Case study

B&Q Sustainability and Diversity

The Challenge

B&Q identified a training need to make all employees aware of the award-winning work they do in the area of sustainability. They also needed to ensure that all employees were aware of the business, legal and moral case for the B&Q Diversity policy. B&Q is committed to e-learning as the future of training, and particular factors argued for its use in the case of this project:

• With the diversity material, it was particularly important to track completions because of compliance issues, something that is much easier to do with an electronic delivery method
• It was felt that the somewhat dry nature of the subject matter required a highly creative treatment, consistent across all delivery situations, in order fully to engage the users

The Solution

Epic came up with a learning solution based on two 1.5-hour e-learning programmes. The programmes used a combination of real B&Q staff discussing their roles and interactions with animations and videos. It was important to the organisation that the programmes also conform to standard B&Q e-learning guidelines for interactions and accessibility, and Epic took this requirement fully on board in the design of the programme. The programme used full audio support for all on-screen text, for example.

Wherever possible, the learning was tied into everyday experiences and communicated some selling skills and product information as well as the core subject matter. Many interviews were recorded with B&Q staff - whose voices can be heard in the final programme.

Outcomes

The programme has been launched within B&Q and has been well received by employees with extremely positive feedback.

Adrian Jones, E-learning Manager at B&Q said: "This programme has proved to be an extremely effective way for our staff to learn the key principles of our approach to sustainability and diversity. Over 9,500 staff have successfully completed the programmes to date."

This programme is a good example of a bespoke learning package that has been successfully implemented in the workplace. The challenge of the subject matter has been met through the high degree of interactivity in the programme and the involvement of employees throughout the programme. Compliance with the B&Q Diversity policy was also successful, with effective monitoring of users on completion of the programme through the company's learning management system.