How the Forgetting Curve Appears in Compliance Training

Many organizations achieve impressive completion rates for annual compliance training. Employees complete required courses, acknowledge company policies, and pass knowledge checks that demonstrate awareness of key rules.

However, compliance decisions rarely occur during training.

They occur months later, during routine business activities when employees are navigating vendor relationships, contract discussions, or internal decisions.

This gap between training and real-world decisions has led many organizations to explore scenario-based compliance training and other reinforcement strategies to help employees recognize compliance risks when they arise.

Understanding the role of memory — and the concept known as the forgetting curve — helps explain why these approaches are gaining attention.

Many compliance leaders recognize a familiar pattern: employees complete their annual compliance training, acknowledge company policies, and pass the final quiz. Yet months later, a situation arises where the same rules are misunderstood or overlooked. In many cases, the problem is not that employees were never trained—it’s that much of the training has simply faded from memory.

The Forgetting Curve and Why It Matters

More than a century ago, psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus studied how people retain information over time. His research demonstrated that newly learned information quickly fades unless it is revisited or reinforced.

This pattern is commonly referred to as the forgetting curve.

The principle is straightforward:

• Information that is not revisited becomes harder to recall.
• For compliance programs, this has important implications.

Annual training may successfully introduce policies and expectations, but without reinforcement, those concepts gradually move further from the front of an employee’s mind.

Months later, when a real situation arises, the training may not be immediately accessible.

This does not mean employees ignored the training. It means memory decay occurred.

Example of the Forgetting Curve in Compliance Training

Consider a common workplace situation.

An employee completes anti-corruption training in January and correctly answers questions about the company’s gifts and entertainment policy.

Six months later, a vendor offers tickets to a sporting event. The employee remembers that there were rules about accepting gifts, but cannot recall the specific limits or reporting requirements.

Situations like this illustrate how knowledge gained during training can fade over time if it is not reinforced. Even well-designed training can lose its impact if employees are not reminded of key concepts before they encounter real-world decisions.

This is one reason many organizations reinforce key compliance topics throughout the year using short reminders, decision scenarios, or discussion prompts.

What This Means for Compliance Training

Understanding the forgetting curve has important implications for the design of compliance training. If employees are exposed to policies only once during an annual training course, much of that information may fade before employees encounter real compliance situations.

This is why many organizations reinforce key topics throughout the year using short learning moments such as scenarios, quizzes, or discussion prompts. These periodic reminders help employees revisit important compliance expectations before they are completely forgotten.

By reinforcing concepts over time, organizations can help flatten the forgetting curve and improve long-term retention.

Compliance Risk Does Not Follow the Training Calendar

Compliance training typically occurs on a schedule.

Compliance risks do not.

Employees encounter risk moments throughout the year:

• A vendor offers a gift after a contract award

• A manager requests a small change to the documentation

• A colleague shares information that may be confidential

These situations rarely occur while employees are completing their training.

If training occurred months earlier, employees may remember the general message but struggle to recall the specific expectations that guide their decisions.

This is where the forgetting curve becomes relevant.

Without reinforcement, awareness gradually fades between training cycles.

What Research on Mandatory Training Suggests

Evidence from workplace training programs supports this broader pattern.

Research examining harassment prevention programs has found that mandatory training often increases awareness and knowledge, but evidence that one-time or periodic training alone consistently reduces workplace misconduct is limited.

Studies referenced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace note that training plays an important role in communicating expectations. However, lasting behavior change typically requires broader cultural reinforcement and continued attention.

This observation aligns with the principles behind the forgetting curve.

Training establishes awareness. Reinforcement helps sustain it.

Why Reinforcement Matters

If information fades over time, the logical response is not simply to repeat training once a year.

Instead, many organizations are exploring ways to reinforce expectations throughout the year.

Short reminders, manager conversations, and scenario-based learning moments can help employees revisit key ideas in small, practical ways.

These reinforcement moments interrupt the forgetting curve.

They bring expectations back into focus before memory fades too far.

More importantly, they help employees connect policies to real workplace situations.

Where Compliance Knowledge Often Breaks Down

Even when employees complete compliance training and understand company policies, real-world decisions often occur in situations that feel routine rather than risky.

Employees may not immediately recognize that they are entering a compliance-sensitive moment.

The following examples illustrate the types of situations where knowledge, memory, and judgment intersect — and where employees may hesitate or make decisions without fully recalling policy expectations.

Scenario Example: Vendor Hospitality

A procurement manager receives an invitation from a supplier to attend a major sporting event shortly after the supplier has been selected for a contract renewal.

The manager knows the company has rules regarding vendor gifts and entertainment, but is unsure whether attending the event would violate company policy.

Situations like this rarely feel like obvious violations. They feel like routine relationship building.

