63% feel the current rate of turnover makes it less appealing to build bonds with colleagues.

👎 Only 21% of employees are engaged at work.

💻 And 57% believe legacy tech is holding them back.

The good news is that you’re here, clued up and potentially ahead of the curve! So, by following these six workplace trends and predictions for 2023, you’ll hopefully overcome these hurdles and build a wonderful workplace for your people.

Jump to any of these six workplace trends for 2023:

Happiness, balance and respect being recognised as the pillars of loving your work life

In short

60% of people are emotionally detached at work, and 19% openly admitted to feeling miserable in Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report.

Why are we including it?

Because it’s having a huge spill over into how people behave in their personal lives, influencing people’s performance at work and impacting business profitability!

In Germany, Gallup also found that 51% of actively disengaged workers felt their job stress contributed to poor behaviour with a loved one. Globally, 59% said they’d experienced stress the previous day, 31% would say they felt anger, and 56% would admit to being worried in that 24-hour period.

These figures are 46% to 83% higher than an engaged person would report! And the research shows that businesses with engaged workers have 23% higher profit than those with miserable people. Those happy teams also experience lower turnover, absenteeism, and customer loyalty.

How can we respond?

95% of people who are thriving at work report being treated with respect all day and 87% report smiling and laughing a lot.

But it’s not like you can hire comedians to walk around the office all day or buy a respect bell for people to ring when someone does something remarkable – respect and happiness are built through the everyday behaviours that truly make up our company culture, something managers can help facilitate.

When you’re working on something, are you building in a review and feedback process that offers the chance to provide people with the kudos they deserve?

At the start, are you setting out clear goals and establishing stakeholders so that people have time to collaborate effectively with those who can make them smile and laugh throughout successful projects?

And what about the day-to-day? Do people have the freedom to chat about non-work things that might brighten a gloomy day? Are there channels for people to provide public kudos when colleagues do something well?

The point is, your culture and ways of working will determine whether people feel respected and happy. And those are both built by the examples you set and the little things we do every single day.

Diagnosing employee stresses before rolling out wellbeing initiatives

In short

Just 21% of employees are engaged at work. Alone, that’s concerning, but it’s more of a worry that while this number had been rising continuously since 2009, it’s stalled since the pandemic.

Why are we including it?

Because there are a lot of scary numbers! Employee stress is at an all-time high, with 44% admitting to feeling that emotion the previous day. This even tops the previous peak, reached at the height of the pandemic.

Even more demoralising is the idea that 23% experienced sadness during the previous 24 hours! Probably because they’re burned out, something 54% of UK employees admitted to, or have an average or poor work-life balance, which more than half stated was the case.

And these factors are driving people to consider new roles. 45% think now is a good time to find a new job and 20% are likely to relocate in the coming year.

Add all those up and this is arguably one of the most pressing workplace trends for the year ahead, given the ramifications it could have for your people and performance.

How can we respond?

Wellness and wellbeing seem to have become a mix of buzzwords, meme fodder and the cause of eye-rolling when another webinar or week of activities gets rolled out, BUT when it’s done well, it’s warmly welcomed!

75% of employees were likely to be loyal to an employer who showed a strong commitment to wellbeing.

Commitment is the most important word in that sentence. A free lunch, a ticket to a wellbeing webinar, a PDF – these are all quick fixes that show little desire to understand the root cause of people’s wellbeing woes.

For wellbeing to work, you have to understand why stress, sadness, burn out, and a poor work-life balance might be happening for the people in your company! A doctor wouldn’t prescribe something without establishing the real problem at hand, and we should be just as diligent.

Send out surveys, follow that up by collecting anecdotal stories and use that to work out where your problems lie!

Goodbye, legacy tech! It’s time for tools that solve current problems and reduce employee friction

In short

91% of employees are frustrated with work tech, and 57% feel legacy tech is holding them back, according to Freshworks’ State Of WorkPlace Technology Report.

Why are we including it?

In a world that’s changing so fast, this simply isn’t good news for anyone – and employers and employees both know it!

61% of business leaders predict their technology won’t be fit for purpose and able to meet the needs of the business in 12 months.

While 71% believe their people will switch roles if tools don’t help them do their jobs well.

At the same time, business leaders recognise that when they’re introducing new tools that will meet employee expectations, there are other challenges to overcome:

Inadequate training provision (66%), benefits not being explained (67%), new software being hard to use and having a high learning curve (68%), and employees not getting sufficient time to get to know it (69%) were top of the list.

How can we respond?

