Even amidst changes as tectonic as those of the AI era, the ability to change, adapt, doesn’t just depend on technology. It depends on people. And people need personalization. Especially younger generations entering the workforce. Future-focused organizations need to match new expectations for hyper-personalization and curation of learning content while building the skills the business needs. 

A New Development Flow for Changing Workforce Expectations

While every individual is different, understanding the generational tendencies that express themselves at work can help organizations integrate the workforce more successfully, both across generations and in anticipating different ways of working. 

Growing up on platforms like Netflix, TikTok, and Amazon, which constantly provide users personalized recommendations and feedback, younger generations like Gen Z may have greater expectations of tailored, on-demand content than their older counterparts. According to Involve, 81% of Gen Z like personalized ads, for example. 

If you ask someone in Gen Z how they learned a new skill last week, there is a good chance they’ll say ChatGPT. Randstad found that 75% of this generation uses AI to upskill. And why not? AI is responsive, engaging, and personalized.

But consider how that approach would fit into your current learning and training model. It likely wouldn’t. Gen Z employee training challenges the status quo. Without AI as part of your learning ecosystem, you could be missing the development needs of a growing portion of your workforce.

Designing the Best AI-Driven Personalized Training

According to Deloitte, Gen Zs “cite learning and development among the top three reasons they chose their current employer.” And if a majority of this generation is using AI for professional upskilling, your L&D program should start to reflect that preference as your workforce changes. To make employee development work for the next generation, AI needs to become a seamless part of your learning process and ecosystem. 

Leadership and Culture

With a technology as new as AI, employees need guidance and support to use it effectively. In addition to an organizational posture that supports AI use and experimentation, they need guardrails and use cases from IT and legal teams so they can proceed with confidence. Clarity is key, and when the entire workforce is informed and empowered, it makes it easier to weave AI into the culture.

Often, individual managers can play the role of AI learning lead, both by using AI for their own development and by supporting team members who do the same. Additionally, if your managers stay updated with what their teams are learning, they can call out wins and opportunities for growth when they happen.

Casey Adams, Vice President of Solutions Consulting and Enablement at Degreed, said it can be as simple as saying to an employee, “Hey, you learned this new thing with AI, show the team what you’re doing,” then giving them the platform to share their new skills. That acknowledgement recognizes modest achievements, creates an opportunity for collaboration, and builds a stronger team learning culture.

Technical Tools and Platforms for Personalized Learning

Often, many organizations focus first and foremost on AI tools and platforms. Investments in AI continue to grow year over year. We believe that the change starts and ends with people, but the training tools for corporate learning also play a key role, of course. There are a few capabilities you’ll want your AI to be able to perform in order to best support learning. 

For example, you’ll want the AI you use for L&D to have context, skill data, and key learning science principles built in. High interoperability, or the ability to work seamlessly with existing HR and IT platforms, is a must for adding AI-powered learning to the flow of work. And, a high level of interactivity within the AI tools will boost engagement.

This shift may take a companywide effort from managers, HR, and IT, but it won’t just benefit employees. It’s also essential for the health and growth of your business.

Maximizing Productivity for the New Generation of Workers

According to Randstad, “Gen Z has the highest attrition rate of any generation.” Averaging 1.1 year tenures in their first five years of work, Gen Z employees simply aren’t staying at companies as long as older generations used to, at least early in their careers. For companies that want to maximize employee value and expertise, this means more work to improve both retention and productivity during a notably shorter employee lifecycle. 

To start, businesses have to get their new hires up-to-speed as quickly and effectively as possible. Not only will that bring them to productivity quicker, but companies with formalized training programs have a 218% higher income per employee than those without. 

Personalization and AI are the keys to speeding up that initial time-to-readiness. If your organization can leverage AI to provide employees with tailored training that aligns with their skills, experiences, and proficiency levels, no learning moment will be wasted. Every minute will be spent on content that is directly relevant to the employee, which will also lead to higher engagement in that learning.

AI doesn’t replace the human side of learning, it accelerates it.

Learning to Adapt and Succeed in Business with Personalized Learning

If your workforce can learn, your workforce can adapt. And if it can adapt in this ever-changing climate, it can succeed long-term. Personalization is key to keeping the youngest generation of your workforce engaged as they enter and ramp up in today’s workplace.

The post Personalized Training: Learning for the Next-Gen Workforce appeared first on Degreed.

This course isn’t Econ 101 or the History of Western Civ, but it is learning. We’re digging into how corporate learning has changed more in the last decade than in the previous few combined and why the syllabus looks nothing like it used to.

Corporate learning has changed more in this decade than it has in the previous few decades combined. And the pace of change accelerates daily. Even just a few months ago, “personalization” in training meant surface-level recommendations from an algorithm that suggests courses based on your department or job title. Helpful, but often generic.

With AI, personalization has finally caught up to its promise. Modern platforms can understand an employee’s current skills, career goals, and even how they like to learn, then adapt in real time as those needs evolve. It’s not just matching people to content anymore. It’s building truly individualized and adaptive learning journeys that grow with them. 

