Bupa International deploys new learner audit

Citation

(2013), "Bupa International deploys new learner audit", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 45 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2013.03745daa.011

Bupa International deploys new learner audit

Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 45, Issue 4

An international health-care company has become the first to deploy a new learner audit, to find out more about its staff and how they learn what they need to do their jobs better.

Bupa International is using Towards Maturity’s learner audit. This is a survey tool that draws on a decade of learner experience and the data of benchmark studies with more than 2,200 organizations.

Through the analysis of its benchmark data, Towards Maturity has identified a number of key questions that, until now, have been unanswered. They will help businesses better to understand how their staff are learning, both formally and informally.

The learner audit is designed for organizations with 1,000 employees. Companies can participate in a standard learner audit or choose to customize the survey’s questions. The audit comprises a 15-minute online survey, conducted confidentially on an organization’s chosen staff members.

Craig Taylor, learning-technologies manager at Bupa International, commented: “We regularly connect with our staff by conducting training-needs analysis to uncover learning needs about a specific program or to gather feedback on learning once completed. While these activities provide us with insights about the delivery of the learning program, they do not always highlight what is really important to our people.

“The insights gained through the learner audit will help us to facilitate learning in line with what individuals expect to receive. It will also help us to support staff with the right types of activity, using the right media and methods, in a way that traditional engagement-evaluation tools never could.”

The findings of the learner audit are conveyed in a detailed report and include a comparison of the perspectives of different groups of staff including leaders, managers and younger staff members.

Laura Overton, managing director of Towards Maturity, commented: “This is not just another learner survey to find out what a company’s employees think about their current learning and development offerings. Our research highlights how 63 percent of organizations say that their staff lack the skills to manage their own learning, yet fewer than one in five actually ask how their staff are using technology to learn currently.

“If learning and development specialists are looking to build skills and support performance in a rapidly changing world, they have to challenge their own assumptions about their staff and start establishing the facts of how their staff learn and what they need to do their jobs better.”

The results of the learner audit will help when organizations are designing new learning and performance solutions, setting learning strategy and making a business case for change.

With customers in more than 190 countries, Bupa International offers a range of flexible health-insurance plans for companies and individuals living or working abroad, as well as a range of travel-insurance plans.