People and Technology: The key ingredients that built Arriva's culture of compliance 

Compliance training is one of the most critical elements of any organisation’s learning strategy. It ensures people understand their responsibilities, aligns behaviour with core values, and ultimately protects both individuals and the wider business. But with ever-evolving regulations, multilingual workforces and large, decentralised teams, the real challenge is how to make compliance not just necessary, but truly effective. 

In the latest episode of Totara Talks Talent, we spoke to the team at Arriva, one of Europe’s leading passenger transport providers, to explore how they’ve built an award-winning compliance programme that spans ten countries and delivers consistently outstanding results. Their current compliance training completion rate? An impressive 99%.  

But completion rates are just the start. Arriva are building a culture of compliance through a considered blend of the right people, using the right technology. 

This success is the result of a carefully balanced approach that brings together powerful learning technology, delivered by Totara and implemented by our Platinum Partner Hubken, with a strong network of people who drive the message home across the business – their Compliance Champions. 

The People Behind the Platform – Localised Compliance Champions  

While automation and digital tools have streamlined the compliance process, Arriva’s team are clear that it’s the people behind the platform who make it truly work. Their Compliance Champions, individuals embedded across each local business unit, are responsible for overseeing completion rates, ensuring policies are correctly implemented, and supporting their colleagues with any training-related issues. 

These Champions are often from legal teams, but this flexes according to localised needs to ensure the most-suited individual is in the role. What matters most is their understanding of the local business context, their knowledge of relevant legislation, and their ability to engage people on the ground. They act as trusted contacts within their own countries, translating not only language but intent, helping ensure that training is culturally relevant, clear and consistent. 

This approach enables Arriva to deliver compliance training across 14 different languages, while still maintaining a unified voice and vision. Human review provides a layer of reassurance – it’s not just about uploading modules and hoping for the best. Each new training course goes through local review, with Compliance Champions checking that translations are accurate and aligned with how teams naturally speak and work. 

Arriva, Hubken and Totara recently won a coveted Silver Brandon Hall award for ‘Best Advance in Learning Management Technology for Compliance Training’ for this programme. Learn more.

A Seamless Experience – Powered by Totara, Delivered by Hubken 

The platform automates course enrolment, reminders, reporting and localisation, saving valuable time and reducing administrative burden. For new starters, the system assigns the right modules immediately, and for the wider workforce, it keeps track of annual refresher completions. 

By integrating Totara with their management information system, Arriva have created real-time dashboards that allow both Compliance Champions and managers to track progress at a granular level. At a glance they can see who has completed their training, who is behind, and who hasn’t yet started, all without needing to rely on manual reports. 

From a user experience perspective, the platform is intuitive and accessible. Over 59,000 compliance module completions have taken place since launch, and across all those users, there have been no complaints, a clear sign that the system is working well and meeting learners where they are. 

More Than Just a System – A Culture of Compliance 

What makes Arriva’s approach particularly inspiring is that they haven’t just built a system. They’ve fostered a culture. Compliance Champions stay in regular contact with their teams, check in on progress, and provide feedback to the central group team.  

There are plans in place to expand this further, including face-to-face conferences for Champions, and new “hotspot” microlearning modules to spark ongoing conversations about compliance throughout the year. 

Samy Menad, a Compliance Training Specialist, echoed that sentiment, adding that the role of technology is to make people’s lives easier – not to replace the human connection. By building tools that support Champions in their roles, rather than burdening them with extra admin, Arriva has created a programme that is both efficient and human-centred. 

To hear the full story – including how Arriva built their compliance training hub, the role of language localisation, and advice for other organisations looking to scale compliance effectively – tune into the latest episode of Totara Talks Talent. 

You can find out more about Arriva’s multi award-winning compliance programme from Hubken and Totara by reading their story here.  

Explore Arriva’s award winning platform in this webinar recording:

If, like Arriva, you’d like to achieve training success and build your own culture of compliance, book a demo to see what you can achieve.