There are a few things that directly tackle the issues above: finding tech that fits with people’s current ways of working, diagnosing problems effectively and pitching tech as the solution, and staggering how and when people use it.

Unashamedly, we’re going to use HowNow as an example – if you’re in the market for an LMS upgrade or your first LXP!

We integrate with the tools people use every day so that they don’t have to change their existing behaviours – flattening that high learning curve with Slack, Google, Intercom, SalesForce integrations, and many more. The resources people need are then available where they already work.

Our platform allows you to create microlearning-style resources that tackle specific challenges people are facing! This means they get to the first wow moment faster – an experience where the platform provides a great experience, and there’s a positive feedback loop – ensuring they see the benefits faster.

And something we typically hear is that our platform feels like the tools, tech, and social media platforms people use in their daily lives, meaning getting to grips is far smoother sailing.

We’d love to show you what we mean, so book a demo today, and we’ll give you the grand tour (and chat about all of these workplace trends with you).

Better financial support that starts with open conversations

In short

Unsurprisingly, given that we’re currently in a period of inflation, rising prices, and widespread cost of living crisis, financial worries are impacting how people feel at work!

Why are we including it?

The 2022 Wellness at Work Report contained some pretty damning findings around financial stress and workplace performance.

21% claimed they’d lost motivation as a result, and 16% felt tired and distant as a result of financial stress.

18% stated that money worries were leading them to seek out better-paid roles, and 14% were turning to additional employment to reduce the burden.

And while some suggested ways their employers could help, 17% felt resigned to the fact that there was nothing they could do.

Whether that’s apathy or a feeling of hopelessness, it’s not a great indicator of financial or company culture, quality of conversations at work, or mental health for that matter. And it certainly makes it one of the workplace trends that needs urgent attention from our business leaders…

How can we respond?

Unsurprisingly, most of the employee answers on how employers could support financial wellness came back to additional pay or subsidies that might reduce personal costs. But there was a very telling statistic:

50% of people aren’t comfortable discussing their financial situation with their employer, and if we’re going to offer better financial support, this is probably the best place to start.

Without overcomplicating a delicate subject, this really is one where you have to work out if the same problem exists in your business and why.

Anonymous surveys are pretty much your best friend here. If people aren’t comfortable having that financial conversation in the first place, it stands to reason that they won’t be too keen on discussing why.

Your job is to establish whether financial stresses are impacting your people and how they manifest themselves in their day-to-day, as well as the reservations they have around discussing that openly. Only then can you understand the right actions, approaches, and conversations.

The four-day work week: decision time and the question of productivity

In short

From June to December 2022, more than 70 companies in the UK have been trialling a four-day working week. That’s more than 3,000 workers across 30 sectors who are receiving 100% of their pay in exchange for maintaining 100% productivity.

Why are we including it?

Obviously, at the time of writing, we don’t know what the full findings are going to be – but we can assume that there will be varying degrees of success in those 70 companies.

But we can safely presume it will remain in some capacity and continue to influence how we work, learn and interact with each other.

For the employees, it’s already a winner! The 4 Day Work Week whitepaper revealed that 63% of businesses found it easier to attract talent, while 78% felt happier and less stressed – making it an interesting proposition for employee mental health and company culture.

The question mark, however, hangs over whether companies have seen productivity remain at the same level. A study of 2,000 office workers found that within an average 8.8-hour day, the average time spent working is two hours and 53 minutes – with social media, news, personal calls, chatting to co-workers, and even searching for new jobs eating into their days.

And whether you’re trying reduced hours or just working with greater flexibility, this is something L&D, HR, people teams and managers should consider right now.

How can we respond?

There are countless different angles here, from motivation to the quality of tech, but we’re going to focus on one thing – dead time. Dead time happens when you don’t have instant, useful and consistent access to what you need, which drives you to distraction.

You don’t have the latest pricing list, so you Slack a colleague… and wait.

There’s a customer with a question you just don’t know how to answer, so you forward the email to your manager… and wait.

There’s no best practice set out for adding people to your system, so you give it your best shot and wait for the team meeting at the end of the week before adding more.

When you look at it like that, it’s no wonder employees are spending all that time on other distractions!

Four-day weeks might mean there are entire days of delay when people’s working days and hours vary so much, and hybrid working causes this to happen on a smaller scale.

What you need to do is build consistent answers to people’s problems, add those into a single place and make them available on demand. Each time a challenge arises, the answer they need sits at the end of a search in a single, consistent place – limiting this issue of waiting around for answers.

