GECU Expands Availability of Online Courses While Reducing Overall Costs with Cornerstone OnDemand

GECU, El Paso’s largest, locally owned financial institution and one of the largest credit unions in the state of Texas, employs more than 700 people to serve over 298,000 members across its 14 branches, call center and support departments located within the Operations Center.

GECU has the challenge of operating within one of the nation’s most highly regulated industries, and as a result, has long understood that efficient processes for employee training, development and performance management are critical pillars for supporting long-term financial growth within a strict regulatory and compliance environment.

To support its employee development goals and meet evolving industry compliance requirements, GECU historically had relied on instructor-led training (ILT) programs. While these programs were effective, they required dedicated resources and oversight that became less efficient as the credit union grew. Recognizing that it needed to embrace the more cost-efficient model of online learning, GECU adopted a cloud-based learning management system (LMS) in 2005 to augment its instructor-led program.

While the LMS integration alleviated some of the pressure on resources and time investment, GECU expanded so quickly that it soon outgrew the system’s capabilities. GECU’s management team began to look for a reliable and configurable cloud-based solution replacement that could scale to address current and future HR and employee development needs.

Why Cornerstone

In late 2009, GECU implemented a vendor review program that initially evaluated more than 15 talent management providers. This list was soon reduced to a handful of cloud-based, full-featured providers that could both reduce the manpower hours needed to provide and manage employee training and increase the ratio of online courses to instructor-led courses. Short-list criteria also included a system’s ability to streamline internal and external reporting and compliance processes.

GECU realized that Cornerstone OnDemand offered the most control, flexibility and cost-efficient scalability of all evaluated vendors. By August 2010, the credit union had integrated and rolled out the Cornerstone Learning Cloud — branded internally as ELITE (Enterprise Learning and Instruction Tracking Engine) — to provide its entire employee base with convenient, self-service solutions for learning and development.

The Results

Engage employees by increasing online course availability. As part of its new employee certification program, courses that were formerly only offered through ILT can now be accessed online. Nearly 40 percent of the organization is enrolled and has access to 255 online courses, with an additional 103 courses offered natively within the Cornerstone system.

Save resources by reducing call volume and time spent compiling reports. GECU is on track to significantly reduce its reliance on manpower-heavy ILT. Management personnel charged with oversight of various areas of training are experiencing a dramatic 50 percent reduction in incoming call volume (calls were typically employee inquiries on upcoming courses, course availability, etc.), freeing their time to focus on more strategic employee development issues. Cornerstone’s robust reporting and analytics tools help GECU’s team reduce time spent compiling reports by 75 percent.

Gain greater control of and insight into development activities. Managers and employees now have greater control over uploading, forecasting and customizing training courses. This has led to a more relevant and streamlined schedule of coursework for all employees, who are markedly more engaged and enthusiastic about GECU’s learning and performance management program. Managers and employees also have access to an easy-to-use dashboard that gives them an at-a-glance view of their to-do list, appraisals and course availability.