A Major California Gas & Electric Company

Challenge

At this major gas and electric company, new initiatives and situations are the norm and new skills are often needed by its workforce to take on these challenging new projects. To ensure that its employees are prepared to excel no matter the task, regular training opportunities are provided. 

“We want our employees to be on top with what’s new and what’s going on,” said a business operations specialist for the company. “And we want to make sure they are going to the right place because you know you can just Google and find all kinds of info, but we want to make sure they are getting great training, the right training, and not just wasting their time.” 

Prior to Covid, for training in core business applications, the company primarily offered full-day, in-person training. The training was effective for those who could make it but for others, a full day’s training wasn’t feasible. 

Then in March of 2020, sheltering in place set in and the majority of employees moved to working remotely. This was an entirely new working dynamic for the company’s 20,000+ employees spread out across northern California. They needed a robust all virtual training solution it could put into practice promptly. One they could offer to all employees that would work within its budget and was conducive to the needs of busy schedules. 

To address this extraordinary challenge, they turned to Learnit. 

Solution

Learnit set to work to implement a new concept: “Learnit n Go,” which bundles related subjects and scenarios into short virtual classes scheduled throughout specific days. The program is designed to span different audiences, meeting them at whatever skill level they are at to learn these popular tools and functions.  

“We recognized the challenges they were facing and partnered with them to design a schedule and blend of classes that was fluid and relevant. The learning experience was customized to be turnkey for employees to drop in, get the specific training they needed and then get out and go back to their day,” said Matt Murawski, Vice President at Learnit.

“‘Learnit n Go’ made so much sense for us. We could offer all these classes remotely and reach way more people than the typical full-day in-person option. You’re in and out. It’s very easy,” said a company representative. “The classes are specific and to the point. You can get exactly what you need. Not more or less and it’s all right sized and if I need something else, there’s always another class for that.”

The program also proved to be a great opportunity for those leading teams to sample sessions so they knew what to expect, which helped them make suggestions as to what tools their team should train in. 

“Learnit n Go” offered extensive training options across MS Office, MS Teams and Sharepoint. Classes included “Mastering MS Teams,” “Excel: Worksheets Made Simple,” “Excel: Pivot Tables,” “Teams for Managers” and many more. Classes were scheduled from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m. on specific days and averaged 60 to 90 minutes in length. To get the word out, the program was promoted in the company’s daily internal email. From there it was a few clicks for employees to register for classes via the custom portal Learnit’s operations team created specifically for the company.

Learnit assigned two primary instructors to facilitate the live online training. 

“They both have a great energy—you want to hear them talk. They were both really engaging while also having totally different styles. One was young with a vibrant energy and the other I would describe as ‘wise.’ He knew everything. He’s kind of the Sharepoint guru. And we could always go to both of them with any questions and they pretty much always had the answer,” said a company representative. 

Every other week the Learnit team would look at the surveys and dig into what was working and what people wanted more of and areas for improvement. As the program started to unfold, there was soon a waitlist for classes. More MS Word and Excel classes were added in addition to opening up Learnit’s full catalog of offerings in order to offer even more to engaged employees. 

Results

“Learnit n Go” saw more than 4,300 enrollments over 12 months and the feedback from participants was above average across the board. People really embraced the training and the demand stayed high. 

“‘Learnit n Go’ was embraced because it was training a la carte. There’s certainly a time and place for indepth all-day training, but the majority of our employees want to drop in to get the training they need and move on. It just works so well,” said the company rep. “It also really helped that they loved the instructors. Learnit has incredible instructors and once you have a good instructor the likelihood of taking another class is high. Learnit is just a fantastic resource, always willing to evolve and work with us on what we are needing.”

“Designed with the science of learning in mind, our ‘Learnit n Go’ approach goes beyond just teaching employees to use a program effectively,” says Murawski. “People learn to rethink collaboration, communication and personal productivity with their most used technical tools. That means boosted performance and increased confidence, which was especially important as the realities of the pandemic took hold.” 

“Learnit is at the forefront of what’s happening in the technology space,” said the company representative. “With some vendors it's not that way. Learnit is ahead of things, which I like and how I feel it should be with our technical skills training provider. Would I recommend Learnit to others? Absolutely!” 

The program has since been renewed and the learning continues.