10 Essential Employee Development Training Resources Every Company Needs in 2026

Businesses can no longer treat employee development as an afterthought. Now more than ever, companies need carefully organised employee development training resources that enhance productivity, increase retention, and sustain competitive advantage. Corporate learners want development training that is adaptable, collaborative, and personal, meaning that the development resources available can be the game changer.

The guide for 2026 focuses on the 10 essential training development resources that today’s learning library needs. Whether leadership is seeking resources to build development libraries from the ground up, fine-tuning what already exists, or you are providing resources to leadership, this guide is practical and inspired by research.

Why Should we Modern Learning Library Matters

Employees have new priorities. Ongoing research indicates that 74% of employees state they are more highly valued when they sense their organisation is advocating for ongoing learning and development, and organisations offering upskilling options are not just retaining employees; their revenue is growing.¹
Given this scenario, an employee development training program for Corporate Learning is no longer just about a collection of materials. It’s a major resource to improve the organisation’s talent development, close missing skill areas, and enhance the organisation’s agility.

Interactive Learning Videos

Why Is It Important

The vast majority of internet traffic (over 80%) is video-based. Students have a preference for shorter visual content compared to longer text.²
Videos that are creatively designed to incorporate quizzes and branching scenarios can encourage active learning instead of passive viewing.

How It Can Be Implemented: Include

• Micro-learning modules that are 3-7 minutes long.
• Having quizzes integrated within the videos to assess new knowledge and understanding.
• Improving content focus based on engagement analytics.

Extensive eLearning Courses

Organising effective and fully designed courses with structure is still the most effective way to go. eLearning allows students to learn new skills and concepts at their own pace and is available for various topics.

Tip

So that employees can clearly see their growth journey, courses should be structured around skills and levels for different career paths.

AI-Powered Personalisation for Learning

AI is no longer optional. Completion rates and relevance are improved with tailored content, and this can be achieved with learning engines that adapt to user behaviour and skills.

Scenario

If a project manager at the mid-level is having a hard time with risk management, it is likely that he will receive content automatically that focuses on advanced risk frameworks and case studies.

Skill Gap Assessments and Diagnostics

The foundation for effective learning plans is the identification of strengths and skills gaps. Meaningful learning gaps can be created, and this can be achieved with reliable assessments.

Best Practice

• Learning assessments should be administered before and after the course.
• Results should be compared to the results of the same test, and the results should be compared to the industry standard.
• Encourage self-driven development through sharing feedback.

Digital Libraries (Articles & E-Books)

Learning is not confined to course materials. Learners access a collection of articles, research papers, and e-books at their own pace.

Integration Example

Incorporate lists of readings corresponding to specific competencies or job families (e.g., AI ethics for tech, negotiation skills for sales).

Tools for Collaborative Learning

Learning is not meant to be an individual pursuit. A modern library should incorporate tools designed to foster collaboration, such as external discussion forums, Slack and Teams channels, or other social learning environments.

Importance of the Tools

Social learning encourages the formation of a community focused on integrated, complex growth and accelerates the adoption of new knowledge through social reinforcement.

Virtual Labs and Simulations

Experiential learning is a requirement for learning advanced technical skills or honing practical ones. Virtual learning environments and simulations give learners a chance to experiment, build confidence, and safely fail.

Example Situations

• Cybersecurity teams responding to practice threats.
• Role-playing difficult calls with customer service teams.

Webinars and Sessions with Experts

Flexibility is one of the main advantages of asynchronous learning, but live sessions motivate learners and let them interact with one another in real time. Learning is also more engaging and comes to life through the use of industry experts and internal leaders.

Pro Tip

To maximise value, record every single session and add them to your educational library as on-demand resources.

Support Performance Tools

People learn in other ways, like books and traditional courses. Employees may need on-the-spot support while they are completing a task.

What to Include

• Checklists
• Quick reference guides
• Job aids within workflow tools

These resources will lessen friction, remove unnecessary errors, and support on-the-job training by making learning a continuous process.

Gamified Learning

Gamified learning is increasingly important for people who learn best through competition and achievement. Motivation is elevated, and organisations can identify top performers through badges, leaderboards, and tracking of completed milestones.

Results You Can Expect

• Better course completion rates
• More activity in the optional course modules
• More team collaboration through gamified team challenges

Constructing a Learning Library that is Sustainable and Scalable

Deploying these ten different types of resources is only the beginning. You may need to:

✔ Keep your content up to date

Your reviewers will need to keep up with the fast-paced changes in your industry. To keep your content accurate, relevant, and useful, you should review and refresh your resources every three months.

✔ Predict Learning Behaviour Using Learning Analytics

You should analyse data to identify gaps and pinpoint changes in skills or behaviours. Insight into positive (or negative) outcomes will ensure better decisions and smarter investments.

Align to Organizational Goals

As the goals of the organisation change, so should the learning activities and the learning resources.

Real-World Example: How a Top Company Utilised Learning Libraries

A company in the technology sector has redesigned its learning and development program by adding an educational technology learning library that contains resources with modified artificial intelligence recommendations, interactive videos, and virtual labs. Skill proficiency scores increased by 27%, and the time to competence for new employees decreased by 35% in a year. On the annual engagement survey for growth in the organisation, employees reported an 18% increase. These examples illustrate the impact of a purposeful ecosystem of activities on the individuals and the organisation.

Conclusion: Take Learning to the Next Level

A library of today’s corporate learning resources is a lot more than just a collection of resources on a virtual shelf; it is a living ecosystem that supports the growth of the organisation. Learning is driven by interactive videos, adaptive AI recommendations, collaboration with asynchronous activities, and guided learning tools to help employees learn in less time, with more focus, and for greater impact. These top ten examples will help guide learning libraries from 2026 onwards, whether the organisation has a collection of resources to support learning in the organisation or not.