Spotlight on Eisai and Amplifon: Strengthening employees’ skills and competencies with effective L&D strategies

Learning and development strategies must continue to evolve in the ever-changing world of work. Training and development provide employees with a softer landing into change, and the introduction of digital learning and development platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed employees a smoother transition into a new style of work.

Both Eisai and Amplifon have been working with Cornerstone to create a learning and development strategy that is hyper-personalised and skills-focused, allowing their people and their entire organisations to become more agile and adaptable.

How have Eisai’s and Amplifon’s attitudes toward learning and development changed?

Historically, Eisai’s focus had been on mandatory training. The pandemic, however, shone light on how businesses need to be agile. Focusing solely on mandatory training did not grant Eisai the flexibility needed to survive and thrive in today’s environment. Eisai sought to encourage ownership of training and development, as well as improve trust between managers and employees during the transition to remote work. Using Cornerstone’s platform allowed for a more blended approach to learning, whereby face-to-face and digital materials were combined to take a more holistic approach to individual growth and development.

At Amplifon, adopting Cornerstone allowed the firm to integrate its entire global workforce into one, open platform. The pandemic reinstated the importance of learning and development and prompted Amplifon to look toward what skills would be needed in the future and invest today in these key competencies that will matter tomorrow. A vital driver of this was employee experience. Leaders at Amplifon believe that this should be the same for everyone, no matter your position, geography or time zone. Amplifon invested not only in learning and development content but also in social tools to create communities and cohorts, to encourage an equal sense of belonging across the entire organisation.

How were these digital learning and development strategies introduced, and were they successful?

Eisai opted to allow employees to get familiar with the platform before rolling out more learning content. Cornerstone Anytime was then incorporated, with the multiple language packs making the variety of content available accessible to all. The more variety in learning content, the more uptake that was seen, with a 75% course completion rate highlighting the success of the platform.

Amplifon also designed a creative teaser campaign to precede the introduction of Cornerstone. Apps that are commonly used, such as Spotify and Google Maps, were cleverly compared to the functionalities of Cornerstone (i.e. personalised and easy to navigate). When the platform was introduced during the height of the pandemic, the separate national lockdowns saw an enormous uptake in course completion. Employees were taking ownership of their development in their own time.

What does the future hold for learning and development at Eisai and Amplifon?

Amplifon aims to create a comprehensive experience through one common global platform that integrates into the work-life of employees, stimulating learning opportunities and powering self-driven growth. The company’s primary objective is to make its work population future-ready.

Eisai echoes the above, whilst also looking to further embed development plans, encourage feedback and comments for continuous improvement and use the skills functionality to highlight learners’ strengths and direct their improvement.

Although Amplifon and Eisai are at different stages in their Cornerstone journeys, their successful campaigns to promote a learning culture using a personalised people development programme is testament to the sizable payback from investing in people.