🤔 What do Led Zeppelin and compliance training have in common?

They're ready to rock and roll! Discover how certified, pre-built premium courses keep your company compliant and empower your team with the skills they need to succeed — without the stress!

Welcome to The Manual Weekly – LI Edition, the can’t-miss newsletter for business leaders. You’ll find snackable bits of news highlighting emerging trends, actionable resources, and proven best practices that can help take your business to the next level.

This week’s must-reads:

• 350+ all-new premium courses ready to publish.
• How to gamify your work culture using upskilling.
• Check out automatic additions to your ‘Following’ section.
• From fads to foundations — workplace trends that are here to stay.

Ready to publish: 350+ all-new premium courses

The all-new premium courses library is full of hundreds of compliance training courses — like harassment prevention, DEI, ethics, and cybersecurity — all pre-built and ready to share with your team as soon as today.

When you leverage Trainual’s premium courses add-on to stay compliant, you score a ton of benefits, including:

• 🎯 Unlimited access. Get unlimited access to a growing library of 350+ courses, crafted by experts specifically for your industry, region, and company size.
• 📚 Consolidated training hub. Say goodbye to costly third-party compliance platforms and keep all your training materials in one easily searchable place.
• 🪄 Automatic updates. Premium courses automatically refresh as state rules and regulations change — you don’t have to play lawyer (unless you are one).
• 📅 Recurring training cycles. Schedule initial and recurring due dates to meet new hire, annual, and other compliance training deadlines.
• 📊 On-demand records. Track completion progress and get proof of compliance at any time with detailed reports and certificates.

Premium courses start at just $104/mo. (That's right — for unlimited access to courses for your entire account.) 

Want to learn how to maximize your compliance training strategy? Join us for a free, 30-min. session (with live Q&A!) to learn how to navigate the unlimited premium courses library, grab reports for proof of compliance, get automatic updates for hands-off training maintenance, and more! 👇

📣 Calling current Trainual customers! Save your spot here.

👉 Don’t have a Trainual account? We got you! Save your spot here.

How upskilling can gamify your work culture

Luke couldn't take down Darth Vader and save the galaxy in the first 20 min of the most infamous galactic saga. (Where's the fun in that?) He had to train, grow, and learn the ways of the Force first! That’s the essence of upskilling: training, learning, and evolving to become a better version of yourself.

Upskilling isn't just a tool for improving your team — it’s also a hidden force for retaining them. A recent report reveals that providing learning and development opportunities is the #1 way (yes, you read that right) to retain employees. 

Here are four ways to create a culture of continuous upskilling:

1. Cultivate space for learning: Make time for growth and learning a priority for everyone. (AKA, set some time for people to learn new things.)
2. Make learning personal: Customize experiences to fit each employee's unique path. (Psst… Automated tools like training paths make this easy.) 
3. Promote mentorship programs: Every Luke Skywalker needs their Yoda! Foster a supportive environment where colleagues can share knowledge, strengthen bonds, and learn from one another.
4. Measure progress: What is measured is monitored. Keep track of how things are going so you can see what works and where you can improve.

Check out automatic additions to your "Following" section

Have you felt like somebody’s watching you lately? Probably because they are… using the updated version of the “Following” section on the Home page! 

Okay, it might feel a bit creepy at first, but the “Following” section is the perfect place for you and your team leaders to get a snapshot of training progress. It’s a great spot to get quick access to employee profiles, too — where you can view and manage their responsibilities, assigned subjects, and more. 

After we added the “Following” section, you asked for it to automatically populate with the progress of all your favorite team members — AKA, the legends that report directly to you. (It’s okay, we won’t let it get to their heads. 🤫)

We jumped right in and made it happen! Now, you automatically follow everyone you manage, including:

• Everyone in the groups you manage.
• Everyone who reports to you. (Reminder: This is set up on people's profiles or using the org chart).

👉 See how automatic following works! 

Moving beyond fads — lasting trends shaping the workplace

Silly Bandz, slap bracelets, and Cabbage Patch Kids — these trends left us wondering if they would stand the test of time. While some may have collected dust in attics for years, other items remain as popular as ever. (Remember trying to get a Wii back in the day? Good luck.)

Fast forward to today, and we’re spotting four workplace trends that we believe are here for the long haul: 

1. Customized work hours. People crave autonomy! Encourage your team to customize their work hours to boost satisfaction and drive better results.
2. Low employee engagement. To combat “quiet quitting” (yes, it’s real), actively seek employee feedback and implement recognition programs to enhance engagement.
3. Individual AI experimentation. Encourage your team to carve out some time to explore new AI platforms; this will boost productivity across the organization— after all, we all have a bit of Tony Stark in us!
4. Emotional intelligence. Although AI is crucial, it’s EQ that brings balance. Consider dedicating five minutes of one-on-one time with each of your team members to strengthen connections.