Securing the future for financial services

How Fairway Mortgage transformed its compliance training with Cornerstone Content

Fairway Mortgage has local offices in all 50 U.S. states and a workforce of over 10,000 that they must keep in compliance. That's no easy task when numerous states have unique regulatory requirements. The company's previous learning and content vendor was letting them down. They provided Fairway Mortgage with the same old learning content year over year, never modernizing with the times. Plus, managers who had direct reports in different states had to take the courses multiple times per certification, wasting everyone's time and creating repetitive frustration for learners. Fed up, Fairway Mortgage partnered with us at Cornerstone to transform their compliance training with engaging, modern content that their learners greatly appreciated. Thanks to Cornerstone Content, they reduced their training hours and costs, and eliminated frustrations. Now, their learners are excited to learn again. Low-quality content created frustration According to Debbie Christensen, AVP LMS technical education solutions at Fairway Mortgage, the vendor who shall not be named created a lot of unneeded frustration for managers across all 50 states. Fairway Mortgage knew they needed to find a new vendor and knew the type of content they wanted. "We needed for the new content to be compliant and make sure that we're meeting state-specific requirements, but also to provide additional or supplemental training, rather than reassigning that same content over and over again." There were so many grievances from upper-level managers that they had to pause assignments for all their employees. They needed a solution, and they needed it fast. "We needed to implement quickly. We really wanted to provide a much better learning experience for our end-users." Finding more engaging content Christensen continued to tell us about how with Cornerstone, Fairway Mortgage found the solution to their frustrating, mediocre content problem. The speed and efficiency of the Cornerstone content stood out. "What we learned is there's a great depth to the Cornerstone content. It's awesome that the content is created in a small, microburst format. Our learners can take a little bit at a time and go back to their busy days and not feel like they're overwhelmed with training." A switch to Cornerstone also saved their HR department a lot of time because it removed the burden of creating and managing content. "[Cornerstone has] saved us the burden of creating internal training and having to keep it up to date ourselves." Getting up and running quickly with Cornerstone Because they need to keep their over 10,000 strong workforce complaint, Christensen said they couldn't afford to keep their training paused for long. Thankfully, setting up Cornerstone went quickly and smoothly. "It was a very successful rollout. It really was seamless. Not only did we reduce hours of training for our upper-level managers, but the content is really, really good. It's to the point. It's relatable, and honestly, it's enjoyable." Fairway Mortgage is committed to creating a fair and diverse workforce where everyone feels they belong. And they found Cornerstone content that genuinely helped them continue progressing on their DEI goals. "Our diversity team identified four different modules or certifications, and it's really been a huge win. It's available for learners to self-enroll and has been promoted throughout the organization. It's great." Measurable results Since implementing Cornerstone, Christensen said that Fairway Mortgage has found and eliminated many organizational inefficiencies. "We're seeing a lot fewer tickets posted and less negative feedback, both from a content perspective and functionality in the system." And the improvement they've received from their new modernized LMS has been second to none. "Cornerstone content works great on the LMS and other different platforms and browsers, which we have throughout our network. It's been a great experience for our admins, managers, and network." Overall, Fairway Mortgage has streamlined its compliance processes and improved the content. It's been a big win. "It's just a realization that the content really is working. We've reduced the number of anti-harassment courses we were assigning from 16 to four, and that's a huge difference administratively. That's a cost savings for the team."

How Wells Fargo created a culture of self-directed learning

Wells Fargo is a leading financial services company that serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of small and mid-market businesses. In 2019, the financial industry titan set an ambitious goal to transform learning and employee development for the organization and its over 255,000 employees. They developed a mantra of “go big or go home” to remind them that although the task was big, it was worth doing right. And that meant finding the right learning management and content provider. The team at Wells Fargo had a list of criteria: Build a modern learning experience Increase employee engagement Increase productivity Facilitate talent mobility Create process efficiencies Enable change management After an exhaustive search, more so than any other option, Cornerstone Learning and Cornerstone Content Anytime checked every box on their list. But they didn’t know that the products checked boxes they hadn’t even made yet. When the year 2020 hit, the ability to change and be agile suddenly became more important than they ever imagined. Within two weeks, over 200,000 Wells Fargo employees pivoted to remote work. And thanks to Cornerstone, the quick change and lean into learning helped employees and the company thrive during a time of turmoil. Change management lead to surprising results Many organizations had trepidation about moving to a remote work environment. How would they create accountability? Luckily, thanks to Wells Fargo’s partnership with Cornerstone, they had the tools for change management. They engaged employees with learning that was already in place. And their employees took to it quickly and thoroughly. “What was so interesting is that usage and engagement in [Cornerstone Content Anytime] content, where we might have expected to see a dip in engagement, we actually saw it continue to rise,” said Sarah Foster-Kostis, business initiative consultant at Wells Fargo. The message from their employees was clear: “We saw our learners want more content. They wanted more development. They wanted professional learning experiences.” The world was changing, and employees saw it as an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop in their careers. Homework assignments aren’t needed With Cornerstone Learning, Wells Fargo employees set their own learning assignments. The engaging learning courses had their learners clicking “next course” over and over again. “Over 50% of our learners have taken 11 plus courses. Think of how many people that is! We’re talking well over 60,000 people,” said Foster-Kostis. It added up to tens of thousands of course completions every month. Of the courses taken by employees, 73% were self-directed learning. Foster-Kostis marveled that one month saw upwards of 90% of courses taken voluntarily. “What that really told us is: As people were starting to take the content and see value in it, they just kept taking more courses and finding things that were really going to enhance their learning experiences,” she said. Cornerstone provides critical support and partnership Wells Fargo chose Cornerstone as their vendor for many reasons, chief among them our modern learning experience and top-tier content. But it was the offer of a true partnership that clinched the decision. “We could not have done what we’ve done to help our learners without our critical partnership with the customer’s success and content experience teams,” said Foster-Kostis. Together, Wells Fargo and their Cornerstone support team regularly review opportunities to increase engagement. They look for trends and opportunities to optimize the learning experience. And when they have content ideas, they pitch them. Foster-Kostis explains, “We proposed ideas for content operations. We submit ideas regularly to the curation team for future content playlists, and within a matter of months, we see content on those critical topics. That’s been key for us. And of course, we’re always analyzing data, reviewing the internal and external trends, and proactively looking at our future opportunities to stay in front of the curve with Cornerstone.” Leaning into the future with Cornerstone Learning As Wells Fargo looks to the future, the success of its learning program during the pandemic has sealed the importance of investing in its people. “For us, for our organization, we believe that individuals are key to long-term success. We want to retain that talent. We want to upskill that talent. We want to have that talent feel successful so that they can learn and grow at our organization,” she said. Wells Fargo will continue investing in a modern learning experience and content. “It’s really leaning into Content Anytime courses to support our initiatives, meet learners where they are, and provide that right content at the right time. And that’s really where we want to be successful so that we can ultimately see growth and development.” And Cornerstone will be with them every step of the way.

Cornerstone for credit unions: Four ways you can take your HR to the next level

Credit Unions have a big responsibility in managing their members money. To remain competitive, they need highly professional and personable front-line employees to deliver premier customer service. This requires credit unions to go beyond compliance training to offering modern, relevant skills training on subjects ranging from leadership and management to sales and service, and much more. With Cornerstone, Credit Unions can engage and retain their top talent with modern skills training, career pathing, and continuous feedback. Cornerstone helps Credit Unions not only recruit and onboard new talent, but also ensure that their #1 differentiator, their people, are equipped with the right skills and development opportunities to grow within the organization.