February is here, and with it comes a fresh batch of updates designed to support your learning and development goals. This month, we’re unveiling a powerful new Employee Wellness Toolkit, expanding our marketplace with Always Food Safe and new tech certifications, refreshing leadership resources, and preparing businesses for New York’s Retail Worker Safety Act. Plus, we have exciting partnership updates, upcoming events, and curated learning recommendations for Black History Month and beyond. Let’s dive in!
Introducing OpenSesame’s new Employee Wellness Toolkit
Supporting employee well-being is more critical than ever, and OpenSesame is here to help. Our new Employee Wellness Toolkit is a free resource designed for Learning & Development and HR professionals looking to create or enhance their workplace wellness programs.
Inside, you’ll find:
- Expert insights on the eight dimensions of wellness: emotional, mental, spiritual, social, financial, environmental, occupational, and physical.
- Curated course lists tailored to each dimension.
- Ready-to-use activity templates to engage your team.
- Wellness surveys to assess and monitor employee well-being.
- Practical guidance to build a holistic, impactful program.
This toolkit was developed in response to the growing demand for comprehensive workplace wellness programs that go beyond surface-level benefits. It provides the support and structure needed to build impactful wellness initiatives, recognizing that employee well-being encompasses more than just physical health. By addressing all areas of wellness, the toolkit helps organizations create programs that are both meaningful and sustainable.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or fine-tuning an existing initiative, this toolkit offers actionable strategies to support your employees. Learn more about why we created it in this blog post.
Marketplace and OpenSesame Plus updates
The OpenSesame marketplace just keeps growing! Here’s what’s new this month:
Always Food Safe joins OpenSesame Plus
Always Food Safe, an ANAB-accredited leader in food safety training and certification, is now available in OpenSesame Plus. Their video-based courses, filmed in real catering kitchens, provide an interactive learning experience that aligns with real-world food service environments.
Key Highlights of their courses:
- 3 certification courses
- Available in English and Spanish
- Printable certifications
- Flexible proctoring options
- One free exam retake
Courses include Food Protection Manager Certification, Food Handler Certification, and Allergen Awareness Certification. Explore these courses and ensure compliance with industry standards.
New tech and certification prep courses
Looking to boost your technical skills? We’ve added Scrum Master and Agile certification prep courses from Packt, along with their latest AI Strategy for Business Leaders course. This course empowers business leaders to harness AI, ML, and DL effectively. Explore real-world case studies, actionable strategies, and practical tools for integrating AI into your organization. Hear more about these updates—and learn how you can get Six Sigma certified—from Beverly Marsters, OpenSesame’s Certificate & CE Program Manager
Leadership Development Toolkit refresh
For the new year, we’ve expanded our Leadership Development Toolkit, adding new courses across the nine core development journey lists in the kit. This toolkit is designed to help organizations build and sustain a strong leadership pipeline by focusing on essential leadership skills across business strategy, people management, and personal growth. It includes structured learning paths, recommended courses, and practical tools to support leadership development at every level. Hear from curators Molly Broder and Megan Ysassi, as they share what’s trending in leadership training today, and check out the updated toolkit here.
Training recommendations for February
Looking for timely and relevant courses? Check out these learning opportunities:
African American History: Lift Every Voice and Sing
Celebrate Black History Month with Professor Hasan Kwame Jeffries as he explores how Black communities resisted oppression through education, culture, and activism—from Reconstruction to the 1940s.
How to Protect Your Mental Well-Being Online – from a Gen-Zer
In this TED Talk, Peachy Liv shares personal insights on navigating social media, handling cyberbullying, and fostering a safe digital environment.
Publisher spotlight: Management Pocketbooks
This month, we’re spotlighting Management Pocketbooks, an OpenSesame Exclusive publisher known for simplifying complex management concepts into practical strategies you can use immediately. Management Pocketbooks delivers bite-sized learning—courses average around 12 minutes seat-time apiece—on a wide variety of topics of importance to managers, leaders and employees in every industry.
Popular courses include:
- Measuring the Impact of Employee Training
- The First Steps Toward Empowering Your Team
- Navigating Common Management Challenges
These courses help teams enhance workplace communication, performance, and efficiency.
OpenSesame’s new Partner Program
At OpenSesame, we believe that partnerships are about building something bigger, together. That’s why we’ve launched our new Partner Program, designed to provide our partners with the tools, resources, and support they need to thrive.
“We’ve designed the Partner Program to foster deeper collaboration and provide more opportunities for mutual success,” said Rebeca Mesa, Vice President of Partnerships at OpenSesame. “It’s about making sure our partners have the support they need to thrive as we grow together while delighting our shared customers.”
By amplifying our partners’ strengths, we’re creating new ways to deliver value together and further our mission to help companies develop their most productive and inspired workforces.
For more details, check out our Partner Program announcement.
OpenSesame and Thought Industries: Streamlining Training Delivery
Speaking of partnerships, OpenSesame has partnered with Thought Industries, a leading enterprise learning platform, to enhance and simplify the delivery of training programs. This collaboration aims to provide organizations with seamless access to OpenSesame’s extensive course catalog directly through the Thought Industries platform.
Key benefits of the integration:
- Seamless access: Organizations can now easily browse, select, and assign courses from OpenSesame’s comprehensive library without leaving the Thought Industries environment.
- Efficient management: The integration allows for streamlined administration of training programs, reducing the time and effort required to manage learning content.
- Enhanced learner experience: Learners benefit from a unified platform experience, accessing high-quality courses that are relevant to their roles and development paths.
For more details, read our full announcement.
Where to find us next
We have a number of upcoming online and in-person events, and we’d love to connect with you there! Here’s where to find us.
🚀 ATD TechKnowledge (Feb. 12-13)
Want to dive deeper into your skills strategy or explore how we can help your organization succeed? Pre-book a meeting with our team at the ATD TK Feb 12-13 and let’s start planning your next steps together.
Plus, don’t miss our session, “Skills From The Ground Up,” on 13 February at 9:45 AM. Discover how to identify essential skills, overcome initial challenges, and build a scalable program tailored to your organization’s needs. Visit us at Booth #3 to gain actionable insights, tailored strategies, and connect with our experts
Upcoming Webinars
- Future-Proof Your Workforce | Feb. 11 – Build resilience & adaptability
- Developing a Global Mindset | Feb. 19 – Strengthen global skills
- 2025 L&D Trends | Feb. 27 – Explore key industry trends
New York’s Retail Worker Safety Act: Training coming soon!
Big changes are coming for New York retailers with the Retail Worker Safety Act, effective March 1, 2025. This law mandates annual workplace violence prevention training, covering:
- De-escalation tactics
- Active shooter drills
- Emergency procedures
We’re already working with EasyLlama, Traliant, and WILL Interactive to develop training solutions that keep your workforce safe and compliant. Stay tuned for updates!
New resources you don’t want to miss
We’re closing out this post with some of the recent articles we’ve shared to help you keep making your training programs that much better. Happy reading!
📖 Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy Through Learning, Action, and Love – Reflect on Dr. King’s impact and how to foster change. Read more
💡 From Conflict to Connection: Unlocking Growth Through Communication – Enhance workplace collaboration through effective communication strategies. Read more
🚀 2025 is Here: Build Unstoppable Momentum for Your Team – Set your team up for success this year. Read more
🎨 Creativity: The Secret Weapon Against Workplace Burnout – Discover how creative thinking can combat burnout. Read more
📚 The Power of Learning: Celebrating Black History Month in the Workplace – Leverage education to honor and celebrate Black history. Read more
