Notes and news
Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 47, Issue 6.
Maersk oil lubricates information flows
Global operator Maersk Oil has adopted an exclusively electronic competence system with the ability to track employees’ knowledge and minimize risk in the oil and gas sector.
Developed by international learning-technologies company Atlas Knowledge with expertise from a 100-strong industry advisory group, the Competence Assurance Management System (CAMS) is an online competence-assessment and training system where all data surrounding employees can be tracked and optimized.
Based on three key criteria – knowledge, skills and practice – it enables companies to build a background on each employee’s level of competence and centralize all documentation in one secure place.
The three-year contract, worth a six-figure sum, comes after a successful pilot in Qatar in 2014. It will see Atlas’s Cams technology introduced across the UK, Denmark and Kazakhstan.
The program mirrors the specific job descriptions and responsibilities of front-line operational positions.
The Commercial Director at Atlas Knowledge, Kevin Short, said: “Efficient systems are a priority for oil and gas companies,especially when costs are high and budgets are tight. This contract gives a clear indication of the desire in the industry for a better way of tracking competence and raising the bar on safety across the workforce.”
Cams was developed based on feedback from a cross-industry advisory group incorporating operators including Maersk Oil, industry bodies and representation from across the supply chain.
“The barriers to effective competence management were identified as outdated, inflexible and labor-intensive paper-based systems which are hard to maintain and impossible to move around in the way the international oil and gas workforce does,” said Kevin Short.
“The industry wanted all data surrounding employees, from training requirements to monitoring staff performance, to be tracked and optimized in a simple and flexible way while at the same time cutting down on administration, travel time and the time and effort spent by candidates submitting evidence. This is what Cams delivers.”
The system will be implemented to track the competence of employees, as well as providing a forum for communications and support. A cloud-hosted system will also be put in place to allow records to be accessed remotely by staff in locations around the world.
KPMG blazes a trail on apprenticeships
Professional-services firm KPMG has announced plans for a new apprenticeship program, KPMG360°, which will recruit and develop the next generation of business advisors from a wide variety of backgrounds using the UK government’s Trailblazer apprenticeship standards.
KPMG360° will offer school and college leavers a full-time role with practical experience, a competitive salary and the opportunity to work toward professional qualifications.
To help young people entering the workforce for the first time, the program will offer apprentices various routes to careers in different parts of KPMG.
With an initial offering of 110 places nationally, KPMG360° was launched in September in the Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow,Leeds, London and Manchester offices. The program has been developed to offer industry-leading qualifications recognized by the government’s accounting/taxation technician and professional accountant Trailblazer standards.
David Gauke, financial secretary to the treasury, said: “Apprenticeships are extremely valuable for young people from all backgrounds to gain entry to professions they are passionate about without having to go down the university route. Apprenticeships should be viewed on a par with academic routes and this scheme is a decisive step towards that.”
Marianne Fallon, KPMG’s UK head of corporate affairs, said: “KPMG’s success depends on recruiting the best people from the widest possible talent pool. Many professional-services firms already have programs in place to help to drive greater social mobility. KPMG360° is a bolder move to ensure the long-term diversity of the professional-services sector.”
“We need young people from all parts of our communities. That will help us to see our clients and our own organization from different angles, allowing us to grow and add even greater value.”
“This program will enable young people and new entrants to discover where their passion and potential for business meet. Increasingly,young people do not want to be pigeon-holed into a career at the age of 18. They want the freedom to discover opportunities before making an informed choice. KPMG360° will provide that freedom of choice in the professional-services industry.”
“As one of the government’s social-mobility business-compact champions, we want to help young people to fulfil their potential and succeed in a company that they would not otherwise necessarily have the opportunity to join.”
The minimum academic entry requirement for KPMG360° is set at A-level grades BCC (or equivalent), 5 GCSEs grades A-C, including English and mathematics (or equivalent).
Thomson Reuters makes the news with e-learning
Thomson Reuters, a source of information for businesses and professionals, is using e-learning to train and develop its intellectual property and science division’s global sales team.
