Most employees can recite the compliance policy. Far fewer know what to say when a customer asks them to bend it, or when a colleague crosses a line in a meeting. That gap between knowing the rules and acting on them is where compliance training succeeds or fails, and where it starts to affect revenue.
Our report, “The 2023 State of Learning and Development”, explored how UK companies use compliance training and soft skills development, including scenario based learning, to improve performance and drive revenue. Corporate compliance training remains essential: it helps organisations meet regulatory requirements, reduce risk, keep people safe and protect customer data. But the report also showed a clear shift towards valuing soft skills training for building employee capability and supporting professional development.
Your Learning Path
- What compliance training is and the main types
- Why effective compliance training matters for revenue
- What our State of Learning and Development report found
- Why traditional compliance training falls short
- How Virti addresses these L&D challenges
- How to get started
What Is Compliance Training?
Compliance training educates employees on the laws, regulations, internal policies and code of conduct that apply to their role. Done well, it reduces legal and financial risk, protects customer and patient data, keeps people safe and shows an organisation's commitment to ethical behaviour.
Common types of compliance training
- Code of conduct and ethics training: how employees are expected to behave and make decisions in line with company values.
- Data protection and privacy: handling customer and patient data in line with regulations such as GDPR.
- Workplace health and safety: preventing accidents and keeping people safe at work.
- Anti harassment and discrimination: recognising, preventing and reporting unacceptable behaviour.
- Anti bribery and corruption: spotting and refusing improper offers or requests.
- Industry specific regulation: the rules that apply in sectors such as financial services and healthcare.
Why Effective Compliance Training Matters for Revenue
The report found that 67% of respondents see a positive impact of learning and development (L&D) on revenue, underlining its strategic importance. Effective compliance training programmes are part of that picture. They reduce legal and financial risk and build trust with customers, while ongoing learning helps employees grow. Virti CEO Kurt Kratchman emphasises the broader impact of soft skills learning beyond conventional metrics. He notes how it attracts vibrant talent and fosters a culture of innovation, both critical for sustained productivity and growth, while also supporting engagement, knowledge retention, and the achievement of learning goals.
What Our State of Learning and Development Report Found
Top L&D challenges
Despite its evident benefits, L&D faces challenges, including the ongoing need to keep up with regulatory standards and evolving regulations in compliance training, with budget constraints topping the list. However, strong leadership support indicates a shift in perception, recognizing L&D as a revenue driver rather than a mere expense.
Key insights from the report
- In house training: Over half of the respondents prefer in house production of training content, emphasising tailored learning experiences.
- Course lifespan: Training courses typically have a short lifespan, emphasising the need for continual adaptation and relevance, especially in soft skill compliance training.
- Flexible learning: The majority of L&D programmes offer flexible learning options, and training materials catering to diverse employee needs and preferences.
- Digital immersive training: While adoption is modest, digital immersive training holds promise for enhancing training quality and cost effectiveness, particularly in soft skill compliance training.
- Organisational structure: L&D predominantly reports to HR, showcasing its alignment with talent development strategies.
Compliance training and soft skills development are not just necessities but investments in organisational success. They shape both individual competencies and overall business performance. To explore these insights in more depth, download our complimentary report, “The 2023 State of Learning and Development”.
Why Traditional Compliance Training Falls Short
Most compliance programmes are built to prove completion: an annual online course, a short quiz and a certificate. That satisfies the audit, but it rarely changes behaviour. The moments that create real risk are usually conversations, not knowledge checks.
Think of an employee who is asked to share customer data without the right checks, a manager who needs to address inappropriate comments in a meeting, or a sales rep under pressure to promise something outside policy. Knowing the rule is not enough. People need to practise what to say, under realistic pressure, so they act correctly when it matters. This is what the report described as soft skill compliance training, and it is where scenario based practice makes the biggest difference.
How Virti Addresses These L&D Challenges
While the report highlights the growing recognition of soft skills training's impact on revenue and talent retention, it also reveals persistent challenges that organisations face in delivering effective learning experiences. Virti's AI powered immersive learning platform directly addresses these key pain points.
Solving budget constraints with scalable solutions
The report identifies budget constraints as the top L&D challenge. Virti's platform eliminates the need for expensive in person training sessions, travel costs, and repeated instructor fees. Organisations can deliver consistent, high quality training experiences to unlimited employees simultaneously, dramatically reducing per learner costs while maintaining training effectiveness.
Meeting the demand for in house, tailored content
With over half of respondents preferring to produce training content in house, Virti lets organisations create custom AI role play scenarios that reflect their industry, company culture and compliance requirements. Policies and guidance can be added to a knowledge bank that Virtual Humans draw on, so every conversation stays accurate. Whether it's retail customer service, healthcare patient interactions, or corporate leadership conversations, the platform enables L&D teams to build a tailored learning process without technical expertise.
Addressing short course lifespans with agile content
The report's finding that training courses have short lifespans aligns perfectly with Virti's flexible training content creation capabilities. Organisations can rapidly update scenarios, modify virtual training with Virtual Humans, and adapt training content to reflect changing regulations, new products, or evolving best practices, all without starting from scratch.
Supporting flexible learning preferences
Virti's platform naturally supports the flexible learning options that the majority of L&D programmes require. Employees can access training scenarios anytime, practice at their own pace, repeat challenging conversations, and practise on desktop or mobile.
Enhancing digital immersive training adoption
While the report notes modest adoption of digital immersive training, Virti bridges this gap by making corporate training accessible and practical. Learners get feedback showing exactly what they said against each evaluation point, and reports can be exported to share with compliance teams and other stakeholders.
How to Get Started
Start with the compliance conversation that carries the most risk in your organisation, such as handling a data request, speaking up about misconduct or refusing a request outside policy. Build a scenario around it using your own policies, run it with a pilot group, and use the feedback data to see where people are confident and where they still hesitate.
Then expand into other areas of your compliance training programme, from code of conduct conversations to industry specific situations, and export reports to show compliance and leadership teams the progress being made.
Before You Go
- Compliance training helps organisations meet regulatory requirements, reduce risk and protect customer data
- Our report found that 67% of respondents see a positive impact of L&D on revenue
- Budget constraints are the top L&D challenge, and short course lifespans mean training content must be easy to update
- Traditional compliance training proves completion but rarely changes behaviour in the conversations that matter
- AI role play lets employees practise compliance conversations safely, with feedback and exportable reports for stakeholders
Frequently Asked Questions
What is compliance training?
Compliance training teaches employees the laws, regulations and internal policies that apply to their role, such as data protection, health and safety, anti harassment and the code of conduct. Its purpose is to reduce legal and financial risk and make sure employees act ethically.
How do you make compliance training more effective?
Move beyond completion. Keep content short and up to date, focus on the real situations employees face, and give people a chance to practise what they would actually say. Measure behaviour and confidence, not just who finished the course.
Can AI role play be used for compliance training?
Yes, especially for the conversations compliance depends on, such as handling a data request, challenging inappropriate behaviour or refusing a request outside policy. Employees practise with a Virtual Human that reacts realistically, then get feedback on what they said against each evaluation point.
Does compliance training affect revenue?
It can. Effective compliance training reduces the cost of legal violations and lost customer trust, and our State of Learning and Development report found that 67% of respondents see a positive impact of L&D on revenue.
