Orbit Housing: eLearning One year on - A Remarkable ROI Story

Introduction:
For a company which initially procured IT courses, Orbit Group’s eLearning strategy has grown from strength to strength. The organisation, which is one of the largest housing providers in the country, caters for over 1300 staff across multiple sites; is a prime example of how eLearning can really pack a punch in delivering high ROI.

The Challenge:
Delivering training to any workforce can be a logistical and costly operation. And Orbit was no different, with the colossal task of delivering training to over 1000 workforce personnel, across several geographic locations, to suit individual schedules, all within a reasonable frame and within a strict budget.

The Solution:

By procuring Learning Nexus as their online training solutions supplier, the Orbit Academy, Orbit’s learning and development team has had access to hundreds of readymade courses and also unlimited use of Learning Nexus’s in house rapid authoring tool, the Nimbus Course Builder.


By investing in an online training provision, staff were able to complete learning flexibly and at a time which suited them – a real bonus to frontline housing teams with very little office time.


Darren Smith, from Orbit’s Technical Department said, ‘I found the training to be informative and felt that the eLearning format allowed me to complete the various modules in my own time, which gave me the opportunity to reflect upon each section, rather than being rushed through it by a trainer, who would have been presenting to a number of personnel with a variety of backgrounds and capabilities.’


The introduction of this new tech has received full support from senior management. Clive Webb, who has been the driving force behind the project has also facilitated the ‘eLearning Champions’ initiative, whereby selected individuals across multiple departments within the business, support in delivering the eLearning strategy and objectives, as well as assisting in the promotion of eLearning across the group.

Clive said: ‘Orbit is committed to providing relevant and timely training to continue to develop its staff; a real challenge in a demanding sector such as housing. We wanted to empower our teams to take control of their own learning journey at a time that suited them and the eLearning modules did exactly that. Working closely with Learning Nexus also enabled Orbit staff to design and build bespoke eLearning packages to supplement and compliment off the shelf packages on offer.’

The Results:
Within 12 months the staff at Orbit have collectively completed over 2,800 courses, or 1876 hours, worth of learning.
In comparison with traditional f2f training, this is the equivalent of 313 days, worth of classroom training. With the exclusion of travel costs, catering and accommodation, it has been calculated that the eLearning option has saved the company over £70.5k in training costs alone. 


Furthermore, with a legion of staff using the Nimbus Course Builder, they currently have completed 10 courses (plus a whopping 58 in production) including titles such as; ‘ICT Induction’, ‘Making the most of your iPad’ and ‘Customer Relationship Management’. 

Feedback from users has been overall positive, with the benefits of this efficient training medium being clearly identified. Paul Smith, Area Business Manager said, “It let me learn the required content at a time and speed of my choosing. I feel it is a great addition to traditional training in as much as I completed the required learning objectives from my desk without having to travel to a venue which would have taken at least a half day. The content was detailed enough that it covered any questions I had as I worked my way through it. I look forward to completing other modules in this way.’


Looking at the figures, it’s hard to believe that Orbit are only 12 months into their eLearning crusade. These figures demonstrate compelling uptake, in an organisation which is new to the introduction of learning online.


So, what does the future hold? Certainly a wider remit of training across the Orbit’s scalable workforce. But more excitingly, transferring focus on community investment with future provision for widening its online training access to its 80,000 residents, as part of a digital inclusion strategy. With such dedication and ambitious plans, the future for eLearning at Orbit looks bright.

Key Points:

  • Access to hundreds of readymade courses
  • Unlimited use of Learning Nexus’s in house rapid authoring tool (the Nimbus Course Builder).
  • Staff able to complete learning flexibly and at a time which suits them
  • eLearning format allows staff to complete the modules in own time, giving them the opportunity to reflect upon each section, rather than being rushed through by a trainer, who's presenting to a number of people with a variety of backgrounds and capabilities.
  • The introduction of the technology has received full support from senior management.
  • The ‘eLearning Champions’ initiative, encourages selected individuals across multiple departments to support the delivery of the eLearning strategy and objectives, as well as assisting in the promotion of eLearning across the group.
  • Within 12 months the staff at Orbit have completed over 2,800 courses, or 1876 hours, worth of learning (equivalent of 313 days of classroom training).
  • Excluding travel, catering and accommodation costs, it's calculated the eLearning option has saved the company over £70.5k in training costs. 
  • Using the Nimbus Course Builder, staff have completed the build of 10 courses (with a further 58 in production).