Vanquis Bank has launched a mobile micro-learning strategy with GoodHabitz, providing continuous e-learning and soft skills development opportunities to its 1700 employees who are based across 3 sites in the UK. Universal access for all employees to a GoodHabitz subscription, with its Netflix-style range of engaging personal development courses, is a key part of this.
Now, 41% of employees have completed an optional GoodHabitz soft skills course whereas previously, the figure was 2% of all employees – representing a 95% uplift in engagement.
Additionally, in the 3 months since Vanquis first started using GoodHabitz, they have seen a month on month increase in the number of employees taking optional e-learning. Learning rates have gone from 150 active courses in December 2018, to 800 in January 2019. Allowing for the expected initial spike in interest straight after the launch, this level has now stabilised at 500 optional courses being accessed each month, which represents a 70% increase in learning engagement.
“We’ve offered online soft skills training before, but it wasn’t as successful. People like the GoodHabitz courses – they are fun, interesting and there are no Americanisms. They are developed with very high production values for a UK audience,” says Michael Brown, Digital Learning Manager at Vanquis.
Vanquis Bank specialises in helping people build good credit ratings and offers a range of financial services to over 3.5 million people. Four times winner of the Moneyfacts Credit Builder Card Provider of the Year award, the company is known for being innovative and progressive. With no retail presence, Vanquis trades exclusively online and via its call centre.
Dealing primarily with customers who have a limited or poor credit history, customer service staff in particular can face difficult conversations and need excellent soft skills. They often encounter situations where customers have limited financial awareness and have to explain financial terminology in greater detail than is usually the case with ‘prime’ customers. Skills like empathy, resilience, adaptability and the ability to clearly communicate often complex issues in an approachable way, are essentials.
Vanquis has always invested in technical and regulatory training for employees, but wanted a convenient way to help staff at all levels develop their soft skills too – like negotiation, dealing with difficult conversations, social media at work, team work, digital skills, leadership and project management. This is where GoodHabitz comes in, with mobile friendly e-learning that covers all the personal skills development Vanquis’ employees need.
“We like to give people the opportunity to work across different functions, so they can continue growing professionally and learn new things. We want them to become the best they can be and have the chance to try new roles – but this requires them to be resilient and adaptable, to be aware of strengths and areas for improvement,” says Michael Brown.
GoodHabitz is available to Vanquis employees within the company’s LMS (learning management system), Kallidus Learn. Since being introduced in December 2018, Vanquis has seen a big increase in the numbers of employees actively engaging with e-learning resources online.
Before introducing GoodHabitz, Vanquis would provide classroom style soft skills training, but found it was difficult to get employees to subsequently embed what they learned. “People would do the courses, go back to their jobs and then forget about applying the content. It can also be expensive and disruptive to get everyone together at the same time,” says Michael Brown.
GoodHabitz offers courses that are created for “micro-learning” – short, targeted bursts of engaging information that is more readily retained and available on any device, allowing Vanquis to break this cycle. Rather than waiting for a training course to be scheduled, employees can take responsibility for their own learning. And instead of spending hours at a time studying to complete a single topic, they can switch between subjects, learning in smaller time chunks to suit whatever they are interested in.
“Even if people only spend ten minutes at a time reading a single article or watching videos on a topic, they’ll derive a benefit and that’s what we are promoting with GoodHabitz, says Michael Brown. “We are trying to create a mindset of ‘learning in work’, whereby learning becomes as an intrinsic part of daily working life, rather than something you have to squeeze into an already very busy schedule.”
According to GoodHabitz research, being given the opportunity to develop their personal skills is rated as highly important by employees of all ages and backgrounds. The company’s most recent UK trend report showed that 80% of employees rated being given the chance to learn new skills as more important than a salary increase.