If there isn’t an answer, capture a high-quality one and add it to that single place.

You’re also empowering people with knowledge when it matters most, meaning they’re more likely to apply and retain it!

If you’ve not already got that single place for resources and knowledge sharing, we’d love to be it!

HowNow is the learning experience platform (LXP) that connects your people to the resources they need, when they need them, everywhere they already work.

Book a demo today and we’ll show you what we mean.

So long, office bestie (why employees are now less interested in making friends)

In short

Relationships with co-workers and managers came DEAD LAST in a recent study on factors influencing employee satisfaction, with compensation topping the list.

A few months before the pandemic began, people were ten times more likely to stay at companies for friendships than financial reasons.

The workplace pal pendulum has swung in the complete opposite direction, and it makes it arguably one of the most interesting workplace trends…

Why are we including it?

It’s not just that compensation has become more important to employees, there are other factors at play.

Higher turnover being one! 63% of employees experiencing above average churn agreed that it was making it less worthwhile to socialise with or get to know co-workers. And if you’ve experienced the worse-than-a-breakup feeling of losing an office bestie, you can understand why they’re keeping their guards up.

Remote and hybrid employees also revealed a reluctance to get too involved in company culture and socials, with 50% ‘minimally’ or ‘not likely to’ attend employer-organised voluntary events in the future.

How can we respond?

This throws a few curveballs at us. One, even in these challenging times, we have to manage turnover and how it’s communicated to people. Seeing people you like leave is never easy, but it’s more painful if there’s poor communication – be that a lack of transparency or poor timing.

We also have to reassess the messaging around our company culture, especially when we’re searching for talent. Your team might feel like a family, but not everyone is looking for a family at work anymore.

They’re looking for a pay meritocracy, where hard work results in recognition, and that’s reflected in their salary and benefits, and families are susceptible to favouritism!

Finally, we also need to review whether our current culture is actually inclusive of out-the-office employees or it’s a pre-pandemic botch job masquerading as something bespoke. If it’s the latter, people will see through it. They’re already showing signs of skepticism and hesitance, and only something that really works will win them over – it just needs to be on their terms to an extent.

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Overview: Based on reviews from learning platform users, Sana Learn is praised for its intuitive interface, easy adoption, engaging interactive content, and AI-powered tools that can speed up content creation and discovery. Customers consistently highlight smooth onboarding, responsive support, and useful integrations with email, calendar, and collaboration tools. However, recurring limitations emerge around content flexibility, AI accuracy, occasional technical glitches, UI quirks, and gaps in admin training, which can create friction as teams scale their learning programs. While Sana Learn works well for organisations seeking fast rollout and straightforward learner engagement, teams needing more customization, reliable AI, and robust integrations may want to explore alternative platforms and see how they compare in practice.




When you're evaluating learning platforms, everyone has an opinion. Vendors have feature pages. Review sites have listicles. And everyone claims to be the best AI-powered LMS on the market.

What nobody tells you is what it's actually like six months in.

Sana Learn (part of Sana Labs), an AI company founded in 2016 in Stockholm, will likely show up early in your research. It's well-funded, well-marketed and has built a genuine reputation in the AI learning space.

But reputation and reality don't always match. And the people best placed to tell you the difference aren't the sales team. They're the L&D leaders, admins and learners who use it every day.

To help you, you’ve analysed 50+ real customer reviews so you don't have to. Not to cherry-pick the bad bits but to find the patterns that will help you make informed decisions. The things that come up again and again once the implementation is done and the day-to-day reality sets in.

Because when you're making a buying decision that affects your entire workforce, what matters isn't which platform has the best copy or demo. It's which one that will help you build and engage your workforce to proactively build the skills your business needs to grow.

Where Sana Learn does well.

One thing becomes clear when you read through the customer reviews: Sana Learn is easy to like.

Users consistently describe the platform as intuitive, clean and simple to pick up. There's very little friction in getting started which, if you've ever tried rolling out a new learning platform to a sceptical workforce, you'll know is no small thing.

That ease extends to implementation. Several reviewers highlight how seamless the setup felt, with teams barely noticing the transition. For organisations without the time or appetite for a heavy rollout, that's a meaningful advantage.

AI is another area where Sana Learn gets genuine praise. Users point to how quickly they can generate content, surface answers and navigate learning materials with AI woven throughout the experience. When it works, it removes friction from the content creation process in a way that L&D teams with limited resources will appreciate.