The system holds more than 135 Scorm-compatible files of learning materials. (Scorm is a set of technical standards for e-learning software products.) Some 300 members of Thomson Reuters’ global sales-force, located on six continents, have already received learning materials – and they have accessed them in more than 20 languages. Potentially, the system could support some 3,000 staff in the intellectual property and science division.
“Thanks to the Docebo learning-management system, key information is now getting to everyone at the same time. Through quizzing and knowledge checks, we can be sure that our team members understand the information they are receiving,” said Erica LeBlanc,the division’s operations-development manager. One of four main divisions comprising Thomson Reuters, the intellectual property and science section currently generates annual revenues of $982 million and produces an operating profit margin of 22.9 percent.
Before the advent of the system, Erica LeBlanc and her small team of trainers delivered all the division’s training, globally. This was not sustainable, so the division decided to deliver its learning materials through a learning-management system.
Erica LeBlanc explained: “When we update our products, we need to tell our customers. The faster we can share this information,the better. We realized that, because we are now delivering learning globally, we needed a learning-management system that we could customize in different languages so that, when users access it, what they see is in their local language.”
Among other things, Thomson Reuters also wanted a learning-management system with a sleek, modern user interface and one that could cope with users accessing the learning materials through various mobile devices. It also wanted a system that it could implement with minimal downtime.
“The migration was a first-rate experience,” Erica LeBlanc revealed. “We had the new system up and running globally within three months.”
In the longer term, Thomson Reuters wants to develop a fully blended approach, with classroom-delivered learning complementing self-pace online learning materials, augmented through webinars.
Erica LeBlanc commented: “The Docebo platform is ideal for helping us to do this, because of ease of use and because it is the repository for our learning and development information. Our entire sales staff, as well as other parts of the division,have access to the system. In addition, all the subject-matter experts in the company, along with our sales training course team, have access as administrators or instructors and any Thomson Reuters manager can access the records of the people who report to him or her without placing a formal request.”
“We are now able to meet the demands of the sales-team members quickly. If there is something specific that they want to learn,we can identify it, produce the relevant learning materials and get that to them – on a global scale – much quicker than was previously possible.”
“Moreover, especially since we are a global team, it cuts down on travel expenses tremendously. The system therefore helps in terms of reducing costs that, typically, would be incurred in getting everybody to have that same level of knowledge through more traditional training methods.”
Holcim builds on health and safety training
The Indonesian branch of global construction-materials company Holcim has invested in health and safety compliance training for Indonesian managers.
As Indonesia emerges as a middle-income country the demand for skilled workers grows as well as the necessity to protect increasing workforces from occupational hazards. To ensure the implementation of occupational health and safety in the country’s business sector the decent-work country program for Indonesia was launched in 2012 in partnership with the International Labour Organization.
The Holcim Group’s mission in occupational health and safety is to achieve zero harm to people through putting the right structures in place and through developing a culture where no compromise on health and safety is tolerated.
Holcim Indonesia’s mission will be achieved by continuously monitoring and improving its organizational health and safety performance. The company seeks to motivate its employees to engage with health and safety issues through constant communication and implementing suitable corrective actions for identified risks.
To meet the mission, Holcim Indonesia managers are required to invest in competency-based certification and training for all their workers. However, health and safety issues, primarily in the manufacturing and construction industries, continue to pose risks to Indonesian workers’ safety.
As one of the main suppliers of construction materials in Indonesia – and with a workforce of 2,800 employed at the company’s quarries, cement plants and concrete plants – Holcim Indonesia believes it has the opportunity and responsibility to lead the way in setting health and safety standards in the country.
In 2010 Graham Wailes, senior organizational health and safety advisor at Holcim, introduced Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) health and safety standards into the global aggregates company. The IOSH managing safely courses are now integrated in the vocational education of Holcim employees across Europe, Pakistan, Indonesia, Singapore, India and the company’s Swiss-based headquarters.
Following the successful integration of IOSH managing safely e-learning into Holcim Indonesia’s occupational health and safety training in 2014, the company has enrolled a new batch of managers on Safety4Business online courses.