Class is officially in session; let’s dive into the first lesson.

Lesson 1: AI-Powered personalization is more efficient.

The shift isn’t just theoretical, it’s already transforming businesses. Companies using AI-powered learning platforms report a 57% jump in training efficiency, with employees completing courses faster, retaining more knowledge, and applying it more effectively on the job.

Personalized training speeds up AI transformation and compliance requirements, fosters behavior change, and ramps up leaders in record time. For leaders, this is a game-changer. Learning is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a direct lever for performance, agility, and retention in the face of AI. 

Lesson 2: The new way to personalize is nothing like the old way.

Here’s how AI redefines personalized learning compared to traditional approaches:

AI is now woven into nearly every business function–78% of companies report using AI somewhere in their operations, according to McKinsey. Training and development shouldn’t be the exception.

Lesson 3: There are a lot of places you can weave AI into learning strategy.

For this lesson, we’ve brought in our learning strategy expert, Stephen Elrod, SVP of Global Delivery. According to Stephen, the question is no longer if you should adopt AI for learning, but how. Here are small, tangible steps you can start with today:

1. Audit your learning stack: Invest in platforms that go beyond content delivery. Look for systems that adapt to individual needs and build capabilities, not just information sharing.
2. Pilot AI-driven pathways: Start with one skill area (e.g., compliance, leadership, or digital skills) and test with a small group.
3. Integrate learning into workflows: Add micro-learning resources where people already work.
4. Raise AI literacy: Run a short workshop to help employees understand AI in learning.
5. Protect trust: Establish a clear data and ethics policy so employees know how their information is being used.
6. Secure executive sponsorship: Share one business case (like improved retention or reduced training costs) with leaders to get buy-in. 

Lesson 4: AI can be the new 24/7 workforce coach.

AI isn’t replacing human learning, it’s enhancing it. It’s giving every employee the equivalent of a personal coach, surfacing opportunities that are timely, relevant, and actionable. And it’s helping organizations scale that level of personalization across the entire workforce.

The takeaway: AI has turned personalized learning from an aspiration into a reality. Companies that embrace it won’t just keep up with change—they’ll lead it.

Homework Assignment for L&D Leaders

What’s a good lesson without a little reflection?

1. Choose one high-priority skill area in your organization (e.g., leadership, compliance, or digital skills).
2. Map how employees are currently trained in this area eg.what tools, content, and methods are used.
3. Identify at least two gaps where personalization could improve outcomes (for example, tailoring by role, adding real-time feedback, or integrating into workflows).
4. Draft a one-page plan for how AI could close those gaps.

Bring this back to your next team meeting and share one idea you could pilot in the next 90 days.

The post Personalized Training 101: Your Guide to Using AI for Learning appeared first on Degreed.

A few weeks after launching Degreed Open Library, one of our clients, a leading global tech company, told us exactly what happens:  

“Usage is already higher than LinkedIn Learning.”

They didn’t promote it heavily. They didn’t roll out flashy campaigns. Instead of offering employees a sea of content to wade through, they launched a set of targeted, AI-curated learning pathways tied directly to the skills their people needed to succeed.

What is Degreed Open Library?

Degreed Open Library is an AI-curated, ready-to-deploy content library of structured learning pathways designed to help people build in-demand skills faster, with less friction, less noise, and more relevance.

With skill-based learning pathways, Degreed Open Library gives you a smarter way to activate your content. And because each pathway is bite-sized and easy to launch, learners stay engaged, without needing a roadmap or a long list of prerequisites.

The problem: Traditional content libraries are expensive and high maintenance

Large content libraries promise more–more variety, more access, more engagement. But what learners often experience is the opposite: more friction, more confusion, and less actual learning.

As L&D and IT teams juggle growing responsibilities, they need a smarter solution, one that gets people learning faster, with content that’s relevant and purposeful.

The solution: AI-curated learning pathways 

Degreed launched Open Library in April 2025 with 100 curated learning pathways focused on the most in-demand skills. In July, we expanded that offering with 100 more “Language Bundles” in Portuguese, Spanish, French, and German, removing barriers for learners in global teams.

And we’re just getting started.

Coming this October, Degreed will release 150 new pathways aligned to high-growth industries, including:

• Consumer Retail
• Healthcare
• Manufacturing
• Customer Experience
• Finance
• Media & Telecom
• Professional Services

That’s 350+ AI-curated pathways, included with every Degreed Learning instance—no extra license required.

These ready-to-go pathways are designed to give employees a strong starting point, covering the foundational skills your workforce needs now. But every business is different. That’s why we also offer AI-curated pathway services as an add-on: to help you create highly targeted learning aligned to your unique goals, roles, and workflows.

Our AI-curated pathway services can help you create role-specific learning experiences aligned to your workflows and strategic goals. We’ll handle the heavy lifting. You get a smarter, faster way to deliver value.

From confusion to clarity: the power of curation in your content library

Degreed Open Library isn’t just another content library. It’s built to reduce friction and guide learners to exactly what they need, when they need it.

