Hitachi Capital, the financial services provider, has appointed learning & development specialist Hemsley Fraser to support the delivery of in-company, face-to-face training programmes for its 800 employees.
In partnership with the Learning and Talent team, Hemsley Fraser will deliver a selection of programmes for all grades of employees on internal consulting and negotiation, as part of Hitachi Capital’s new, core learning library. The company will also deliver modules on communication, project management, presentation skills and handling difficult people and situations as part of a new leadership and management curriculum for current and aspiring managers. Other training programmes will also be delivered by a separate provider.
“We’re starting to use learning and development more strategically to support our growth,” said Lucy Clarke, Learning and Talent Partner at Hitachi Capital UK. “Previously, training was difficult to track and measure because it was ad hoc and reactive. We’ve conducted a thorough learning needs analysis and have now introduced a more consistent approach that will not only enable us to improve performance and embed our organisational values, it will also help to bring together our four business units.”
Ahead of appointing Hemsley Fraser, Hitachi Capital’s L&D team, Lucy Clarke and Michele Ingerslev, conducted a learning needs analysis, interviewing all 130 managers in the business.
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“We wanted to build up the relationship between L&D and the business and educate managers about the role and value of L&D,” said Lucy Clarke. “The data generated enabled us to create the categories for our core learning library, which is a structured curriculum of training. Where possible, we hope to mix people from different teams and business units together, when training, so they’ll get a chance to network and to learn more about different aspects of the organisation.”
Hemsley Fraser was appointed after a competitive tender. “We knew about the quality of their programmes and their professionalism,” said Lucy Clarke. “They demonstrated that they understood our requirements and that they wanted to build a successful partnership with us.”
Alongside Hitachi Capital’s Learning and Talent team, Hemsley Fraser’s trainers will tailor the programme content to suit the specific needs and objectives of the participants, which will be gathered prior to each event through new pre-course questionnaires. Initial post-programme feedback will be supplemented with more in-depth follow-up evaluations eight weeks after each course, to assess how successfully the learning has been transferred back to the workplace. Performance improvement levels will be tracked through Hitachi Capital’s performance review process, employee engagement surveys, promotions and succession plans.
“With in-company programmes, we can have the ability to customise the content so it meets the exact needs of the business and fits with the values and behaviour we want to instil in the organisation, such as integrity and reliability,” said Lucy Clarke. “If we’re to achieve our goals and become the financial service provider of choice in our chosen markets, we need our people to collaborate and work together effectively. By providing this learning, we’re showing our employees that we’re prepared to invest in them. It also gives us an edge when it comes to recruitment as it demonstrates that we’re an organisation that’s committed to development.”