The learning experience itself also lands well. Interactive modules, clickable elements and embedded content make it easier to engage with topics that would otherwise feel dry. Learners aren't just clicking through slides; they're actually interacting with material.

Put simply: Sana Learn is a platform that's genuinely easy to adopt and easy to engage with. For teams prioritising simplicity and fast time-to-value, that counts for a lot.

What are the limitations of Sana Learn?

Once you move past first impressions, the reviews become more nuanced; and more useful.

A recurring theme is that while Sana Learn is easy to use, it can feel limiting when you try to do more with it.

Several users point to a lack of flexibility in content creation. Editing options are described as restrictive, with one reviewer putting it plainly:

"Tables are a bit clunky and hard to edit… [there's not] much freedom when it comes to text & layout."

Others mention having to rely on external tools to get the output they actually need:

"Many features are unavailable and have to be done outside of the platform using third-party providers."

For L&D teams trying to scale content production or tailor learning experiences more precisely, that's where friction starts to add up.

There's also a subtle but telling critique around product direction. One reviewer notes that the platform sometimes prioritises:

"attention-grabbing features over more basic feature development."

That's the kind of comment that tends to surface when a platform is evolving quickly; but not always in the direction its users need most.

Is Sana Learn's AI reliable?

AI is one of Sana Learn's biggest selling points; but it's also one of its most inconsistent areas.

While some users are impressed by the speed and convenience, others highlight accuracy issues that slow them down rather than speed them up:

"There are times when the AI doesn't fully grasp what I'm asking for…"

"Sometimes the AI suggestions are not fully accurate, and it takes a bit of time to find the exact content I'm looking for."

That tension shows up across multiple reviews. The capability is there; but it's not always reliable enough to trust without sense-checking.

For L&D teams expecting AI to meaningfully reduce manual effort, that gap matters more than it might first appear.

What do Sana Learn users say about technical performance?

Another pattern across the reviews is the presence of ongoing, low-level technical friction. Not catastrophic failures; but enough to interrupt workflows when they matter most.

Users mention occasional platform freezing, performance lags when handling complex content and integration challenges, particularly around APIs. One reviewer sums it up plainly:

"The platform can be a bit glitchy at times…"

Others call out specific integration issues:

"Had some hiccups with [the] Bamboo integration API."

These aren't universal experiences; but they appear frequently enough to be worth factoring in, particularly for organisations running a broader HR and L&D tech stack where reliable integrations aren't optional.


What do Sana Learn users say about the interface?

Interestingly, even though usability is one of Sana Learn's most praised qualities, there are still consistent complaints about specific interface behaviours; particularly once users move beyond everyday tasks.

For example, one reviewer points out a frustrating content creation issue:

"When I'm creating a comment… and then pop over to another window, the comments I started typing disappear."

Others find the home screen experience overwhelming:

"The interface can appear a little overwhelming with all the videos visible when you enter the homescreen."

There are also mentions of difficulty navigating back to in-progress courses, and issues with live learning environments around audio and visual quality.

None of these are deal-breakers on their own. But together they create a sense of inconsistency; where the platform feels smooth in some moments and frustrating in others. For L&D teams managing large learner populations, those friction points tend to get amplified at scale.


What do Sana Learn users say about the learning experience?

Beyond the platform mechanics, some users point to limitations in how learning content is actually delivered.

Quiz functionality comes up more than once, particularly around rigid structures:

"When making a mistake… you have to click through the whole exam before being able to repeat."

Others mention repetitive questions and a lack of depth in supporting materials:

"Example videos are not very detailed enough."

There's also feedback around pacing; specifically that learners can move through content too quickly without meaningful controls in place to slow them down or check understanding along the way.

None of these are headline issues. But for L&D teams where learning effectiveness is the whole point, they're worth knowing about before you buy.


What do Sana Learn admins say about the platform experience?

While learners tend to find Sana Learn straightforward, the experience for admins and L&D teams is less consistently praised.

Some reviewers highlight a lack of guidance when it comes to more advanced features:

"Need more training on available features."

Others point to documentation that doesn't quite hit the mark:

"Videos are usually very short and articles can be text heavy."

This creates a meaningful disconnect. The platform feels simple on the surface; but getting the most out of it as an admin can require significantly more effort than the initial experience suggests. For L&D teams who need to move fast and can't afford a steep learning curve behind the scenes, that's worth factoring into your decision.


Should you be looking at Sana Learn alternatives?

That depends on what you need.

If your priority is fast rollout, strong initial engagement and a clean intuitive interface, Sana Learn clearly delivers. For teams that need something up and running quickly with minimal friction, it's a strong option.