Instead of endless search results or generic playlists, AI curates the best content into structured pathways made up of articles, podcasts, videos, and courses. These pathways are always up-to-date, aligned to in-demand skills, and relevant to real roles and workflows.

Here’s what that unlocks:

1. Faster time to value

Instead of spending months designing programs, you can deploy ready-to-go pathways in minutes. Employees start learning immediately, without needing a map.

2. Less friction, less time, more focus

Employees don’t want to browse an endless catalog, they want to build skills. When learning is buried in lengthy search results or buried under generic playlists, they tune out.

AI-curated pathways remove that friction. Learners get clear, role-aligned recommendations that feel immediately relevant. They know exactly why it matters, how it connects to their job, and what comes next. That clarity leads to higher engagement, faster completion, and better on-the-job application. 

Degreed Open Library offers bite-sized learning within each pathway making learning more achievable during natural downtimes like lunch breaks or between meetings. This flexibility boosts engagement, accelerates completions, and enables quicker on-the-job application.

3. Smarter content spend

With targeted, curated content that people actually use, organizations can reduce their reliance on expensive library subscriptions and stretch their L&D budget further.

In fact, some of our customers are already exploring ways to eliminate or reduce their content subscriptions. The excitement is palpable as they explore how to redistribute their L&D budgets to higher value technologies or programs.

“My team will explore the library of resources to assess if we can match the learning content we get from [a leading content provider]. If Open Library is good enough for our learning needs, we might consider unplugging [a leading content provider] or at least reducing our number of licenses.” 

Takeaway: Stop paying for content people don’t use

L&D and IT leaders don’t need more content. They need more impact.

Degreed Open Library helps you deliver that with:

• High-quality, relevant content curated from trusted sources
• AI-powered pathways built for your business and your people
• Clearer learning journeys, higher engagement, and measurable results

The post The Content Library Hack Every Learning Leader Needs appeared first on Degreed.

Any organization with a significant EU presence will be concerned, and any organization using AI to screen, train, or manage talent may fall under the high-risk rules, meaning that compliance could be complex if you don’t choose the right partner or provider. But despite the challenges, there’s an opportunity— and that is to leverage regulatory pressure to increase workforce confidence and fluency in using Gen AI and develop a competitive advantage.

It’s an opportunity to enable your people to work with AI—ethically, fluently, and effectively—so your organization doesn’t just comply with regulations, but leads in the AI era. It’s a strategic inflection point for CHROs, CLOs, and CIOs to embed ethical, structured, and scalable AI learning into their organizations’ DNA.

Why the EU AI Act Changes the Game

The EU AI Act introduces sweeping rules on the development and use of AI, with some of the most stringent requirements impacting systems designed to automate workforce management.

Article 4 of the EU AI Act is clear:

“Providers and deployers of AI systems shall take measures to ensure, to the best extent possible, a sufficient level of AI literacy of their staff and other persons dealing with the operation and use of AI systems on their behalf.”

Organizations are responsible for ensuring that people who interact with AI systems are properly trained—technically, ethically, and contextually. For HR and Learning Professionals, that means rethinking how AI is introduced, adopted, and governed across your workforce.

If you’re using AI to hire, upskill, manage, or evaluate employees, you’ll also need to ensure that your AI provider has performed their due diligence and built their AI solution in a way in which your company can comply with the AI Act requirements.

Our global research with Harvard Business Publishing shows that:

• 68% of employees use Gen AI tools at least weekly, indicating widespread, decentralized adoption
• Yet 78% of employees lack the confidence to use those tools effectively
• Only 7% are fluent enough to build or customize Gen AI tools
• And 74% of executives have received no formal training in Gen AI themselves

Despite high usage, most organizations are flying blind—with employees using AI tools without the training, oversight, or infrastructure required by law. This is a serious compliance risk, but more critically, it’s a missed opportunity to turn AI adoption into measurable performance and innovation gains.

Understanding the EU AI Act

The EU AI Act is designed to regulate AI applications based on their risk levels, categorising them into different tiers: unacceptable risk, high risk, limited risk, and minimal risk. This risk-based approach ensures that the higher the risk an AI system poses, the stricter the compliance requirements it must meet. Some AI applications might be strictly illegal under the EU AI Act, while others, classified as high risk, might need to be developed in specific ways, in line with the AI Act’s requirements. 

Compliance with the EU AI Act is not just about adhering to regulations; it’s about ensuring that AI systems are trustworthy and beneficial for all users. For HR, Learning & Talent Management professionals, this means:

The 3 Levers of a Gen AI-Fluent Workforce

Our research shows that successful AI strategies converge around three critical enablers. These are the levers that bridge the gap between legal compliance and enterprise advantage:

1. Tools & Infrastructure

You can’t build Gen AI confidence without giving people hands-on access to AI tools—and embedding them into real workflows. This includes secure, explainable systems that:

• Align with ethical standards and enterprise risk frameworks
• Provide visibility into how AI outputs are generated
• Integrate into performance, development, and decision-making systems

2. Organizational Support & Training

AI learning must be structured, strategic, and consistent. What high-performing organizations are doing:

• Deploying AI academies, certifications, and on-the-job simulations
• Offering role-specific training for AI-enabled positions like Prompt Engineers and AI Analysts
• Making Gen AI literacy mandatory for managers and decision-makers

3. A Motivated Workforce

Motivation accelerates learning. Our study shows employees who perceive a personal benefit—such as productivity or creativity—are 77x more likely to engage deeply with Gen AI. This means:

• Clear communication of AI’s value
• Use of AI for self-directed learning
• Leadership that models responsible experimentation

When these three levers are deployed together, organizations unlock a confident, capable, and compliant workforce.

