Industry Studies

With an informal, user-generated approach to developing content for learning, Sun Microsystems has created a delivery platform, the Sun Learning eXchange (SLX), that delivers timelier, quality content with drastically less expense than instructor-led and web-based training. The development costs are so much lower for SLX, the ROI versus web-based training is 7,505 percent. As impressive as that is, perhaps most encouraging about this new delivery platform is the high, and growing rate of user acceptance.

When Sun Microsystems measured the impact of their mentoring program they discovered some of the positive business results they expected to see (i.e., positive retention rates, salary grade increases, etc.), and a few they did not. The most dramatic finding was the difference in retention among participants over non-participants - a difference that translated into savings of $6.7 million.

For ConAgra Foods, the value of their leadership development program can be measured in quantitative terms and terms not typically associated with learning programs. The program provided a 276% ROI in the first year, increased productivity, and a positive impact on plant safety.

Retention is a key strategic issue for any company, but perhaps none more so than those companies with call center operations. This case study measured the business impact of five different learning programs and evaluated the factors related to agent retention.

For Chrysler, and all auto brands, a dealership selling one or two extra cars a month can make the difference between running a business or closing one. The Sales Manager Training program at Chrysler Academy has produced staggering ROI and gross profit margins at dealerships employing the program.

Since its founding in 1982, Sun Microsystems has weathered multiple rounds of broader economic boom and bust. The latest downturn prompted an overhaul of their long-standing New Director Training program. The results of this overhaul drive home the dire need for investments in human capital regardless of the current economic temperature.

Your company's tuition reimbursement program may provide benefits beyond your expectations. Discover how Bellevue University's Human Capital Lab researched Mutual of Omaha's tuition reimbursement program, finding a positive impact on employee skill levels, loyalty, retention, and the organization's long-term strategic value.

Using the power of statistics to isolate the ROI and impact of human capital interventions takes measurement strategies to the next level – optimization. Mutual of Omaha, Sun Microsystems and Chrysler leverage predictive analytics to answer tough questions: Are my investments improving some KPIs and not others? Are they more effective with certain delivery methods? Are they benefiting some employees more than others? Are they helping to retain some employees and not others? Asking – and quantifiably answering – questions like these empowers learning leaders to make informed human capital investment decisions.

Over the course of seven years, Mutual of Omaha supported employees completing more than 20,000 credit hours, begging the question: Do employees reinvest in an organization when they utilize an employer-sponsored tuition reimbursement program? Mutual of Omaha found that, even in a time of reorganization, employees who participated in a tuition reimbursement program experienced more positive job mobility and were more likely to be retained than non-participants.

The strategic utilization of existing organizational resources is critical to achieve overall business objectives. Discover how two Fortune 500 organizations are utilizing existing budgets and external education partnerships to maximize and measure the impact on their strategic objectives. Learn new ways to focus your organizational objectives into a measurable action plan. The presentation was given at the CLO Spring Symposium in April.

Organizations that effectively and purposefully collect, utilize, and disseminate the individual tacit knowledge (or know-how, beliefs, experiences, and values one has learned over the course of a career) across their workforce are more effective at achieving their mission. This case study, reviewed in the October 2009 issue of Chief Learning Officer, highlights the Lab's work with Boys Town, and how this non-profit organization is augmenting its knowledge management information systems to develop a stronger and competent workforce.

Only three percent of companies surveyed are able to find the leaders they need. To address this issue, Bellevue University and The Home Depot jointly created an innovative bachelor's degree program that creatively deploys both corporate and academic resources. The program and its success was presented at The Conference Board's Enterprise Learning Strategies Conference in February.

Integrating training and development into talent management and retention is an ongoing issue for many organizations. Bellevue University works with The Home Depot and Verizon Wireless, two companies going beyond best practices in this area. Dr. Echols gave this presentation to The Conference Board in January 2009.

