HR teams have spent the better part of a decade building learning infrastructure, but new research suggests employees have spent roughly the same amount of time quietly working around it.
The report, from Go1 in partnership with analyst Lori Niles-Hofmann of 8Levers, draws on surveys of 700 employees and 300 people managers across mid-sized organizations in the U.S., U.K. and Australia. The findings reveal a development ecosystem that looks functional on the surface but struggles to meet employees in the moment.
Employees don’t go to LMS platforms for guidance
Ninety percent of employees say professional development in their organization is structured, which is a testament to years of HR investment. But when 47% of those same employees needed advice or guidance multiple times in the past month, two-thirds turned to a colleague or manager first. Only 7% went to the learning platform their organization built for them.
The top two triggers prompting employees to seek development support are changes to tools or processes and changes in their role. These are immediate needs that formal programs were never designed to serve. Employees aren’t navigating growth alone because managers don’t care, Niles-Hofmann writes. They’re self-reliant because support doesn’t arrive when it’s needed.
Managers face their own version of this friction. Nearly all of these respondents said they feel responsible for their team’s skill-building and feel accountable for compliance. However, they intervene most reliably when performance risk appears, not proactively.
Both employees and managers are behaving rationally, the report argues. The systems just don’t connect them.
Read more: HR leaders, does your AI pass the face-to-face test?
Slack and Teams for the win
Slack and Teams ranked No. 1 as the preferred place for future development support, above any dedicated learning platform. Eighty-three percent of employees expect development to arise naturally in their workflow rather than as a separate process.
Niles-Hofmann’s prescription centers on rethinking delivery, not just content. She suggests embedding development inside collaboration tools, requiring AI vendors to surface reasoning behind recommendations and moving from episodic programs to always-on infrastructure.
“Development has to become a condition of work, not an event,” the report states.
The study argues HR effectiveness should no longer be measured by how much training gets delivered, but by how well development integrates into the flow of work.
HR tech in the news
Another column, another wave of HR tech news dominated by two letters: AI.
But look closer and the story gets more interesting. Autonomous agents are displacing legacy ticketing tools. Employers are taking drug costs into their own hands. Skills platforms are hiring the practitioners who used them first. And a new class of start-ups is raising money to solve problems that have frustrated recruiters and HR teams for years.
Whether you’re tracking vendors, watching the funding market or keeping tabs on who’s moving where, there’s plenty to parse. Here’s what happened.
Product announcements
ServiceNow launched Autonomous Workforce, AI specialists who execute jobs with enterprise-level authority and governance. This arrives alongside ServiceNow EmployeeWorks, which integrates Moveworks’ conversational AI to handle end-to-end requests for nearly 200 million employees.
Paychex rolled out AI-driven enhancements to its Paycor and Paychex Flex platforms. These include an upgraded Smart Scheduler and automated time and attendance features designed to bring enterprise-grade AI capabilities to businesses of all sizes.
Global relocation manager CapRelo rebuilt its mobility platform around CoreTech. This proprietary AI intelligence layer synthesizes policies, destinations, timelines and employee profiles to simplify relocation for both employees and the HR teams managing them.
Deputy, a workforce management platform for hourly employers, announced the U.S. launch of Deputy Payroll, powered by Paycor, unifying scheduling, time tracking, compliance and pay in one system. Early pilots showed payroll processing time cut by up to 50% and managers saving 45-60 minutes per pay period.
Prescription savings plan GoodRx launched GoodRx Employer Direct, enabling employers to apply targeted subsidies to discounted brand medications. The offer includes GLP-1s and deploys condition-specific telemedicine solutions to improve access without adding health plan complexity.
Perceptyx, an employee experience and listening platform, acquired Lyceum AI, an AI-native learning platform that converts static training content into personalized, dynamic experiences.
TCS and ServiceNow signed a multi-year partnership to accelerate enterprise AI adoption. TCS is expected to develop solutions on the ServiceNow platform targeting HR, finance, supply chain and other back-office functions.
HR tech funding updates
Huper, an AI “chief of staff” platform, raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to build a security-first AI system. The innovation aims to synthesize information across email, messaging and CRM tools to give leaders real-time visibility.
HR operations platform Kinfolk raised a $7 million seed round to expand its autonomous agent platform, which aims to handle up to 80% of early-stage employee requests directly inside Slack or Teams. The makers say this saves HR teams an estimated 45 days per year.
Hiring platform Elly launched its platform and announced $8 million in funding. The innovation targets the recruiting stack by unifying sourcing, interviews and internal deliberations in a single system.
HR tech people moves
Haiilo employee experience and internal communications platform appointed Oliver Ridley as chief product and technology officer. Ridley brings more than two decades of experience scaling digital platforms globally, most recently as CTO at Nordic unicorn Gelato.
Enterprise skills intelligence platform Workera added four go-to-market leaders. These are Jim Hemgen as vice president of partnerships from Booz Allen Hamilton, Brad Bernstein as vice president of global sales from HackerRank, Jessica Harvey as vice president of customer and Amanda Ellsworth as head of product marketing.
Employ Inc., which provides talent acquisition technology across JazzHR, Lever and Jobvite, named Patrick Jean as chief technology officer. He is tasked with accelerating innovation and strengthening platform performance across its suite of intelligent hiring solutions.
More from HR Executive
HR Executive Top HR Tech Products of the Year is now accepting nominations for 2026. The program, which draws hundreds of submissions annually, recognizes the most impactful new products helping HR leaders solve real workforce challenges. Enter now.
HR Tech Europe returns April 22-23 at RAI Amsterdam, bringing together more than 2,300 senior HR professionals from 86 countries. The 2026 agenda features speakers from Pandora, Marriott International, Amazon and Disruptive HR. Plus, a new Pitchfest competition spotlighting emerging HR tech start-ups.
Amazon and Walmart are pursuing sharply different workforce AI strategies. Amazon has announced tens of thousands of corporate layoffs. Meanwhile, Walmart is investing in AI upskilling for its 2.1 million employees and joining OpenAI’s Certificates program to give associates free AI certification in 2026. This contrast raises pointed questions for HR leaders watching from the sidelines.
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