From Compliance to Confidence: Building Gen AI Fluency Across the Enterprise

As Gen AI reshapes work, compliance is only the starting point. Today’s CHROs, CLOs, and CIOs face a dual mandate: ensure governance and empower their people to use AI confidently and ethically. Meeting that challenge means moving beyond policy into practice.

Here’s how leading organizations are doing it:

• Evaluate your current AI literacy levels across employees and leadership
• Embed Gen AI into learning workflows and daily routines.
• Provide hands-on practice through simulations and real-world application.
• Develop fluency at every level—from frontline to executive leadership.
• Define new roles and responsibilities to scale AI capabilities.

By building a Gen AI-fluent workforce, organizations reduce risk, accelerate innovation, and position themselves to lead—ethically and effectively.

How Degreed Supports You Getting There

Compliance is at the core of our development process at Degreed. We build our platform to comply with the AI Act by leveraging:

• AI-powered platforms that prioritize human oversight, explainability, and data protection
• Structured Gen AI learning tools via academies, coaching, and personalized pathways
• Compliance-by-design architecture and logging to ensure transparency and auditability

We help you transform regulatory pressure into a competitive advantage—by building AI literacy where it matters most: in your people.

The post What the EU AI Act Means for HR Leaders in 2025 appeared first on Degreed.

The global consulting and technology services firm has long recognized that new managers need support. This has proven especially true in a learning climate marked by digital fatigue,  and what some have casually described as “death by pathway.”

At a time when the Capgemini business is scaling rapidly and client demands are growing more complex, the organization understands the importance of supporting its first time managers, to set them up for success right from the get-go.

Yet, traditional leadership programs are hard to scale, difficult to maintain, and often disconnected from the pace and priorities of the business. Learning delivery teams spend too much time managing training logistics, emails, and manual processes. And Learning teams want something more coherent, modern, and impactful.

To meet these challenges, Capgemini has launched an Emerging Leaders program—a guided, cohort-based experience built on Degreed Academies. The result? A 26% jump in skills proficiency, a big drop in attrition, and a 4.6 out of 5 learner satisfaction rating—proof that Capgemini first-time managers aren’t just trained, they are equipped to lead. 

Leadership Development That Starts Strong and Scales Fast

Co-created with business leaders and learning partners, Emerging Leaders follows a complete learning cycle. It’s more than a content playlist. It’s a full development journey designed to embed growth into everyday work, supported by nudges, mentors, reflections, and social accountability.

To build the journey, learning teams worked closely with HR and business leaders to define success, select content, and ensure the program reflected the company’s Leadership Vision—a set of guiding leadership principles that the company believes every employee should develop.

The result is an experience designed to match the expectations of a digitally fluent, ambitious audience. Employees progress through a six-week cycle, combining curated digital content, real-world projects, mentoring, reflection, and guided practice—all within a single Degreed-powered environment.

How Degreed Academies Makes It Possible

Degreed Academies gives Capgemini the infrastructure to deliver a holistic, guided leadership journey within a single, unified experience. From onboarding and nudges to live events and reflections, everything is centralized—no more spreadsheets, scattered tools, or siloed communications. And, with Microsoft Teams integration and built-in calendar functionality, participants stay on track while balancing their day-to-day responsibilities.

Capgemini uses Degreed Academies to structure monthly cohorts in a fully guided, week-by-week experience—layering content, leadership simulations, mentoring prompts, and reflection points in a clearly defined journey. Employees always know what to do next and why it matters. Automated nudges and personalized messaging help maintain momentum and accountability, without overloading delivery teams. By streamlining what were previously resource-heavy, manual tasks like scheduling, communications, and tracking, Degreed gives L&D professionals more time to focus on content quality, learner engagement, and business alignment.

Because everything runs through Degreed, Capgemini can access real-time insights on progress, engagement, and outcomes. This allows learning leaders to tweak delivery based on cohort behavior, and to identify bottlenecks early. With Degreed Academies, Capgemini isn’t just delivering training—it’s running a scalable, data-backed leadership product.

Features like live events, embedded reflections, and automated reminders help create a sense of connection and momentum.

Completion rates have peaked at 81%, with learner satisfaction scores averaging 4.6 out of 5.

More Than Engagement. Measurable Growth.

In 2024 alone, nearly 4,000 employees across 39 countries completed the program. Capgemini is on track to scale cohorts of 2,000 people per month in 2025. Attrition of managers who completed the program dropped to 6.5%, versus a much higher company average among the same target population.