But if you're thinking longer term; about scaling learning, tailoring content more precisely and integrating deeply into your wider HR and L&D tech stack, the limitations that surface across these reviews start to matter a great deal more.

The question isn't whether Sana Learn is a good platform. For many organisations, it is. The question is whether it's the right platform for where your organisation is going; not just where it is today.

Is HowNow a good Sana Learn alternative?

HowNow tends to come up for teams that want more than a clean learning interface.

Reviews give you a strong starting point but they won’t tell you how a platform fits your specific setup.

If you’re weighing up Sana Learn against alternatives, the most useful next step is to see them side by side.

HowNow built around a different idea: that learning shouldn't sit in a separate platform, disconnected from the way people actually work. It should connect everything together; the content, the skills data, the performance context and the tools your teams already use every day.

In practice, that means bringing learning from multiple sources into one centralised place, linking development directly to skills gaps and business performance, and using AI in a way that supports real workflows rather than just speeding up content generation.

But perhaps most importantly, HowNow is designed to scale with you. Not just easy to start; but built to deliver more as your organisation grows, your needs get more complex and your expectations of what good learning looks like get higher.

If the patterns in these reviews resonate with challenges you're already facing, it might be worth seeing it for yourself.

👉 Book a demo here

Sana Learn Reviews: Pros, Cons & What Customers Really Think

Based on 50+ customer reviews, this guide breaks down Sana Learn’s pros, cons, AI capabilities and platform limitations. Discover what real users say about usability, integrations, support and whether it’s the right fit for your L&D strategy.
Comparisons
Apr 10
.
5 min read

Buying a learning platform is a big decision.

You’re comparing features, pricing, integrations, and user experience. But there’s one thing that often gets pushed down the list is security.

It shouldn’t be.

Learning platforms sit on a goldmine of sensitive data e.g. employee records, performance data, personal details. If that data is mishandled, the impact isn’t just technical. It’s reputational, legal, and operational.

So before you get dazzled by a slick demo, it’s worth asking more important questions such as:

Is this platform safe? And can I trust this vendor?

Why security matters when buying a learning platform

Security conversations are often left until the final stages of evaluation.

By then:

  • Data has already been shared
  • Internal stakeholders are invested
  • Walking away feels expensive

That’s how risky decisions get made.

Instead, bring security into the conversation early.

Loop in your InfoSec, IT and data protection teams from the start so they can review vendors alongside you (not play catch-up at the end which is what we often see).

It saves time, avoids friction, and builds confidence internally.

What security certifications should an LMS or LXP have?

There are plenty of badges vendors can display.

Not all of them mean the same thing.

When it comes to learning platform security, there are two certifications that actually matter:

ISO 27001:2022 — The Global Standard

ISO 27001 is a globally recognised information security standard.

It’s a risk-based framework that shows a vendor takes security seriously across their organisation (not just in isolated areas).

But this is where many buyers stop too early.

The certificate alone isn’t enough.

Ask for the Statement of Applicability (SoA).

This document shows:

  • which controls are implemented
  • how risks are managed
  • why specific decisions were made

When reviewing it, pay close attention to:

  • information classification
  • data leakage prevention
  • handling of personally identifiable information (PII)

Learning platforms process large volumes of employee data. If a vendor can’t clearly explain how that data is segmented and protected in their cloud environment, the certification doesn’t mean much.

What to double-check

  • Does the certification cover the whole organisation or just part of it?
  • Is it officially accredited?
  • Is it the vendor’s certification, or are they pointing to their hosting provider (AWS, Azure, etc.)?

If it’s the latter, push back. Hosting infrastructure doesn't mean application security.

Cyber Essentials Plus — Essential for UK-based organisations

If you’re a UK-based company, Cyber Essentials Plus should be your baseline.

Unlike the standard Cyber Essentials (which is self-assessed), the Plus certification includes:

  • independent technical verification
  • hands-on testing
  • real validation of controls

For a learning platform handling sensitive employee data, this provides confidence that the basics are properly secured.

As with ISO 27001, don’t just take it at face value.

Verify it:

Security checklist for evaluating any LMS vendor

Even with the right certifications, you should go further.

Here’s a simple checklist you can use internally or share with your IT team:

Before approving a learning platform, confirm:

  • ISO 27001:2022 certification (with SoA available)
  • Cyber Essentials Plus (if UK-based)
  • SSO support (e.g. Okta, Azure, Google)
  • encryption at rest and in transit
  • data classification and leakage prevention controls
  • penetration testing summaries
  • disaster recovery and business continuity plans
  • incident management and breach response policies
  • data processing agreement (DPA)
  • subprocessor transparency

If a vendor struggles to answer these clearly, that tells you something.