Short scenario-based training moments allow employees to practice identifying these types of situations before they occur in real business conversations.

Scenario Example: Confidential Information

A product manager is collaborating with an external partner on a joint proposal. During a call, the partner asks if the manager can share customer segmentation data to help refine their pricing model.

The manager knows the information could help the project move forward, but also realizes that the data may contain confidential business insights.

Recognizing where collaboration ends and confidentiality begins is often a matter of judgment.

Scenario-based reinforcement helps employees pause and evaluate these situations more carefully.

Scenario Example: Conflict of Interest

An employee participating in a vendor evaluation realizes that a family member works for one of the companies submitting a proposal.

The employee believes the relationship will not affect the decision and considers continuing with the evaluation without mentioning it.

Conflicts of interest are often subtle and easy to overlook when employees believe they can remain objective.

Practicing recognizing these situations helps employees understand when disclosure is appropriate.

What These Situations Reveal

In each of these examples, the employee likely completed compliance training and understands the organization’s policies.

Yet the situation still creates uncertainty.

That uncertainty often occurs because employees encounter these moments months after training, when policies are no longer top of mind.

This is where the forgetting curve becomes relevant.

Without reinforcement, employees may remember general principles but struggle to recall specific expectations when they are needed most.

Scenario-Based Learning as Reinforcement

One approach organizations increasingly use is scenario-based compliance training.

Scenario-based learning places employees inside realistic workplace situations and asks them to evaluate the appropriate response.

Rather than reviewing policy language alone, employees practice recognizing the types of situations in which compliance decisions actually arise.

These short decision moments can be introduced periodically throughout the year as reinforcement rather than as full training courses.

For example, employees might encounter scenarios involving:

• Vendor relationships

• Conflicts of interest

• Confidential information

• Reporting concerns

Each scenario helps employees practice identifying compliance risks before they arise in real work environments.

Over time, this repeated exposure strengthens recognition and recall.

A More Durable Compliance Training Model

Many organizations are beginning to view compliance training as a combination of:

• Annual foundational training that establishes expectations

• Periodic reinforcement that revisits key topics

• Scenario-based decision moments that help employees practice recognition

This approach does not replace traditional training. Instead, it extends its effectiveness across the year.

When employees encounter real-world situations, the patterns feel familiar because they have seen similar scenarios before. That familiarity increases the likelihood that employees pause, reflect, and choose an appropriate response.

The Practical Takeaway

The forgetting curve is not a criticism of compliance training.

It is a reminder that human memory fades over time.

Annual training establishes awareness, but reinforcement helps keep expectations visible throughout the year.

Organizations that combine foundational training with ongoing reinforcement create more opportunities for employees to recognize compliance risks in real-world situations.

Completion rates demonstrate coverage.

Reinforcement strengthens retention.

And retention helps employees recognize the moments when compliance decisions matter most.

Using Scenario-Based Reinforcement Throughout the Year

Understanding the forgetting curve helps explain why many organizations are exploring ways to reinforce compliance expectations between annual training cycles.

One practical approach is to combine foundational training with periodic scenario-based reinforcement.

For example, a compliance program might look like this:

Month 1 – Annual Compliance Training

Employees complete their Code of Conduct or annual compliance training program, establishing a baseline understanding of company policies.

Two Weeks Later – Scenario Reinforcement

Employees receive a short scenario focused on one of the organization’s highest risk topics, such as vendor gifts or conflicts of interest.

The scenario presents a realistic situation and asks employees to evaluate the appropriate response.

Two Weeks Later – Second Scenario

A second scenario is released, perhaps focusing on confidential information, reporting concerns, or insider information.

Each scenario takes only a few minutes but encourages employees to practice recognizing real-world compliance situations.

Ongoing Reinforcement

Throughout the year, organizations can release short scenarios periodically, covering a range of compliance topics.

Some companies use:

• 12 scenarios per year (monthly reinforcement)

• 24 scenarios per year (twice-monthly reinforcement)

Scenario Discussions in Team Meetings

Short compliance scenarios can also be used as discussion prompts in team meetings.

For example, a manager might present a brief scenario involving a vendor gift, confidential information, or a potential conflict of interest and ask the team how they would respond.

These short discussions can take only a few minutes but help reinforce expectations and encourage employees to think about compliance decisions in the context of their everyday work.

By occasionally incorporating these conversations into team meetings, organizations create additional opportunities for employees to recognize compliance risks and discuss appropriate responses.

These short decision moments create regular compliance touchpoints that keep expectations visible long after annual training has been completed.

Instead of compliance appearing once a year during mandatory training, it becomes part of the organization’s ongoing conversations.

Employees repeatedly encounter realistic situations that help them recognize risks earlier and respond more confidently.

In this way, short scenarios can serve as learning prompts, reinforcement tools, and discussion starters that keep compliance visible throughout the year.