And employee feedback has been resoundingly positive. Participants consistently call out the program’s relevance, structure, and challenge.

“The Emerging Leaders program was unforgettable among the other trainings I’ve taken,” said one employee.

“One of the most practical, useful, and challenging programs I’ve participated in,” said another.

Employees show a 26% average increase in skills proficiency from pre-program assessments to post-program outcomes. And more than 90% of those surveyed said they’d apply what they learned in their current roles.

A Model for Strategic Leadership Growth

Capgemini hasn’t just improved leadership development—the company has reimagined how it should operate. Instead of a fragmented or manual model, Emerging Leaders is now a repeatable, data-driven experience that’s aligned with the long-term Capgemini leadership strategy.

For enterprise learning teams facing similar challenges, the takeaway is clear: When leadership development meets thoughtful design and scalable technology, impact multiplies.

With momentum building and demand accelerating, Capgemini continues to refine and expand the program—proving that with the right model, early leadership development can be both high-impact and high-scale.

Learn more.

Build a scalable leadership program like this one. Let’s talk about how Degreed Academies can support workforce development at scale at your organization.

The post Innovative Leadership: Capgemini’s Approach to Emerging Leaders appeared first on Degreed.

That’s the missed opportunity facing many organizations. But it doesn’t have to be.

“The future of higher education is one of pluralism. It’s one of many actors, many organizations contributing powerfully, dynamically, and compellingly to a world where you as a learner are able to achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve,” said Michele Spires, Assistant Vice President at the American Council on Education (ACE). “It’s about a network of organizations that collectively work together… and you get a new framework for lifelong higher education.”

Lifelong learning resonates at the core of the Degreed mission. And it’s why we’re introducing the Degreed College Accreditation Service, powered by our new partnership with ACE and Credly by Pearson. It means your people’s internal learning can go further—earning college credit, formal credentials, and long-term value.

Workplace Learning That Counts Beyond the Workplace

Let’s be clear: This is more than a new feature. It’s a strategic lever for workforce transformation, designed to help you build, validate, and mobilize skills that matter to your business.

And make no mistake: This isn’t just a benefit for employees. It’s a strategy for organizations that want to attract, grow, and retain top talent in a skills-first world.

With Degreed College Accreditation Service, your learning programs in Degreed Academies can be evaluated for college credit. The Degreed Professional Services team works with you to align content to ACE standards and issue formally recognized, transferable credits via Credly.

Your people get more than just a course completion. They get:

• Credentialed learning programs that support internal mobility and reduce attrition
• Verified, portable credentials that boost talent visibility across and beyond your organization
• Frictionless access to continuing education, with no extra time, testing, or tuition costs

“We need a future where everyone gets recognition for all lifelong learning and skills,” said David Blake, Degreed Co-CEO and Cofounder. “This partnership with ACE represents a significant stepping stone in that journey—enabling workers to gain verifiable, transferable credentials that follow them throughout their careers.”

The Business Case for Recognized Learning

Organizations already invest millions in learning and development—but without formal recognition, those investments often fall short.

Today’s savvy learning leaders seek to provide their people with verifiable credentials to boost employee engagement, strengthen the employee value proposition, and reduce attrition. They aim to transform L&D from a support function into a strategic growth engine, delivering measurable ROI across the talent lifecycle.

Skills That Stick. Credits That Count

When skills are the currency of work, credentials are a key way that currency is verified. Formal recognition gives your workforce the power to advance—whether it’s into a new role, a different industry, or a formal degree.

With ACE and Credly, you gain not only credibility but also measurable proof of performance.

And with Degreed, these credentials don’t exist in isolation. They’re fully integrated into your skill data ecosystem—making it easier to benchmark learning progress, analyze workforce capabilities, and report ROI across the enterprise.

Giving Learning the Recognition It Deserves

Your people put in the work. It’s time that work works harder for them. Let’s discuss how your company can turn internal learning into accredited pathways that drive business results and lifelong impact.

Learn more.

Let’s discuss skill building at your organization. Schedule a personalized, one-on-one call with a Degreed expert today.

The post Say Goodbye to Siloed Learning. Hello, Accredited Skills appeared first on Degreed.

Recent research suggests adoption might not be as deep as the marketing suggests.

“We ended up doing a bit of digging to find out why that was the case,” says Fiona Leteney, Senior Analyst at Fosway Group.

This perspective comes as Leteney reunites with Degreed Co-CEO Max Wessel in a podcast conversation on The AI Dilemma in Learning Systems, exploring the 2025 Fosway 9-Grid for Learning Systems research.

In this second episode of our three-part series—catch up on episode No. 1 here—Leteney and Wessel explore the gap between bold AI hype promises and current delivery, what’s holding companies back from more significant AI adoption, and what forward-thinking learning and business leaders can keep in mind as they shop vendors.