Keith Kimmons, Holcim Indonesia corporate occupational health and safety manager, said: “Running IOSH managing safely online courses enables us to ensure compliance across our Indonesian workforce. Safety4Business offers cost-effective, flexible and engaging e-learning. As well as benefiting from advancing their knowledge of health and safety standards, managers who complete the IOSH managing safely course will hold a globally recognized certificate.”
Elekta selects system to centralize training
Elekta, a care company pioneering innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders, has centralized its management of compliance training for employees and clients globally.
One of Elekta’s strategic goals is to create value for clients, including radiation therapists and oncologists who use equipment or software provided by Elekta. Users should get training when they need it, in their preferred format and language.
Elekta needed to centralize a number of different training functions in one secure, cloud-based system, including training administration and training records. As a global organization with clients all over the world, Elekta has to comply with a wide variety of legal and industry regulations in different markets.
The company selected NetDimensions, whose secure SaaS (software as a service) deployment option provides the levels of data security the company needs, including validated hosting, said David Burns, Director for global-training solutions at Elekta.
“The selection process included a thorough analysis of requirements across every level of our organization. We then drilled down to the primary needs and objectives: the safety and security of data and the ability to manage our compliance to regulatory requirements,” he continued.
NetDimensions learning will be initially introduced to 5,000 Elekta customers and employees and integrated with other systems at Elekta, such as its HR system, quality-management system and sales-force.
“Our goal is to seamlessly integrate all our systems so we can have all our data safely and securely stored in one repository. From the administrative standpoint, there will be only one system for all our internal and external training,” explained David Burns.
Delegates learn about compliance campaign
An award-winning compliance campaign for Tesco was highlighted at an international compliance conference and exhibition.
The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) brought together industry specialists for the third annual European Compliance and Ethics Institute Conference in London.
Kate Pasterfield, of e-learning company Sponge UK, and David Ward, Tesco’s Regulatory, Ethics and Compliance Director, delivered a talk about a compliance campaign that won a bronze award for the best use of e-learning to ensure compliance, at the e-learning awards.
They outlined how interactive content, engaging scenarios, communication campaigns and competition elements were used in the compliance training.
“We are very proud of our campaign for Tesco which saw 4,000 staff complete the course in just six weeks,” said Kate Pasterfield.
“There has been great interest in how this was achieved, and we gave the conference delegates an insight into our approach and provided some ideas for transforming compliance training.”
SCCE’s European Compliance and Ethics Institute is a multi-industry and multi-topic conference offering the latest practices for addressing the wide range of challenges facing the European compliance and ethics community.
Horses for courses
A Yorkshire-based company has developed an unusual method to teach businesses how to get the most out of their team members through partnering with horses.
Retreats run by Julia Felton, of Business HorsePower, combine talent dynamics, a business-development tool, with hands-on coaching from horses. This combination helps individuals and teams to learn more about themselves, their leadership style,how they communicate with others and the impact they create.
“Horses have a unique ability to mirror and react to an individual’s body language and behavior. They can sense whether someone expresses confidence, trust, authenticity, openness and positive energy,” Julia Felton explained. “As a herd animal, they long for leadership and will respond to non-verbal body language to decide who to follow. I combine this with the talent-dynamics assessment tool so that business teams can gain understanding and insight into their natural abilities and so work more productively together.”
“My program is not a team-building fun day out on horseback; in fact workshop participants do not ride the horses at all. It goes much deeper than a corporate away-day. Participants have to lead the horses through a series of challenges. How they do this gives both themselves and their team members deep insight into the way they lead and affect others.”
RBS takes a lead in Sprint program
High-street bank RBS is taking the lead among corporate sponsors of the Springboard Consultancy’s Sprint training program,which has been designed to help to solve undergraduate women’s study and career problems.
Other sponsors include Microsoft, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Oliver Wyman, BP, EY, Shell and Deutsch Bank, but RBS has enabled six of its staff to become fully licensed Sprint trainers. Part of its early-career team, this group is now running Sprint programs for undergraduates around the UK across more than ten educational institutions, having reached more than a 1,000 students so far.
Designed for undergraduate women from all backgrounds, ages and stages in their lives and study, Sprint grew from research by the Oxford University careers service which revealed that women graduates failed to get as prestigious and financially rewarding jobs as their male contemporaries.
