Weekly Email Newsletter May 13, 2026 (iSpring #2)

Hello Community,

Companies are pouring money into learning. Investment jumped from $42B in 2020 to over $120B in 2024. Yet only 29% of employees feel satisfied with learning opportunities.

Career progress still remains the top motivation for learning, but the conditions that make growth possible are shrinking:

Before opening a course, employees make a series of decisions: Is this worth my time? Does it matter to my role? Can I access it easily?

If effort outweighs perceived value, people postpone learning. So what’s actually getting in the way?

🗞 In case you missed it: If you have questions about Hacking HR Learning programs and memberships, join us at the upcoming Open House on Thursday, May 21, 08:00 AM. ➡️ Register here

🌿 Now, let’s break down where learning actually fails.

In our latest LinkedIn Newsletter post, we focus on four key points where engagement drops:

Even small changes matter: iSpring research found that improving a reminder message alone increased course open rates from 52% to 83%.

iSpring created a guide that breaks down the hidden barriers that make training easy to postpone, and shows how to fix them by looking at the learner journey as a complete experience. You’ll learn how to identify friction points, simplify access, and test small changes that can quickly improve engagement.

➡️ Download the guide for free

Check out all the upcoming learning programs designed to help you build new capabilities.

All these Certificate Programs are included in our Premium Membership and led by real-world HR Leaders. The classes are live and 100% Virtual. Students receive a diploma, a Credly badge, and HR Credits upon completion.

👉 Explore them all, download the syllabi, and enroll here

By popular demand, the Practical Applications of AI Mini-Master is back!

A live, hands-on building experience for professionals who want to understand how AI actually works by using it, building with it, and applying it to real workflows. And we are especially excited to announce that this program includes amazing AI tool partners who will help bring the learning experience to life.

Participants will work with these tools (and beyond) and receive free access as part of the program experience:

→ StackAI to build custom AI agents, AI app builders, and multi-agent workflows

→ Riverside to create podcasts, videos, media, and content at scale

→ Framer to turn ideas, prototypes, and workflows into real applications and interfaces

📅 When: Fridays | 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PT.

🔥 Starts July 24. ➡️ Enroll Now.

📅 June 8 - 12 | 8 AM - 10 AM PT | 5 Days Live, 100% Virtual

By Friday afternoon, your hiring, onboarding, performance, compensation, policy, and analytics will all run through one integrated stack you built yourself in your own Claude workspace!

👑 Available for Premium and Premium+ members. ➡️ Register here

And we built something special for senior HR leaders…

We have been working with HR professionals across more than 150 countries for years, and we identified a clear gap. Plenty of executive programming exists for the Fortune 500. Plenty exists for early-stage startups. Almost nothing has been built for small and mid-sized companies, the segment that powers most of the global economy.

The Executive Network was built to solve that. It’s a curated peer circle built specifically for:

Members receive monthly intelligence across legislation, compensation, workforce, and GenAI in HR; curated peer cohort groups of 8 to 12 senior HR Executives matched by size and challenge; AI coaching and transformation guidance built around your maturity, not a generic playbook; office hours with senior members and Hacking HR faculty; and access to the annual in-person event.

Strict policy: The Executive Network is not designed for consultants or vendors. Membership is reviewed by our team before approval. Payment is only requested after a successful application.

Investment: Standard membership is $3,000 per year.

Founding rate: $2,000 per year, valid through December 31, 2026. That works out to less than $170 a month.

➡️ Apply for membership here

The membership committee reviews each application to ensure a balanced, non-competitive peer environment. Applications are reviewed within 48 business hours.

Last week, we wrapped up the Workplace Wellbeing and Mental Health Summit! If you couldn’t attend the sessions or missed panels, no worries! Everything has been recorded.

Here’s what you can now access

Access all Summit Materials

This year, the third edition of the AI Experience Summit will be LIVE and VIRTUAL!

Through our partnership with People Strategy Hub, we will host a high-intensity day of 30–40 minute sessions covering AI Leadership, Readiness, Governance, Work Design, Trust, and Responsible Scaling, with speakers from Microsoft, Imperial Brands, Moody's, and more.

Sessions span everything from leadership in the age of intelligent systems and diagnosing readiness gaps to agentic workflows, accountability in AI-augmented work, and proving measurable ROI in 2026.

Our Community members get important discounts. Team registrations are available. Reply to this email, and we'll take care of you.

🌟 Use our 25% discount code: HACKINGHR

Registration is open for Hacking HR’s AI in HR Experience Summit Virtual (June 17–19, 2026) — 100% virtual, 100% FREE. All summit registrants get

Over three days, each focused on a single theme, dozens of experts will join us to discuss the most pressing challenges at the intersection of people, culture, and AI-powered technologies.

🌟 This event is brought to you by HiBob, Workday, and Papaya Global.

🌟 All attendees get 3 months of free access to the Read AI platform!

Remember, if it’s not documented… it didn’t happen.

Mugs that express your HR life.

👉 Visit our store

Thousands of HR executives will gather at our upcoming summits to shape the future of work:

If your company provides solutions in HR tech, benefits, people analytics, DEI, or workforce strategy, these events are your opportunity to connect with the decision-makers who control HR budgets.

👉 Book an intro call with Laurie Baggarly: [email protected]