AI Hype vs. AI Help

Leteney spent more than 18 months interviewing vendors and corporate buyers for the Fosway research. While vendors touted AI on roadmaps and in demos, buyers were skeptical. Corporate users in the Fosway network consistently reported underwhelming functionality and lagging adoption.

Why? The hesitation comes from:

• Internal politics
• Security concerns
• Governance barriers
• The unknowns of ROI

In some cases, IT teams are pushing back. In others, people are simply waiting to see who makes the first move.

Where AI is Working

Some promising uses of AI? The ones you almost don’t notice. Like intelligent assistants in authoring tools or agentic features that automate complex reports with a simple prompt.

That “quiet AI” has massive potential—especially in areas learning systems have historically struggled with, like personalization and reporting. If the system can simply do the thing without users realizing it’s AI, adoption will follow.

Leteney calls out analytics use cases as particularly impactful: If AI can answer, for example, “How compliant is this region?” and generate a report—without an admin needing to run significant queries—that’s potentially indispensable.

AI Hype Advice for Learning Leaders

For those wondering how to navigate the AI maze, Leteney offers this: “Go looking…  Learn as much as you can, because this is coming almost as a tsunami, and making the best of this is going to improve your role in your company. And if you don’t, then that’s going to be holding you back. So I think, absolutely, embrace this massively.”

And remember, AI doesn’t have to be flashy to be powerful.

What matters most now is value—not novelty.

Degreed is built for this moment. We believe AI should be embedded in workflows, not layered on top. That’s why we’re building features that deliver real impact, quietly and powerfully—from AI-assisted content curation and skills analysis to personalized learning journeys and automated nudges.

Find out more.

Cut through the AI hype. Let Degreed help you scale what works, with real impact.

The post New Podcast: Is the AI Hype in Learning Tech Justified? appeared first on Degreed.

Now, with budgets tightening and expectations rising, a new question looms: Are those investments really delivering?

“Everybody needed to get a learning system,” says Fiona Leteney, Senior Analyst at Fosway Group. “But the sugar rush is over.”

This insight comes as Leteney joins Degreed Co-CEO Max Wessel in a podcast conversation on The State of Learning Systems in 2025, exploring the 2025 Fosway 9-Grid for Learning Systems research. Their discussion homes in on three things impacting the learning systems market today: The economic climate, artificial intelligence, and skills.

From Urgency to Accountability

Some learning teams bought a solution during the Covid pandemic out of short-term urgency, and perhaps didn’t fully understand the job they were acquiring it to do. “Do you think there’s more maturity now… in terms of that thoughtfulness?” Max asks Leteney.

Leteney’s answer reveals a split landscape:

At Smaller Organizations

Many purchases were made quickly, with minimal due diligence. “You only really get to know a system when you are using it,” she says, highlighting that many teams are now realizing limitations and reassessing.

At Larger Enterprises

The challenge is different. Many already had systems in place, but are now questioning if those systems are truly being used to full advantage—especially in new contexts like global programmatic delivery. For them, upcoming renewal decisions are about maximizing ROI and ensuring tech stacks support evolving business needs.

As renewal discussions surface, CFOs and CIOs are asking hard questions about value. Learning leaders are expected to demonstrate ROI, not just activity. And the bar for impact is high.

Recalibrating for What’s Next

Making change isn’t about regret. It’s about realignment. What worked in a crisis may not work in today’s complex, budget-conscious, and outcome-driven environment.

Degreed is built for this moment.

Degreed empowers you to:

• Pinpoint skills your people need now
• Personalize development at scale using AI and automations
• Integrate with your existing tech stack
• Measure and communicate impact across the business

You’re not stuck with decisions made in urgency. You have the opportunity to evolve your strategy—and your stack—to deliver real value.

Find out more.

Let’s talk about how Degreed can help you scale learning for impact. Schedule a demo today.

The post New Podcast: Is Your Learning Tech Still Worth It? appeared first on Degreed.

How can a newly-hired recent college graduate prove himself as a financial analyst?

How can a senior compliance officer ensure her company adheres to rapidly evolving sustainability regulations?

While their roles and learning needs are quite different, these two employees share something in common: a need for structured learning experiences that prepare them to succeed.

Fortunately, they each have access to Degreed Academies, designed to help employees—and their organizations—build the right skills at the right time.

Daniel’s Journey: New-Hire Onboarding for Financial Analysts

The new financial analyst—we’ll call him Daniel—starts his first day on the job filled with excitement and nerves. It’s daunting to step into a high-performance environment at a financial services firm where financial expertise and analytical skills are key.

Instead of being left alone to navigate a long list of training modules, our fictional Daniel is welcomed into his company’s New Hire Onboarding Academy in Degreed. This structured learning experience ensures he’s not just absorbing information, but also actively applying it.

