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How the RAC turned dead time into development time for a workforce that’s always on the road
More than half of the RAC’s workforce is remote or roadside. Patrols and mobile mechanics spend their working days driving between breakdowns and service calls — out in all weathers, fixing vehicles at the side of motorways, responding to callouts at times that don’t follow any timetable.
The challenge of reaching people who are always moving
For Laura Burrows, Digital Learning Manager, reaching these colleagues with meaningful professional development has always been the hardest part of the job. You can’t roster them off the road for a classroom session. You can’t ask them to block out a desk-based afternoon. And asking people to sit through a 30-minute eLearning module when they have five minutes between jobs isn’t just impractical, it’s counterproductive.
What the RAC needed was learning that could go where its people go. Access Learning Content was the answer.
When more than half your workforce is on the road, traditional learning doesn’t work. Laura Sheldon, Digital Learning Manager at the RAC, shares how Access Learning Content reaches colleagues during commutes, between callouts and in five-minute gaps between calls, turning time that used to be wasted into genuine professional development.
What customers get with Access Learning Content
+
pieces of AI content available
/7
on-demand access, any device
formats available: shorts, eBooks, podcasts
Learning in the car: the insight that changed everything
When Laura reviewed her usage analytics, one finding stood out. The formats generating the most unexpected engagement weren’t the video shorts: it was eBooks being downloaded, and podcasts being played. The reason, when she thought about it, was obvious.
It reframed what ‘learning on the move’ actually means for the RAC. Not a mobile-responsive interface. Not an app that works on a phone. Literally: audio content that colleagues listen to while driving between jobs, turning commute time into development time without changing a single habit.
“A lot of our guys are driving all the time, to and from breakdowns, to and from servicing. If you can just download a podcast on the QR code and play it as you’re driving, that’s dead time anyway. You can learn when you wouldn’t really be able to do anything else. That was really surprising and really encouraging.”
TikTok-style learning for a diverse workforce
Internally, Laura calls the short-form video content “TikTok-style videos” when she promotes it to colleagues. The description lands. Particularly for younger cohorts already accustomed to short, expert-led content in their personal lives, the format removes the psychological barrier that a 30-minute module creates.
The contact centre population (colleagues on the phones 24 hours a day, snatching five or ten minutes between calls) benefit from the same logic. Short-form content designed for micro-moments isn’t a compromise on depth. It’s a fundamentally better match for the way these roles actually work.
“If I want to know how to do a VLOOKUP, I don’t want to watch a 30-minute video to get to the bit I want. A short video gives me exactly what I need — and my brain isn’t having to filter out everything else.”
AI: the content area everyone is searching for
When Laura checked the platform’s analytics shortly before our interview, the most searched topic wasn’t leadership or wellbeing or Excel skills. It was artificial intelligence.
Over 280 pieces of content on AI alone across shorts, virtual classrooms and eBooks means the RAC can respond to that demand at scale, immediately, without procurement cycles or scheduling constraints. The content is simply there when people look for it.
“AI is the topic that everyone is looking for at the moment. It’s such a hot topic, and we really wanted a platform with a vast AI library. What it’s meant is that we can get AI literacy training out to colleagues without having to source external providers or run sessions that not everyone can attend.”
Linking content to the LMS: playlists with purpose
One of the most effective things Laura has done is connect the two platforms. Playlists built in Access Learning Content are now embedded directly into the objective-setting forms that colleagues receive from Access LMS Evo at the start of each performance year.
The result is a measurable click-through rate from form to content: colleagues arriving at performance conversations having already engaged with material about goal-setting, what good looks like, and how to develop the skills relevant to their role. The L&D team doesn’t need to run drop-in sessions. The content does the work.
“I don’t have to go and do a load of due diligence on every piece of content. I know it’s already been done for me. This isn’t some YouTube channel without any safeguards, it’s content from a reputable supplier on a platform I can trust. And I know my end users are going to get what I want them to get, first time.”
Trusted content, zero screening overhead
For Laura, the quality assurance behind Access Learning Content matters as much as the breadth of it. In a world where anyone can publish a tutorial video, the fact that every piece of content has been produced by verified subject-matter experts and gone through quality checks removes a significant burden.
“I challenge anyone to go into that content library and not find something of value to their work or their life. Whether you’ve got five minutes or an hour, there’s something you can dive into. It’s so wide-ranging, from wellbeing through to AI through to Excel. That’s exactly what a dispersed, diverse workforce like ours needs.”