Siemens: Global training solutions for a global world
Siemens is a global powerhouse with around 377,000 employees in more than 200 countries. The company focuses largely on the areas of electrification and automation.
Siemens is one of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, and is a leading supplier of systems for power generation and transmission, as well as medical diagnosis.
The Siemens name is synonymous with globalization and worldwide presence. This means that language skills are key for Siemens to deliver global business. Siemens prides itself on always being ahead of the latest trends; this is also the case when it comes to learning, where Siemens is at the cutting edge of the latest thinking.
The Global Learning Campus
The Siemens Global Learning Campus is the company’s internal learning provider. Its role is to provide employees with the right skills and competencies to ensure the success of the whole organization. To equip employees with specialist knowledge, Siemens is increasingly turning to digital learning technologies and offering virtual training courses supported by Learnlight. The Learning Campus enables employees to access and share learning and knowledge on demand. This means that they can apply it immediately to their work challenges without having to wait for an appropriate course to be set up.
Learnlight – global provider to Siemens
The relationship between Siemens and Learnlight began more than 13 years ago. Siemens’ trust in Learnlight led them to appoint Learnlight as Siemens’ Global Strategic Learning Partner for language training in 2018.
This appointment was thanks to the strong support of Siemens Spain, who recommended Learnlight to the central office in Germany, having worked hand in hand with Learnlight as a training partner for many years.
Siemens Spain was an early adopter of many of Learnlight’s learning innovations. The training outcomes achieved so far speak for themselves: 98% of participants completed their Learnlight training course successfully in 2017, the attendance rate was 94%, and the average trainer satisfaction rate was 5/5.
Having Learnlight as a global strategic partner gives Siemens the agility to set up new training modules quickly and easily and scale their solutions as the organization evolves. It doesn’t take long to set up a new course when Siemens need to implement company-wide training, and reporting and monitoring training is simpler and more flexible, as the systems are already in place.
The importance of language skills at Learnlight
Language skills are an essential work tool for Siemens’ employees to carry out their work successfully as Siemens is active in almost every country in the world. All employees must have the capacity to communicate effectively with clients, customers and suppliers, as well as with international colleagues.
Siemens encourages employees to take responsibility for their personal performance in today’s changing landscape. Working in multi-disciplinary teams is now the norm and language skills are vital to drive operational efficiency and collaboration.
Challenges
Across the business, Siemens is looking for efficient and sustainable digital solutions. The Global Learning Campus must engage employees as active participants in the company’s digital transformation process.
The campus is receiving more and more requests for virtual language training as employees are keen to explore the possibilities of digitalization.
The main training challenges facing Siemens are:
- Organizational evolution – delivering language training to an organization in a state of continuous change.
- Lack of time – more and more Siemens’ employees find it difficult to attend classic face-to-face training sessions and to commit to a fixed time slot.
- Busy schedules due to regular travel for work – learners require a flexible language training approach that caters to the needs of modern learners.
- Reducing the impact of travel – as an organization committed to creating a sustainable future, Siemens requires training solutions that allow them to honor their commitment to reducing their carbon footprint.
- Providing customized learning – Siemens is receiving an increasing number of individual learning requirements regarding specific topics/situations.
- Adapting to digital virtualized formats – Siemens’ employees were used to a traditional face-to-face approach and needed to develop their digital capabilities.
- Creating a shift in mindset – Siemens have made it their mission to transform employee attitudes towards learning. In the past, learning at Siemens was something remote, that you would devote a day to, attending a classroom-based course. Using new digital technologies, the Learning Campus strives to embed learning into the daily work of their people.
Solutions
Learnlight’s virtual training solution offers today’s busy professionals a time-efficient way to manage their work and learning. Learners only need to block out 30 minutes per week for classes and can reschedule up to 50% of their sessions if something urgent comes up. The learner can easily fit learning into their schedule without major disruption or having to work late to catch up.
The training content is easy to scale: the trainer assigns preparation work for the week via the Learnlight platform, including videos, listening activities, reading texts and comprehension exercises. However, if learners want to do more, they can explore Learnlight’s huge resource library, which is filtered to their level to help them find the most relevant activities to work on specific areas.
The intuitive navigation built into the Learnlight platform gives learners the freedom to take control and self-direct their learning. Each employee follows a personalized learning path, which helps them track their progress, as material builds on their achievements and supports their weaker areas.
The on-demand nature of the learning content means that it seamlessly becomes part of their day-to-day life, including giving them access to a variety of resources, such as email templates, culture guides and an accents and dialect center, which can help them prepare for meetings in specific regions.
All Learnlight’s blended programs incorporate a cutting-edge flipped classroom approach. This method equips learners with key knowledge before each session, which means that they can optimize the time with their trainer, putting this knowledge into practice.
The platform also offers bite-sized micro-learning activities that are easy to digest. This is a significant improvement on the dense information that is presented in a traditional classroom-based course.
The Results
The amount of interaction with live trainers surprised even the more reluctant learners, who were worried that they would miss the human touch of face-to-face training. Staff at the Siemens Global Learning Campus have described Learnlight’s virtual blended approach as “the perfect match between technology, content and human-based and human-led training” and many have highlighted the key role Learnlight’s expert trainers play in motivating learners.
Learnlight language training is driven by the user and allows learners to take control of their learning. This offers Siemens’ employees a flexible learning experience. They are also able to maintain the relationship with their personal virtual coach, which gives them additional security when changing countries, as they don’t have to adjust to a new trainer, as well as ensuring learning continuity.
Siemens’ employees are recognizing the flexibility and benefits of Learnlight’s virtual training approach. The new Learnlight programs have led to a significant increase in attendance rates and learner engagement. The state-of-the-art Learnlight platform is, according to Siemens’ Senior Consultant and superuser Dr. Theresia Tauber, “just like a fitness gym where you train your language muscles”.
Learnlight looks forward to supporting more and more Siemens’ employees around the globe as they continue to migrate to the online training environment and discover all the benefits of Learnlight’s virtual training.
What customers say
”The quality of the teachers is one of the company’s best assets, along with the management of all the paperwork involved in the program. Additionally, the platform makes virtual classes a highly effective option.”
“Learnlight work with us to really understand our needs and create training solutions that are tailored to our business needs. They provide engaging teachers who have really helped to bring the realities of working internationally to life.”
“In Learnlight we found the perfect partner for the launch and implementation of an innovative and effective language program, we regard the English Program (general and managerial) our most valued training initiative.”
“We are highly satisfied with the Learnlight service as they understood how to adapt to our requirements. They have an excellent methodology and the satisfaction rates, and the development of our employees has been second to none”
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