The independent survey conducted by the benchmarking research organisation Towards Maturity in conjunction with SAI Global gathered responses from compliance and learning-and- development professionals from 136 organisations with a combined workforce of 2.3 million employees.  It revealed that 87% of the companies carry out annual compliance training, with 77% of them using learning technologies as a major component of their programme.

In addition to improving employee engagement, key objectives for 98% of respondents were more effective risk management and positively impacting staff values, attitudes, and behaviour.  However, the study highlighted a significant gap between objectives and achievement, with just a quarter of participants consistently achieving against behavioural objectives and only one in five reporting improvements in employee engagement.  Organisations that are more mature in their use of eLearning were, however, 75% more likely to report positive impact on behaviours and twice as likely to change working culture as those in the less-mature category.

Laura Overton, Managing Director of Towards Maturity said, "Despite a hunger to change behaviour and attitudes, it is clear that the majority  of organisations rely on self-paced eLearning courses that focus on measuring the ticks rather than tackle the bigger issues of changing behaviour. There are lessons to be learned from the more mature organisations that are more successful in engaging staff and influencing lasting change. Mature organisations are more focused on aligning learning to business needs, tailoring learning to the individual through effective storytelling and diagnostics, and engaging staff using a wide range of learning and performance-support technologies."

Iain McLeod, Regional Director (EMEA), at SAI Global Compliance added, "Given the severe consequences of compliance breaches, it’s not surprising that businesses are setting themselves high goals for their compliance learning programmes – it’s about cultural change, not just completion rates. Businesses obviously recognise that success depends on the ability of their training to challenge existing attitudes towards compliance and positively impact employee behaviour. To do this, though, they have to challenge how they are currently ‘doing’ compliance to overcome the engagement barrier.  The study clearly demonstrates that the more mature organisations are more successfully achieving against their learning and business objectives and reinforces the quantifiable benefits that can be delivered through good practice."