The State of eLearning in HR 2025
How HR departments in Sweden use digital learning for skills development - and what barriers remain.
Executive Summary
HR departments are today the largest buyers of eLearning content in Swedish organisations, but they are also the most frustrated. Our interviews show that the gap between expectation and reality is large.
HR leaders want to use digital training for everything from onboarding to leadership development, but face tools built for compliance training, not genuine learning.
- **Onboarding is the biggest success story** - this is where digital training delivers the clearest ROI - **Leadership development remains analogue** - few have found a digital format that works for soft skills - **LMS migration creates opportunities** - organisations switching platforms are open to new content
Background
Skills development is consistently ranked as one of the top priorities for Swedish HR directors. Yet our survey shows that most rely on the same tools and methods as five years ago.
[AWAITING DATA - Statistics from HR trends in Sweden 2025, quotes from respondents]
The digital transformation that swept through other functions during the pandemic reached HR with full force, but many organisations stopped at digitising existing processes instead of thinking differently.
The Current Picture
## Where digital training is used
The most common use cases for eLearning in HR are:
- **Onboarding** - introduction of new employees (highest adoption) - **Compliance** - employment law, discrimination, work environment - **Product training** - for sales and support staff - **Leadership** - usually as a complement to in-person programmes - **Soft skills** - communication, collaboration (lowest adoption)
[AWAITING DATA - Specific breakdown and quotes]
## Tools and platforms
Most organisations use a central LMS (Cornerstone, SAP SuccessFactors, or Totara are the most common). Dissatisfaction with the platforms is palpable - many describe them as "necessary but clunky".
Challenges for HR
## 1. Engagement and motivation
The biggest challenge is not making content available, but getting employees to actually want to complete it. Mandatory training has higher completion rates but lower engagement - a paradoxical problem.
What Delivers Results
Organisations that succeed with digital training in HR share some common denominators:
- **Blended learning** - digital training as preparation for in-person workshops, not as a replacement. Particularly effective for leadership development. - **Microlearning for everyday learning** - short modules (2-5 minutes) that can be consumed during work breaks. - **Visual storytelling** - animated scenarios illustrating difficult conversations, feedback situations, and cultural challenges. - **Social learning** - discussion forums and sharing of reflections linked to digital content.