How Daniel Experiences the New-Hire Onboarding Academy

• Role-Specific Learning Content: Daniel’s onboarding academy curates essential content, covering industry fundamentals, internal financial models, and reporting techniques. Each lesson builds on the previous one, ensuring he develops knowledge in a structured way so he isn’t overwhelmed. 
• A Blended Learning Approach: Daniel quickly realizes that he’s not just sitting through recorded videos. Instead, he’s engaging in peer discussions, attending expert-led sessions, working on projects that senior analysts review, and getting helpful feedback. Having his work assessed by experienced professionals makes learning feel real; he’s not just studying concepts, but also using them.
• Real-World Application: Just a few weeks in, Daniel is analyzing financial reports and making data-driven recommendations. The first time his mentor reviews one of his reports and provides constructive feedback, he feels a sense of progress. Instead of waiting months to contribute meaningfully, he’s already adding value.
• Continuous Development: When Daniel completes his onboarding program, learning doesn’t stop. The academy transitions him into a role-specific learning path in Degreed Learning, ensuring he continues sharpening his skills over time.

The result? Daniel onboarded in half the time typically required by traditional methods. And instead of feeling lost, he feels confident and engaged. Actively contributing to the team’s success so quickly boosts his motivation.

Priya’s Challenge: Change Management for Regulatory Compliance

As a senior compliance officer, Priya thrives in a world of structure and precision. But when new sustainability regulations—like the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)—take effect, even the most prepared professional can feel the pressure of adapting.

Compliance isn’t just about checking a box—it’s about transforming how a company tracks, analyzes, and reports environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data. Fortunately, our fictional Priya doesn’t have to navigate these changes alone Her company’s Regulatory Compliance Academy in Degreed ensures Priya and her colleagues stay ahead.

How Priya Navigates the Regulatory Compliance Academy

• Structured Learning: The academy is a one-stop hub for regulatory updates, expert insights, and case studies on other companies successfully navigating compliance challenges. With learning modules built and updated by internal experts, she’s always working with the latest information.
• Role-Specific Academies: As Priya progresses, she completes content that shows how different teams across her company in Finance, Procurement, and Operations each play a role in adhering to the new compliance regulations. Knowing that her entire organization is aligned makes her job easier.
• Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: One of Priya’s favorite aspects of the academy is live Q&A sessions with sustainability experts. Being able to discuss new regulations, ask specific questions, and share insights with colleagues makes learning feel collaborative, not isolated.
• Assessments and Compliance Readiness: The academy’s scenario-based projects, which were used as a capstone assessment, push Priya to think critically. When she successfully identifies a gap in the company’s ESG reporting and proposes a solution, she realizes the full impact of her learning. She’s actively protecting the company from risk.

Thanks to the academy, Priya caught a critical oversight in her company’s sustainability disclosures, prevented a €500,000 compliance penalty, and positioned her company as a leader in ESG transparency. More than that, she feels empowered. She’s not just reacting to changes, she’s also proactively shaping her company’s compliance strategy.

Different Career Stages, One Solution

For employees like Daniel and Priya, learning isn’t just an administrative requirement, it’s also an essential part of success.

With structured, strategic learning experiences powered by Degreed Academies, Daniel feels confident contributing to his team in record time. Priya has the knowledge and support she needs to manage complex regulatory changes with ease.

Find out more.

How can your organization get the most from Degreed Academies? Let’s talk about it.

The post Strengthen Onboarding & Manage Change with Degreed Academies appeared first on Degreed.

This is the second post in a series on building skills for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI). See the first.

DEI skills—such as critical thinking, cultural intelligence, and psychological safety—are no longer optional; they’re essential to a thriving, resilient organization that can adapt to rapid change.

By developing DEI skills, leaders and employees can create inclusive environments where diverse perspectives thrive, fostering a culture of belonging that boosts resilience, engagement, and innovation. Key DEI skills bridge the gap between rapid technological advancements and the human connection needed for collaboration—and they might just prove essential in helping your organization meet its most important objectives. 

Organizations looking to navigate periods of significant change need DEI skills to remain agile and resilient. Navigating change means more than responding to technology shifts; it’s about ensuring your people are equipped to thrive in an inclusive, fast-paced environment.

As periods of change become the norm, prioritizing DEI skills is key for organizations to stay competitive and agile. Whether it’s enhancing knowledge sharing or building resilient teams, focusing on DEI skills is the path to a truly adaptive, inclusive, and thriving workplace.

The Leader’s Role in DEI Skill Development

Leaders in particular play a crucial role in championing DEI skills. Why? Leaders empower individuals and managers to support inclusive practices and create a culture of belonging that drives engagement, grit, and resilience at a time when people need it most. Executive Leaders can prioritize DEI skills to foster an environment where psychological safety and diverse perspectives drive growth.

Engaging managers and leaders in DEI skill conversations begins with equipping them to act as skill coaches, fostering open dialogue and modeling inclusive behaviors. This process involves providing targeted training and tools to help leaders recognize and mitigate bias, facilitate psychological safety, and encourage diverse perspectives within their teams.

By embedding DEI into regular performance discussions and aligning it with business goals, managers can actively support their teams’ growth while driving a culture of inclusion and belonging.

Choosing DEI Skills to Prioritize at Your Organization

As you assess which DEI skills need attention at your organization, let’s explore a few examples to get you started.

Remember that skills should be measurable and developable.

