Econet is engaging its employees through learning

Image Source: https://www.linkedin.com

In his December 2017 blog post on LinkedIn, Paul Petrone discusses the new learning initiave Zimbabwe's largest telecom provider, Econet, rolled out to its employees in the Summer of 2017.  In a video sent to all employees, COO Fayaz King announced that everyone now had access to LinkedIn Learning's 10,000 online courses, and all were encouraged to use that access to meet a new goal of learning one hour every week.  He spoke of needing to "evolve and change by upskilling ourselves for the future."

This new initiative showed almost instant positive results.  Within two months of the announcement, 94% of Econet employees had used LinkedIn Learning, and many easily reached their goal of 4 hours of learning per month.  The support of Econet executives was key to the program's success.  Prior to the program's launch, the executive team participated in a "roadshow" to promote it, and have remained supportive through its inception.  They now begin weekly meetings by discussing what learning they did the week prior, and also participate in group sessions in which work teams watch learning courses together.

Econet wanted to make sure employee learning was also tied to their performance goals and professional advancement.  Now, during their semi-annual performance reviews, managers sit with employees and set goals for the next six months in areas they want to grow and develop.  Mangers then use these goals to assign specific LinkedIn courses to employees.  If an employee wishes to move to a new position within the company, it is now standard practice for hiring managers to ask them about their learning activity.  Petrone discusses how Econet uses these new practices to "see if there is a correlation between high performing employees and their LinkedIn Learning usage."

Image Source: https://www.edupliance.com/blog/post/4350

Is Econet's investment in their employee's learning and development paying off?  I would say absolutely.  As Petrone points out, "Econet Wireless's employees have among the highest engagement rates of any LinkedIn Learning customer."  One does not have to look far to see why this is so.  Since one of the most common reasons employees leave their positions is lack of advancement opportunities, Econet is remaining ahead of the curve by showing employees they are truly invested in their educational an development goals.

Source: https://learning.linkedin.com/blog/learning-thought-leadership/how-this-company-inspired-their-employees-to-learn-an-hour-a-wee