Questions to ask your LMS vendor

If you want to quickly separate strong vendors from weak ones, ask:

  • Can you share your Statement of Applicability?
  • Does your ISO 27001 certification cover your entire organisation?
  • How do you protect PII within your platform?
  • How do you prevent data leakage in your cloud environment?
  • Can you verify your Cyber Essentials Plus certification?
  • Is your certification your own, or your hosting provider’s?

HowNow’s approach to learning platform security

At HowNow, security isn’t an afterthought. It’s built into every layer of the platform.

We’ve designed our approach to make life easier not just for L&D teams, but for IT and security teams reviewing us too.

Our compliance framework includes:

  • ISO 27001:2022 for information security management
  • ISO 9001:2015 for quality and continuous improvement
  • Cyber Essentials Plus for independently verified technical controls
  • GDPR compliance and data protection standards
  • NIS2 readiness and evolving regulatory alignment

We also provide full transparency through our Trust Center, including:

  • encryption standards (including AES-256 at rest)
  • SSO and identity provider integrations (Okta, Azure, Google, etc.)
  • penetration testing summaries
  • vulnerability management policies
  • disaster recovery and business continuity plans
  • subprocessor details and data handling practices
  • AI security and ethics policies

👉 Explore the HowNow Trust Center: https://trust.gethownow.com/

This gives your IT and security teams everything they need to evaluate us properly without delays or back-and-forth.

The bottom line:

A great learning platform should help your people perform better.

But it also needs to earn your organisation’s trust.

Security credentials might not be the most exciting part of the buying process but they’re one of the most important.

The right certifications, combined with real transparency, give you confidence that your data is protected and your decision is sound.

Bring your IT team into the conversation

If security is slowing down your buying process, you’re not alone.

The easiest way to move forward is to involve your IT and security teams early and give them direct access to the information they need.

Share our Trust Center with them or book a call with our team to review everything together.

No chasing. No vague answers. Just clear, honest security information.

Which Infosec Credentials Should You Look for When Buying a Learning Platform?

Blog
March 30, 2026
.
5 min read

Learning Technologies is back and we could not be more excited.

L&D is changing faster than most organisations can keep up with. AI is reshaping how people learn, skills gaps are widening and the pressure on L&D teams to prove impact has never been higher. The conversations happening at this year's event are going to matter.

HowNow is already working with companies to build the talent of tomorrow; closing skills gaps, connecting learning to performance and giving L&D teams the data to prove it's working. We want to help you do the same.

Learning Technologies is a great place to start this journey.

You'll find us at stand E30. Come and find us.

Here's what's waiting for you.

1. Get a Free Learning Health Check

Most L&D teams we speak to already know something isn't quite working. Maybe engagement is low. Maybe learning is scattered across too many tools. Maybe the business is asking questions about impact that are hard to answer.

The Learning Health Check is a free 15-minute desk-side consultation with one of our experts at stand E30. No slides, no sales pitch; just a focused conversation about where your organisation is right now, what's getting in the way and where the biggest opportunities are.

You'll walk away with tips you can apply to your strategy straight away, whether you use HowNow or not. This is exclusive to Learning Technologies and designed to be relevant to you and your organisation.

Prebook your session here for your chance to also claim some exclusive swag.

2. Hear How to Prove Learning Is Actually Building Skills

Day one. 1:10pm. Bitesize Stage

If you've ever sat in a leadership meeting struggling to demonstrate the impact of your learning programme, this one's for you.

Harvey Stead is taking the stage for a bitesize session on one of the biggest questions in L&D right now: how do you prove that learning is genuinely building skills? Join a group of 30+ L&D leaders for a practical, focused conversation designed to give you something you can actually take back to the business.

Arrive at 1pm to secure your seat. Spaces are extremely limited and assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

3. Learn What It Means to Be a Self-Improving Company

Day one, 11:45–12:15pm in Theatre 2. 

Day two, 11:45–12:15pm in Theatre 2. 

Every company wants the same thing: people continuously getting better at their jobs. But running that loop manually is nearly impossible. Who's struggling? When do you intervene? What actually helps? Did it work? By the time you've coordinated answers to those questions, months have passed and the moment is gone.

In this session, Nelson Sivalingam; CEO of HowNow, one of the fastest-growing AI learning companies and author of the acclaimed book Learning at Speed; introduces a fundamentally different model: the self-improving company.