You might be tempted to choose skills like compassion or empathy. These are important, but under scrutiny they’re revealed as inherent human traits. In other words, how can an employee get better at empathy? On the contrary, DEI skills allow for the evaluation of proficiency and improvement over time. To find out more on this, take a deeper dive into skills vs. competencies.  

Key DEI skills and the benefits they offer include:

• Critical Thinking. This helps employees recognize and address biases, question assumptions, and make fair, reasoned decisions that align with inclusive values. It helps them understand how best to utilize and evaluate AI tools. It’s not only about problem-solving; it’s essential for uncovering and addressing unconscious biases in decision-making and enabling fairer, more inclusive practices.

• Psychological Safety. This is about creating an environment where individuals feel secure sharing ideas without fear of judgment, and it’s vital to inclusion. Psychological safety builds trust and encourages diverse perspectives, allowing innovation to flourish while creating a foundation of trust and respect. Psychological safety is pertinent to all levels of an organization.

• Resilience. This is the ability to adapt to challenges and recover from setbacks. It supports employees as they navigate change, including shifts toward greater equity and inclusion. Resilience is about equipping teams to thrive even during difficult times, which is essential for fostering a workforce that remains engaged and supportive.

• Cross-Cultural Agility.  This is about understanding and adapting to diverse perspectives in a way that drives better team collaboration. It helps individuals work productively across different backgrounds, enhancing communication and collaboration.

• Inclusive Communication. This involves learning techniques to actively listen, mitigate biases, and foster open dialogue. Inclusive communication allows for better understanding among team members and creates an environment where all voices are heard and valued.

• Equitable Decision-Making. This involves systematically ensuring fairness in processes like hiring or promotions through choices that are both inclusive and unbiased. Equitable decision-making lays the groundwork for fair practices that help attract and retain a diverse workforce.

Each of these skills is developable, actionable, and measurable. The important action is identifying skills to develop that are essential to DEI  as well as accomplishing your company’s goals.

How to Develop DEI Skills Aligned with Company Goals

Rather than viewing DEI as a standalone initiative, savvy organizations will recognize that DEI skills are directly tied to broader business objectives—for example, boosting innovation, increasing employee engagement, or improving customer satisfaction.

Step No. 1: Identify DEI skills that align with business goals.

Start by identifying a few essential DEI skills that align with your company’s strategic objectives. For example, if your goal is to foster innovation, focus on skills like creativity and cultural awareness, which support diverse thinking and collaboration. If the goal is to improve team resilience during times of change, prioritize skills like psychological safety and adaptability.

Step No. 2: Define clear outcomes for skill development.

It’s essential to clearly define what success looks like. Do you need employees to gain deep proficiency in one area, or is a broader understanding of multiple skills more valuable? Asking for both breadth and depth can lead to burnout, so keep the focus on a few key skills and make sure progress is measurable. This specificity will also help you track progress and make adjustments as needed.

Step No. 3: Take action with small, scalable steps.

Don’t wait for perfect data or a lengthy approval process to get started. Quick wins like engaging employees in discussions about skills or launching targeted training programs can build momentum. Analyzing employee skill profiles, for instance—to identify gaps in psychological safety or cultural awareness—might quickly help you pinpoint where to start. This in turn could help make your overall implementation process more responsive and agile.

Step No. 4: Provide targeted resources and training.

Asking employees to develop DEI skills without adequate resources is a recipe for failure. Ensure they have access to workshops, peer-to-peer learning groups, stretch assignments, and learning content that supports their growth. Be wary of blanket training programs, as these often lack the focus necessary to address specific skill gaps. Instead, opt for tailored learning experiences that address your organization’s unique needs.

A Note About Creating Lasting, Measurable Mentorship Programs

A mentorship program is a wonderful tool in the DEI toolbox. But if it’s your only tool, you’ve made a mistake. While many mentorship programs created during the DEI push of 2020 had good intentions, they often lacked long-term sustainability. To create lasting impact, mentorship initiatives must have clear goals and ongoing support. 

Leaders should be accountable for fostering inclusive cultures and providing mentorship aligned with measurable outcomes. Specific skills tied to a program can help define clear goals. By establishing structured, goal-oriented mentorship that complements other DEI initiatives, organizations can sustain DEI momentum and build a stronger, more inclusive talent pipeline.

The Measurable Impact of DEI Skills

Organizations that invest in DEI skills are building a foundation for sustained performance and adaptability, creating a workforce that’s not only more diverse but also more agile, innovative, and resilient. Integrating DEI skills into company strategy isn’t just about “checking a box.” It’s about making an investment in the long-term health and competitiveness of your organization. 

With the right DEI skills in place, your organization is better equipped to navigate change, embrace diverse perspectives, and drive lasting progress.

Degreed Professional Services

Hali Linn is a Learning Strategy Consultant on the Degreed Professional Services team.

Degreed Professional Services partners with business leaders and learning pros to explore learning strategies, technology goals, and questions. Book a free and private consultation.

The post DEI Skills in Action: A Step-by-Step Guide to Driving Change appeared first on Degreed.