The role of HR has evolved from a back-office function into a strategic driver of culture, talent, and business growth. From onboarding to career development, HR's mandate is shifting toward delivering hyper-personalised employee experiences that align with individual needs.
As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, HR teams are utilising it in many different ways. But how can they go beyond basic automation – like filing leave requests and flagging compliance gaps – to deliver excellent personalised employee experiences?
AI-powered technology now enables HR teams to design tailored learning paths, gather real-time feedback, and offer support at scale, all without losing the human touch. At the centre of this evolution is Learning and Development (L&D). In today's fast-moving, skills-short market, upskilling and reskilling are no longer optional but business-critical.
For companies looking to attract, engage, and retain talent, future-focused training has become a key competitive advantage. In fact, Rippling's research reveals that nearly 40% of employees say they would reconsider joining a company if it lacked adequate L&D programs. So, what should businesses keep in mind when starting to develop L&D programmes?
Building the right foundations
Before you get started, consider the impact that introducing a new L&D program might have on your HR team. Expanding learning opportunities is a valuable move, but without the right systems in place, it can quickly become a logistical burden. Managing course enrolments, monitoring progress, and tracking completions manually can overwhelm already stretched teams.
To avoid this, consider investing in a unified L&D platform that automates key workflows such as attendance tracking, certification management, and progress monitoring. Many of today's platforms also integrate AI to streamline these tasks further – intelligently assigning courses based on roles, surfacing relevant learning paths, and even predicting areas where additional support may be needed, allowing your HR team to focus on driving strategic people initiatives instead of chasing paperwork.
To accelerate rollout and reduce friction, start by launching your L&D catalogue with a strong foundation of pre-built content. Courses covering essential topics like compliance, cybersecurity, and unconscious bias can provide immediate value across your organisation. Not only does this make implementation easier, but it also gives employees access to quality learning, on mobile, tablet, or desktop – helping build early momentum while your team works on tailoring content to your organisation's specific needs. AI can further enhance this process by analysing engagement data to recommend the most relevant content to different teams or individuals, helping you deliver smarter, more impactful learning experiences from day one.
Using tech to create personalised L&D frameworks
When developing L&D initiatives, it's important to have a mix of personalised and pre-built content. By blending ready-made modules with custom learning experiences as your program evolves, you can meet both short-term goals and long-term development needs.
Consider collecting employee feedback through surveys and performance reviews to help shape more meaningful learning experiences. By tapping into employee insights, businesses can identify skill gaps, surface relevant topics, and demonstrate that L&D is a two-way street. This not only boosts engagement but positions development as a value-add – something employees actively want to pursue, and not just something they have to complete.
A practical example of this approach is EMP Quest, an internal tool Liven built using Rippling's Custom App. It creates a structured, ticketing-style system for employees to log issues or concerns, which can then be tracked through to resolution. Beyond improving transparency and responsiveness, it also generates a backlog of real employee queries that can be analysed for patterns and recurring challenges - providing valuable data to shape targeted L&D initiatives grounded in actual employee needs rather than generic assumptions.
This kind of feedback loop ensures the L&D program remains dynamic, targeted, and aligned with both business goals and employee aspirations. It also helps inform Liven's decision as it builds its custom AI-driven learning content, creating personalised training content tailored to each individual's preferences, knowledge, or even first language, then delivering it through Rippling's LMS.
This loop allows a more personalised, tech-enabled approach to develop L&D frameworks that truly drive engagement, growth, and retention, businesses. Leveraging technology allows businesses to deliver content that caters to different learning preferences, whether that's through videos, infographics, or concise, text-based formats. This variety ensures that employees can engage with training in a way that aligns with how they learn best, ultimately improving knowledge retention and program effectiveness.
Automate processes and humanise experiences
Ultimately, HR teams no longer have to choose between operational excellence and meaningful employee engagement. By embracing modern workforce management tools, organisations can achieve both. These technologies provide the infrastructure to automate and streamline administrative tasks or, the "science" of HR, while freeing up time and resources to focus on the "art": culture-building, communication, and personalised support. In today's increasingly competitive, data-driven, and employee-centric landscape, striking this balance is essential to building resilient, high-performing teams where people feel valued and empowered to grow.
