Axens is a French company operating across the energy and chemical industries, specializing in technologies and solutions for oil refining, petrochemicals, gas treatment, and renewable energy. Founded in 2001 following the merger of the industrial division of IFP Énergies nouvelles and Procatalyse, Axens provides a comprehensive portfolio spanning process licensing, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, and technical services; from feasibility studies to plant startup and lifecycle support.
Today, Axens employs approximately 2,200 people worldwide and plays a key role in the energy transition, helping industrial clients develop cleaner fuels, renewable energy solutions, carbon capture technologies, and plastic recycling initiatives. With technologies, roles, regulations, and business challenges constantly evolving, continuous learning is central to helping its workforce develop the skills needed for the future.
At the center of this effort is Axens Academy, which supports Learning & Development activities across the group. Rebbeca Draï, Learning Community Manager, is responsible for promoting and showcasing Axens Academy’s learning offer through effective communication and user engagement. Sabine Porhel, Global Learning Coordination Team Manager, is responsible for driving the deployment of Learning & Development initiatives at the group level. Together, their roles support Axens’ focus on making learning accessible, engaging, and connected to the needs of employees across the organization.
Making learning part of everyday work
For Axens, creating an engaging digital learning experience comes with a unique set of challenges. In industrial environments, many employees work on-site in production, maintenance, or field operations, where operational demands and limited access to digital tools can make training feel secondary to their day-to-day responsibilities.
There can also be a lack of awareness around the learning platform, available content, and its benefits. For Axens, the challenge was not simply encouraging employees to use a learning platform. It was about making learning accessible, relevant, and connected to the realities of employees’ work.
Axens recognized that stronger learning engagement could help employees continuously develop their skills while supporting knowledge retention, performance, productivity, and operational excellence. The goal was to embed learning into everyday work routines and align it more closely with business priorities.
Creating a more engaging learning experience
To help activate learning, Axens Academy relies on Cornerstone as the central platform for its Learning & Development ecosystem. The platform serves as a single point of access for learning formats across the Group, including e-learning, virtual instructor-led sessions, podcasts, curated playlists, instructor-led training, and face-to-face workshops.
A key part of the strategy is the use of curated content and smart promotion mechanisms to drive adoption and sustained engagement. Rather than simply making content available, Axens Academy creates learning campaigns around relevant themes and promotes them through the platform.
The Learning Calendar has become an important part of this approach. Axens plans and publishes monthly or thematic playlists around topics relevant to employees and the business, then promotes them through homepage banners and notifications. For example, a cultural communication campaign used a curated playlist on intercultural communication, targeting global teams, managers, and project leaders.
This approach turns learning from static content into a continuous learning journey; making it more timely, structured, and connected to workplace challenges. Axens also leverages pre-built Cornerstone content and incorporates it into curated playlists that are promoted creatively by the Axens Academy team.
Putting people at the center of learning
Axens Academy has also found that employee stories can make learning more relatable. Display campaigns featuring learner testimonials and short feedback from employees who have applied what they learned through digital learning help demonstrate the practical value of learning.
By showcasing “people like them,” Axens can make learning content feel more credible and appealing while creating a greater sense of trust and community around the learning experience.
The same creative approach can be applied to more formal or sensitive subjects. Performance reviews, for example, can sometimes be perceived as mandatory or stressful. Axens uses curated learning content and engaging messaging to make these topics more accessible and motivating.
Turning learning into a global experience
The impact of this approach came into clear focus during the Axens Learning Festival, a global initiative designed to showcase the many ways employees can learn and demonstrate how learning can become a natural part of everyday work.
In France, the festival took place over four days, while international activities were spread over several weeks to accommodate different time zones and maximize participation. Cornerstone provided a single platform for bringing together learning resources and giving employees consistent access to training content regardless of location or learning format.
The results demonstrated strong engagement:
- 1 in 2 employees participated in the Axens Learning Festival.
- Nearly 2,000 learning content views were recorded on the Axens Academy platform during the event.
- More than 200 employees joined international AI sessions delivered via Microsoft Teams.
- 118 employees participated in in-person activities in Rueil-Malmaison.
- 47 employees participated in in-person activities in Salindres.
- 64 employees participated in in-person “Manage Your Time” sessions in Mumbai.
- The festival achieved an NPS of +55 based on participant feedback from the Rueil-Malmaison site.
Building a culture of continuous learning
For Axens, the success of the Learning Festival demonstrated that the value of a learning platform extends beyond providing access to training content. By creating a single gateway to learning resources, Cornerstone enables Axens Academy to provide a consistent and accessible experience across locations and learning formats.
That approach is particularly important in an industry where skills must continually evolve alongside technological innovation, changing regulations, and new industrial challenges. Axens Academy serves as the driving force behind Learning & Development activities across the Group, designing, coordinating, and supporting classroom, digital, and hybrid learning initiatives through a network of dedicated contacts in France and international subsidiaries.
By combining Cornerstone’s platform capabilities with the expertise of the Axens Academy team, Axens has created a unified learning environment designed to foster continuous skill development and support the Group’s long-term transformation.
