Successful Learning at Work Day Events in 2013
In our endeavour to raise awareness of Learning at Work day, the Findcourses.co.uk team promoted the national awareness day to all of our members during the year, and at exhibitions such as Learning & Skills 2013 and HRD 2013. Building on the success seen in 2012, we were able to help even more companies organise their Learning at Work events, and help them reach training providers through our match-making service.
We were delighted with the enthusiasm we received from workplaces - both those who were trying it for the first time and several returning companies that we had helped the year before. We were also very grateful for the support and interest shown by the many training providers who were happy to offer free taster training sessions for organisations across the country.
The theme in 2013 was "Many ways to learn" highlighting the benefits of learning through changing times:
- How learning and development can happen in various ways
- How more people can engage in learning through using new and multiple channels
- How employees can be motivated to learn through exploring new ways of learning
- How managers can support their staff in learning
Workplace Learning at Work Day Case Studies
Company Case Study: Bupa Home Healthcare
Bupa Home Healthcare contacted Findcourses.co.uk as they had heard of our match-making service and wanted help reaching a training provider that could deliver a workshop for their employees for their Learning at Work Day.
After running Learning at Work Day events previously, this year Bupa Home Healthcare wanted to focus their event on helping staff develop their personal skills to help them build their careers and identify their strength areas. They wanted to meet a new training provider to widen their supplier network for future training purchases and this proved to be an ideal opportuntunity.
From Bupa Home Healthcare:
"Ardine Training and more specifically Angharad Brown came and visited us on Learning at Work Day on the 23rd May to deliver a session on Mindfulness. Angharad and I had a long telephone conversation before she arrived. She successfully understood my needs for the day and set out what she believed she could deliver for Bupa Home Healthcare.
The session held in the afternoon was well attended and well received by the attendees, Angharad received very positive evaluations and I also received good feedback for her whilst I was talking to some of the attendees the following week.
I have already started dialogue with Ardine in regards to some other specific L&D solutions we are seeking and we hope to continue the relationship that was started as a result of the introduction that was made. So all in all a successful intervention that has led to hopefully the start of a constructive relationship."
Steve Hall, Learning & Development Business Partner, Human Resources, Bupa Home Healthcare
Company Case Study: Story Worldwide
Story Worldwide is a post-advertising agency that specialises in global content marketing, and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia. Story Worldwide helps brands connect to their customers by telling engaging and entertaining stories that audiences actually want to hear.
This was the first time that Story Worldwide participated in Learning at Work Day, and they are already talking about how they will run it again next year - with more preparations.
From the HR Director at Story Worldwide:
"I didn’t know anything about Learning at Work Day until I encountered Findcourses.co.uk at the CIPD conference. It sounded like a really interesting opportunity for us to try out. We used the theme as a way of really kick-starting a new programme of training here – and to get employees excited about it. We organised it at fairly short notice so there wasn't much time to put together a whole day of events. However Findcourses.co.uk helped us identify what to focus on and arranged for one of their providers, Business Learning Foundation, to come and deliver a taster session. They delivered a training session on Presentation Skills.
The feedback we received from the employees that took part is that everyone really enjoyed the session. I think they would have liked some more tips and hints about how to present but the good news is that they liked the style of training (quotes below).
Feedback:
"It was entertaining and quite useful. .... The male trainer was particularly engaging, and fun to listen to. He obviously knows his bacon."
"I enjoyed it."
"They were really nice people."
"I thought the trainers were great and it was really useful in terms of structuring a presentation and deciding what to include. ... It was really fun and definitely worthwhile..."
"Presentation training is on our training plan but more towards the end of this year/early next year. And Story Worldwide would like to take part in Learning at Work Day next year, hopefully with a longer lead time to arrange it!"
Christina Strupinska, HR Director, Story Worldwide
Training Provider Learning at Work Day Case Studies
Training Provider Case Study: Business Learning Foundation
| Name: Business Learning Foundation Type of training: Open courses and In House Training Areas: Management, Leadership, Coaching, Sales, Communication |
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We had never taken part in learning at work day before and when we saw it advertised with Find Courses it appeared like a good opportunity to raise our profile and encourage others to seriously consider learning at work. After being paired with a client, we were keen to show them what we were able to do which would attract them to using us in the future when they were looking for training providers.
The client requested a session on presenting, so we ran an interactive exercise which would cover all elements of a presentation followed by a debrief and some key observations and tips. The 16 candidates enjoyed the session and the feedback reveals that they took away some valuable lessons.
As a provider we were able to start a new relationship with a potential customer, they have said they will consider us in the future but they do not have any urgent requirements. We would take part again but may hope for a slightly larger organisation with a more immediate need, but it was still definitely worth it.
Some quotes from the delegates that took part:
"I thought the trainer was great and it was really useful in terms of structuring a presentation and deciding what to include. It was really fun and definitely worthwhile."
“It was entertaining and quite useful. The trainer was engaging, and fun to listen to. He obviously knows his bacon”
“I enjoyed it”
Training Provider Case Study: Illumine Training
| Name: Illumine Training Type of training: Open courses, In House Training and e-Learning Areas: Business and Management, Communication, Soft Skills, Personal Development, Coaching, Mind Mapping |
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We have been supporting Learning at Work day for many years, offering discounts and free trails of our courses. By taking part in the Learning at Work Day event we hoped to make contact with companies who value training.
We worked with Findcourses.co.uk for the first time this year and were put in touch with three companies. In the end we worked with one of these companies, an international clinical research organisation and delivered a 90 minute team work session for 20 of their staff. The group enjoyed the session and gave us really good feedback and we are meeting with the client to discuss further work.
The main benefit for us of taking part in Findcourses.co.uk's match-making was getting in front of a company who values training. The best bit was definitely seeing the group value the workshop and hearing that they got a lot from the session. We will be taking part again next year!
Training Provider Case Study: Ardine Training
| Name: Ardine Training Type of training: Open courses, In House Training Areas: Leadership, Management, Communication, Soft Skills, Train the Trainer, Customer Services, Retail |
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We haven’t taken part in Learning at Work Day before, and as a new company, our only expectation was just to have the opportunity to meet and train a company and gather some feedback. We were delighted that Findcourses.co.uk put us in touch with such a large organisation.
We delivered a Mindfulness at Work taster session on Stress Management for a mixed group across different levels – employees and managers. There were 25 employees that took part. The overall outcomes was a successful delivery of the session with 100% positive evaluations from participants!
The main benefit for us was being able to deliver training to a large global organisation. We would not have achieved this without this opportunity. The best bit for us was being able to meet the L&D Manager for an hour before the session and gain an insight into their training challenges – which we may be able to assist with.
As a result of taking part in the match-making with Findcourses.co.uk we have been asked to pull together proposals for 3 different packages of Mindfulness interventions for clinicial, general and care support workers for BUPA to consider. We'll definitely being taking part again next year if the organisations seeking sessions would be a beneficial organisation to get in front of for our business development.
