Synthesia Partners with Hays to Support Measurable Skills Development Through Roleplay Sessions

LONDON, October 22nd, 2026 – Today, we are announcing a partnership with Hays, a global leader in specialist recruitment and workforce solutions, to build and roll out Roleplay Sessions, our new product designed to transform employee training from passive watching into active, measurable skills development.

During the first Roleplay Sessions pilot, Hays explored how interactive practice and personalized feedback could complement its existing learning and development approach, experiencing first-hand a measured uplift on its core skills via the engaged user cohort.

“At Hays, we’re committed to helping our people continuously develop their skills and adapt in a rapidly changing world of work. Synthesia’s Roleplay Sessions is helping us explore new ways of delivering practical, engaging learning experiences that enable our colleagues to practice, receive feedback and continue building their capabilities,” said Tom Way, Hays CEO, UK & Ireland.

“As part of our broader learning and development approach,” he continued, “it gives us a valuable way to understand capability, coach more effectively and help our people develop the skills needed to have better conversations with clients and candidates.”

Solving a problem every enterprise faces

Training traditionally stops at informing people. Companies excel at creating decks, guidance, and playbooks. And thanks to Synthesia Studio, these can be turned into engaging videos in just a few clicks. 

But knowing what to do and being able to do it are two different things. A sales consultant can study frameworks all day and still struggle to apply them in a discovery call, and a manager can read conflict-resolution playbooks and still freeze in a difficult conversation. 

The only way to close that gap is through practical application. Until now, that needed a human in the loop: a coach, a manager, someone willing to run the scenario until it sticks. That approach might work for very small groups coached by a subject matter expert, but it doesn’t work for most businesses at scale. Roleplay Sessions helps scale access to expertise and applied learning, giving people a single place to find the information they need, use it in a roleplay and receive personalized feedback.

The numbers from the pilot

• An engagement rate of over 70%, achieved with no mandate and through voluntary participation 
• A measured 29% average skill uplift across the cohort during the piloted period
• More than 60% of participants said they would use Roleplay Sessions regularly going forward

For Hays, the pilot offered a way for participants to practise key conversations, receive feedback and build their skills as part of a single, AI-enhanced learning experience.

Synthesia’s Roleplay Sessions

Roleplay Sessions lets employees practice critical conversations with lifelike avatars and receive real-time coaching based on role-specific skills. Managers can see skills proficiency across teams, while Learning and Development teams can see skills levels across the whole business.

Unlike traditional training platforms that inform but can’t coach at scale, Synthesia’s Roleplay Sessions delivers interactive, on-demand practice with personalized coaching available 24/7 in multiple languages.

To learn more about Roleplay Sessions, read our newsroom post or try one here. 

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About Hays

Hays is a global specialist recruitment and HR solutions company headquartered in London, operating in 33 countries with over 12,000 employees. They’re the UK’s largest recruiter by market share and serve enterprise clients across sectors including financial services, technology, healthcare, and public sector. The company is actively investing in digital transformation and upskilling initiatives.

‍About Synthesia‍

‍Synthesia is the world’s leading AI video platform for business, used by over 90% of the Fortune 100. Founded in 2017, the company is headquartered in London, with offices across Europe and the US.As AI continues to shape the way we live and work, Synthesia develops products to enhance visual communication and enterprise skill development, helping people work better and stay at the center of successful organizations. Following its recent Series E funding round, led by Google Ventures, where Synthesia raised $200 million, its valuation stands at $4 billion. Other participating investors include Evantic, Hedosophia, NVentures, Accel, Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, PSP Growth, Air Street Capital, FirstMark, and MMC Ventures.

For more information, visit https://www.synthesia.io