Bellevue University's Human Capital Lab and Verizon Wireless examined the Verizon Wireless Tuition Assistance Program to gauge its effectiveness in the company's talent management retention rate. The team presented their research findings at Corporate University Week.

Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPI), applying a "Performance Mapping" methodology to help you ascertain gaps in desired performance, understanding the strengths and limitations of existing evaluation tools, and determining a measurement approach that shows both business impact and isolates the contribution of learning to the bottom line. These are some of the tools you'll discover within this report detailing Chrysler's interaction with BBDO Detroit's Retail Performance Solutions.

Chrysler's learning leaders identified Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and built a comprehensive, quantifiable curriculum for several of its sectors - service, parts, technicians, and field personnel - to prove the positive impact of training on business results.

The IRS imposed dollar limit on the maximum tuition assistance allotment for employees shouldn't limit you from offering your employees learning opportunities that can add value to the bottom line.

Did you know that one-quarter of the U.S. workforce has been with their current employer less than one year? Or that by 2010 the projected top 10 in-demand jobs will be positions that didn't even exist in 2006?

Frank J. Anderson, Jr., Director of Human Capital Initiatives and President of Defense Acquisition University, reveals the danger of operating under old assumptions, and how he developed strategies to maximize human capital investments at his organization.

Did you know that one-quarter of the U.S. workforce has been with their current employer less than one year? Or that by 2010 the projected top 10 in-demand jobs will be positions that didn's even exist in 2006?

Frank J. Anderson, Jr., Director of Human Capital Initiatives and President of Defense Acquisition University, reveals the danger of operating under old assumptions, and how he developed strategies to maximize human capital investments at his organization.

Learn how a Fortune 500® company created value on many levels because of its proactive approach to measurement. Sun Microsystems conducted a study of its multiple training delivery systems, discovering redundancies and inconsistencies. By implementing a centralized system, Sun Microsystems increased enrollment efficiencies and cost savings, and created a baseline for other decisions concerning similar systems issues.

Triple-digit ROI results: U.S. Bank's innovative training intervention - the Branch Manager Toolbook - exceeded expectations and demonstrated significant value across all benchmarks, from increased demand deposit activity and employees who reported they were more effective leaders to higher consumer loan activity and the opportunity to deploy this effective learning program organization-wide.

This landmark study done for Chrysler provided hard data isolating the positive business impact of their sales consultant training on sales volume and customer satisfaction. The data also provided a solid platform for guiding future changes in the content of curriculum and for measuring the business impact of those changes.

Landmark study uncovers the actual cost of tuition paid by employees per semester in the U.S. Utilize this data to develop ROI measurements for your organization, based on market prices.

A Sun Microsystems study reveals how advances in statistical methods and technology permitted learning leaders to isolate complex multiple variable interactions, measure ROI, provide detailed analyses of specific business outcomes, and create the data required to improve the productivity of learning investments in the future.

In just four short years, the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) increased the number of employee learning program graduates from 60,000 in 2002 to 114,000 in 2006. DAU President Frank J. Anderson, Jr., shares how he moved learning initiatives to the next level by engaging and empowering the workforce through strategic partnerships, centers of excellence, cohort training, high impact performance support, and providing students learning opportunities at their point of need.

Universities have considerable learning expertise that can be transferred to the corporate level. However, learning leaders have long overlooked institutions of higher learning for the delivery and development of curriculum to train their employees. Discover how Nelnet, a leader in the education finance market, successfully tapped into university resources to maximize the value of its human capital investment.

Dr. Mike Echols' presentation at the recent CU Summit was instrumental in his participation in federal Human Capital strategy development.

Faced with skepticism that learning can provide solid, tangible value to the bottom line, Caterpillar learning leaders established new foundations for their employee learning interventions. Determining the organization's highest priorities and focusing resources to those needs resulted in double- and triple-digit return on learning.

The convergence of economic, political, cultural, and technological forces is creating a tremendous challenge for tomorrow's healthcare leaders. Innovative educational programs addressing these forces while building upon the experience of current leaders are essential for meeting the demands of the future.