Delivering a partnership built on learning solutions

How does a global manufacturing company rethink its compliance training for seven industries across five countries? With a lot of help from a partner in learning.

With 10 U.S. locations, plus operations in Belgium, Germany, Singapore, and China, consistent compliance training is obviously a non-negotiable for a global organization like Teknor Apex.

But there’s added challenge: “Because we’re a manufacturing organization, most of our frontline employees don’t regularly access a computer,” explains Rayna Sheldon, senior HR generalist for Teknor Apex, North America. “Previously, we would hold group training sessions, but of course, with many different locations, we wanted to ensure all employees were receiving a consistent message.”

Teknor Apex needed a holistic, transformative solution. “One that covered compliance, but also provided our employees with training content to support their career development and growth,” Sheldon says.

Also a necessity: content that refreshed and updated as employment law changed, particularly with anti-harassment training in the U.S.

“We wanted an automated solution to keep the manual work out of it and reduce human error,” Sheldon explains. “We also needed a solution that would accommodate our global organization, so providing training in multiple languages was key. And then we needed an easy way to track course completion and be able to provide metrics out to the organization.”

It was a tall order, but Skillsoft had the solution.

The ability to deliver a multi-language, automated learning program with reporting and data privacy made Skillsoft the best match for Teknor Apex’s needs. But there was another factor that tipped the scale in Skillsoft’s favor: From the beginning, Teknor Apex recognized Skillsoft as a partner in learning.

“Partnership is one Teknor’s core values, so it's something we weight heavily in new vendor selections,” Sheldon says. “It was clear from our initial conversations that Skillsoft had the same shared values and was looking for the right partnership as well.”

See how Skillsoft partnered with a global logistics company to deliver training in multiple languages.

What did that mean in practice? From planning to implementation, a Skillsoft implementation team worked with Teknor to brainstorm solutions within Percipio. Jessica Clement, Skillsoft’s implementation consultant, made sure Teknor Apex had the tools and resources to keep all parties on the same page.

“It was a complex, but smooth process,” Sheldon explains. “Jessica created a shared resources site, held weekly implementation meetings, and spent the time needed to address our questions and concerns. In that way, it felt our weekly meetings were really tailored to meet our needs.”

Teknor and Skillsoft designed a learning program with built-in e-mail notifications to keep employees and managers on track to complete their assignments on time. They also set up reporting capabilities that gave local HR teams full transparency into completion rates.

“It was important for us to have a way to communicate with our frontline managers about their employees’ upcoming compliance training assignments and training completion status,” Sheldon says.

See how Canon Business Process Services keeps managers “in the know” through engaging Q&As.

On the career development end, Teknor Apex launched a robust content library so employees can take meaningful training courses that align with their career goals.

At this point, Teknor Apex has successfully automated both initial and reoccurring compliance training. “It's almost like a set it and forget it type of deal,” Sheldon says.

The organization has tracked multiple wins.

“From a user experience lens, we've received such great feedback on the platform and learning experience,” Sheldon reports. “We have seen a tremendous amount of learner activity and employees are really excited about what Skillsoft has to offer.”

Reporting has helped Teknor Apex see how employees perform from a compliance standpoint. “We’ve had incredible completion rates with our compliance training, especially considering that the majority of our manufacturing employees, again, aren’t in front of a computer all day,” Sheldon says.

And on the content end, Teknor Apex successfully fulfilled its goal to offer employees a content library focused, in part, on career development – with some surprising results.

“We've had a lot of employees taking Excel training,” Sheldon says. “It makes you realize how hungry employees are even for basic training, as well as business and soft skills content.”

What Teknor Apex’s HR team gathered about its employees’ learning consumption follows a national trend.

In Skillsoft’s 2022 Lean Into Learning Report, we looked at learning by industry, most popular learning topics, and more. The top five trending topics across disciplines via Skillsoft Percipio?

1. Cloud Security
2. Virtual Work in the New Normal
3. Written Communication
4. Excel
5. Communication Essentials

While the need for basic skills may have surprised Teknor’s HR department, they’re totally in line with what learners seek right now.

Skillsoft’s ‘Lean Into Learning Report’ also found that employees want to work for organizations that can provide growth opportunities and learning and development that leads to more enriching and rewarding careers.

If organizations want the kind of growth that comes from dedicated, long-term employees, it’s up to them to provide these enriching opportunities.

Want to learn how Skillsoft can help redesign your organization in compliance training and leadership & business skills? Visit us to learn more.