“Sprint has been developed to help to close this gap and end the disparity,” said SBC joint chief executive Jenny Daisley.“Sprint aims to enable female students – regardless of their subject, department or career aspirations – to develop to their fullest potential.”
The program built on work carried out by the University of Cambridge and further developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford.
Liz Willis, SBC joint chief executive, commented: “Many women use the Sprint program to help them to focus on their studies at university, achieving results such as improved visibility and effectiveness in tutorials, better time management, less study stress, a boost in confidence and self-esteem. They also use Sprint to sharpen their career goals, raise their aspirations,explore possibilities and to take advantage of the work shadowing and coaching often offered by corporate sponsors.”
“In addition to helping them in their work careers, participants tend to find it also helps them to achieve results in their personal lives such as sorting out difficult relationships, improving fitness and gaining a better study/life balance.”
RBS’s Sprint project leader, Kate Llewellyn-Cripps, commented: “We are most impressed with the material contained in the program. It is inspirational and can bring lasting benefits, changing lives and enlightening the participants who complete it. As a result, we have managed to engage more female talent and help them to realize their potential – a core aim of our early-career activity.”
“On a personal-development level, Sprint is helping those in RBS who have experienced it as helpers and guest speakers to develop – providing key tips and learning which we can implement personally and professionally.”
Mothercare moves into e-learning
Retailer Mothercare is modernizing its approach to health and safety training with its first-ever e-learning course for staff.
The 20 minutes bespoke module, Staying Safe at Work, has been created for the company by e-learning provider Sponge UK.
The module, which includes an e-learning game and custom-made illustrations, will provide a consistent learning experience for new starters as well as refresher training for existing staff.
Mothercare Group, which includes Early Learning Centre and the clothing brand Mini Club, employs around 4,500 people in-store and around 600 at its head office in Watford, Hertfordshire.
The module focusses on fire safety, preventing accidents and dealing with threats and hoaxes.
Sponge UK Managing Director Louise Pasterfield said: “Mothercare has really embraced the latest thinking in workplace e-learning and the new module brings the company’s health and safety training right up to date.”
“We wanted to deliver e-learning that would be approachable, relevant and a positive experience rather than a tick-box exercise.”
“The illustrated characters help to create a positive visual feel and elements like the game will help to keep staff engaged and interested.”
Mothercare will use the illustrated characters as part of an internal-awareness campaign to alert staff to the new training and generate interest in the program.
The e-learning will be part of a blend at Mothercare, combining face-to-face training with online learning, and may be rolled out to Mothercare employees worldwide in future.
Honda steers toward outsourced development
Raytheon Professional Services GmbH (RPS), a subsidiary of Raytheon Company, has signed a long-term contract with Honda Motor Europe Limited for the outsourcing of all development of its pan-European dealer training, as well as domestic training delivery operations in the UK and Germany.
As part of the contract, RPS will manage pan-European curriculum content development, product-launch training and learning-management system administration and support.
RPS’ training services will cover Honda’s complete product range including cars, motorcycles and power products. It will extend to all sales, after-sales, technical and management personnel.
The contract also includes the outsourcing and management of Honda’s accredited apprenticeship program, across the whole product range, in the UK. Students will be able to achieve either an intermediate (Level 2) or advanced (Level 3) apprenticeship through the program.
Derek Crawford, General Manager of the customer division for Honda Motor Europe Limited, commented: “With RPS’s expert knowledge of the automotive sector, we believe Honda’s dealer network will continue to develop over time through the implementation of efficient learning programs. We look forward to a strong and successful partnership.”
Honda’s European headquarters is located in Bracknell, UK. The company has approximately 9,000 employees working for the Honda business and a further 19,000 people working in Honda dealerships across Europe, a large percentage of whom work in dealerships across the UK and Germany.
“Honda Motor Europe Limited has aggressive goals to deliver increasingly innovative training and learning services to dealers to drive performance,” said Mark Oliver, managing director of RPS, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “RPS has been successfully providing similar services around the globe, and we will use the skills and expertise gained from other engagements and regions to implement industry-leading solutions that are aligned with Honda’s key business requirements.”