Nelson will show how AI agents are transforming organisational performance by monitoring work systems in real time, detecting struggles the moment they emerge, intervening with the right support at the right time and measuring what actually improved in performance data; not surveys.

So popular we are running it twice. No excuses to miss it.

4. Hear Trainline’s Approach to Employee Engagement

Day two, 14:45 – 15:15 in Theatre 2. 

Building a learning culture sounds great on paper. Doing it in reality? That’s where things get interesting.

In this honest fireside chat, Trainline shares how they’re approaching employee engagement from the ground up; what’s worked, what hasn’t and where they’re still experimenting. From driving early adoption to making learning feel genuinely relevant across the business, this session goes beyond theory and into the real challenges L&D teams face every day.

Expect practical insights you can take back with you, along with a clear view of what it actually takes to get people engaged in learning.

If you're trying to increase learning engagement, bring a notebook.

5. Meet HowNow Customers at Our Happy Hour

Day one, 15:00 onwards - Stand 30. 

Straight after Nelson's session, we're hosting a customer meet and greet at stand E30. Prosecco, canned cocktails, beers and the kind of conversations you actually come to events like this for.

Want to know what it's really like to use HowNow? Don't ask us. Ask them.

Look out for the special 'talk to me' badges; those are the HowNow customers with the real stories. They'll be in and around the stand all afternoon and they're easy to spot. Pull them aside, ask them anything and hear first-hand what's working for organisations just like yours.

6. Get refreshed with us

And if all that wasn't enough, we’ll also have fresh coffee flowing and soft serve ice cream on hand too; because balance is important.

Whether you need a caffeine boost, something sweet, or just a reason to pause between sessions, it’s the perfect excuse to stop by and have a relaxed chat with the team. No agenda, no pressure; just good conversation (and better snacks).

The best moments at events like this aren’t always on stage. Sometimes they’re over a coffee… or an ice cream, but either way, they are together.

And so many more reasons….

So, whether you want to catch a talk, grab a drink, or just have a proper conversation about your learning strategy, we'd love to see you. Learning Technologies is one of the best opportunities of the year to connect, learn and get inspired and we're making sure our stand is worth your time.

See you there.

6 Reasons to Visit HowNow at Learning Technologies 2026

Blog
March 18, 2026
.
5 min read

Onboarding is one of those things everyone agrees matters and yet it’s still one of the most inconsistently done processes in most organisations. Too often it’s a chaotic first week of back-to-back meetings, a SharePoint folder nobody can find, and a laptop that arrives three days late.

Designing onboarding that actually scales is one of the biggest challenges HR and L&D teams face. Most organisations know their onboarding could be better. 

Pauline Taylor, VP of People at HowNow, spoke with Ian Walker on the L&D Disrupt Podcast about what great onboarding really looks like and how to build it properly.

This blog walks you through what came out of that conversation and where to start.

Why Onboarding Matters More Than You Think

Let’s start with the business case, because it’s a strong one.

As Ian puts it:

“The value, of course, is that you are accelerating people’s sense of connection. And the statistic about that is that if people feel that they have been treated well in the onboarding process, their longevity is extended. So from a retention point of view, the evidence is pretty unequivocal.”

Connection drives retention. If a new hire spends their first few weeks feeling lost, anxious, or like an afterthought, you’re already on the back foot, regardless of how good the role is. Good onboarding accelerates that sense of belonging and gets people up to speed faster. Friction in those early weeks doesn’t just feel bad. It costs you time, productivity, and ultimately, people.

Want to learn how to create an onboarding process? Check out this blog on how to create an onboarding process.

Should Employee Onboarding be In-Person vs. Remote?

There’s no universal answer here, but there are some useful principles.

If you’re onboarding in person, you’re making a strategic investment in culture. Salesforce, for example, made in-person onboarding a priority specifically because they believed it was the best way to embed culture from day one. That’s not a logistical decision; it’s a values one.

If you’re onboarding remotely, the goal is to make the experience feel as close to in-real-life as possible. As Ian says:

“Similarly, if you’re doing it remotely, make sure that all of the experience is as far as possible close to the in real life experience.”

The principles are the same: connection, culture, and clarity. The delivery just looks different.

Nail the Employee Onboarding Fundamentals

This one sounds obvious, but it’s where so many onboarding programmes fall apart.

If you’re bringing someone in person, the infrastructure has to be invisible. Ian is direct on this:

“If you’re gonna do it in person, make sure that all of that is properly handled and does not come back onto the individual. Not only will that distract them, it’ll make them more nervous, it’ll make them feel less good about the whole experience. But it will detract from the efficiency of ramping them up quickly as well.”

That means flights and hotels booked correctly, a laptop ready on day one, security badges sorted in advance, and schedules organised. Get the admin right, and everything else has a chance to land.

What Should Actually Be In Your Onboarding Programme?

Your company culture is the most important element of any onboarding programme. Don’t just list your values on a slide and move on. Bring them to life.

Ian’s advice here is clear:

“Bring in managers, bring in people who are living the culture. So it’s not just someone listening to the same person, same voice all day. You’re getting different voices in there, but you’re getting people sharing their lived experience of why is this culture important to me?”

When people share their lived experience, it lands differently. It’s personal, it’s real, and far more memorable than a PowerPoint.

Networking opportunities

When you’ve got a cohort of new starters in a room (or on a call) that’s a real opportunity. Ian puts it well:

“Use this opportunity to build your network as well. Understand what’s happening within the company because not only will you leverage those relationships, but you’ll learn about what are potential career paths that you can also follow?”

Build in time for people to actually connect with each other. Those relationships can shape how people collaborate and grow within the organisation long after onboarding ends.

Setting real performance expectations

Be upfront about what working there actually looks like. Ian recalls:

“I remember talking to a room full of newly hired employees and saying, you’re gonna be expected to work hard. And you could see these big eyes — and it’s like, yeah, it’s just a reality. You are gonna be held to account for what you do. So expectation setting early on, I think, is really key.”

Ideally, it starts in the interview process, but reinforcing it early avoids misalignment down the line.

The big picture

Help new starters understand how the company works from top to bottom. As Ian explains:

“If you can explain from a top level down, this is a corporate objective, this is what we try and accomplish, this is how it cascades down within each team and each department — how it all fits together and what role you play in it — people get the sense of the bigger picture they’re playing within the organisation as well.”

When people understand how their work connects to something larger, they’re more motivated and more effective.

The Triangle: Getting the Handoff Right

This is one of the most important (and most overlooked) parts of onboarding at scale.

Onboarding isn’t one team’s job. It’s a shared responsibility across three groups:

  1. The onboarding team: responsible for culture, company-wide knowledge, and the rites of passage every new starter goes through
  2. The enablement or L&D function: responsible for the functional knowledge someone needs to actually do their job
  3. The manager: responsible for supporting the new hire and integrating that learning into day-to-day work

Ian is emphatic about how closely these three need to work together:

“The enablement organisation and the onboarding organisation need to be in a triangle. A really close triangle. So that the handover is happening effectively. The knowledge is being built upon. It’s not being duplicated. Nothing worse than when someone’s being invited to one call for onboarding and then they’ve been invited to an enablement call. You can’t allow that to happen. It has to be sequential and it has to be managed collectively.”

When this triangle breaks down, the new hire falls through the gaps. When it works, everything flows.

Onboarding is a Two-Way Street

Onboarding isn’t something that happens to a new hire. They have a role to play too. As Ian puts it:

“The fourth person is the learner themselves. They need to invest the time in order to onboard themselves effectively. So they need to read the materials, do the out of the room learning piece, as well as relationship building out of the room as well, which is so key to onboarding effectively.”

Setting that expectation early makes a real difference. People who take ownership of their own onboarding get up to speed faster and feel more settled sooner.

How Long Should Onboarding Last?

There’s no magic timeline that works for every role, every person, or every organisation. The length of onboarding depends on the complexity of the role, the individual’s prior experience, and how transferable their skills are.

What Ian suggests is a more interesting reframe altogether:

“You should always feel that you’re onboarding because you are always in your job. And particularly now, jobs are changing so quickly that if you have that beginner’s mindset, you are always onboarding yourself in a new direction. If you are always growing yourself.”

The most effective people don’t stop onboarding when week four ends. They carry that curiosity with them.

The Summary

Great onboarding isn’t about cramming as much information as possible into someone’s first week. It’s about connection, clarity, and getting the fundamentals right so people can do their best work sooner.

Get the logistics sorted. Bring culture to life. Build the triangle. Give new starters the space to take ownership. Resist the urge to put a fixed time limit on it.

Want to hear the full conversation?

Watch on YouTube


Listen on Spotify

Other relevant blogs:

The HR and L&D How-To Guide for Designing Onboarding That Actually Scales

Podcast
March 9, 2026
.
5 min read
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