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Paula Oxner Tom Gloudeman, vice president of recruitment and development
Press Release Archives
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May 20, 2002 Lands' End to Use PeopleComeFirst Solution for Learning Management Lands' End employees have long been focused on customer service but, when it comes to managing their career development plans, the new word is self-service. The company, which sells clothing, soft luggage, and products for the home online and through catalogs, recently contracted with Genesys to use its PeopleComeFirst learning management solution. The product, which includes fully integrated web-based systems for managing learning, learning content, and skills development, will enable employees to more effectively define and obtain the skills required to advance their careers. Career Planning at Lands' End Tom Gloudeman, vice president of recruitment and development for Lands' End, tells HRWire the company has finished with the beta phase and is in the process of finalizing and rolling out the new program. Implementation will take place in stages and will begin on or about June 1 with the company's leadership group. Lands' End plans to bring all of its 8,000 employees, including its approximately 3,000 part-time and seasonal workers, onboard shortly thereafter. Gloudeman explains that an employee will use PeopleComeFirst to create a career development plan, which will then be available online for reference and revision. An employee's manager can also access the online document. Career development is a major focus at Lands' End. An employee typically meets with his or her manager at least twice a year to work on a development plan, which serves as a guide for training and career growth. "We like to view the development plan as an ongoing process," says Gloudeman. He points out that the manual process has been difficult to manager and track. Now, he says, information about the type of learning activity in which an employee is engaged will be pulled into a central location where both the employee and manager can easily access it. In addition to facilitating career development, the information will also help a manager conduct annual performance reviews. Although Gloudeman indicates that at Lands' End career development planning has been separated from the annual performance review in order to place the maximum focus on development, he says the development process provides objectives on which the review can be based. Learning at Lands' End Internally, the company is referring to the learning management solution as My Learning. Gloudeman says the new program carries with it a corporate mantra: "The right training to the right people at the right time." When it comes to training, there are a variety of options for employees. Although the company offers some workshops and has a library of books, videotapes, and other media, the emphasis at Lands' End is on e-learning. The company has partnered with SkillSoft for e-learning course delivery, and Gloudeman explains that course information and content will now be available through PeopleComeFirst. Employees will utilize a web portal to access SkillSoft course information and content, as well as other learning information, including college courses offered on site at Lands' End. Gloudeman says that employees gain access to information primarily through their development plans, noting that all learning resources have been organized by competency. In addition to e-learning and on-site courses, the company has a tuition reimbursement program which provides up to $2,500 per year to full-time employees and $500 per year to part-time employees who work at least 500 hours. The reimbursement policy stipulates only that course work relate in some way to an employee's current or foreseeable position. Although a course must be for-credit, an employee may obtain reimbursement for a course that awards continuing education units. Gloudeman explains that the company's tuition reimbursement program has a very high participation rate. Courses taken through this program will also be managed and tracked by employees using the PeopleComeFirst product. Self-Service Is In Online management of learning by employees is very much in keeping with the HR trend toward web-based self-service. According to the most recent Towers Perrin e- Track survey, which is based on feedback from more than 200 respondents from midsize to large corporations in the United States and Canada, organizations moving towards self-service are doing so largely to improve the efficiency and quality of HR services. The commitment appears to be ongoing. Towers Perrin indicates that approximately half to two-thirds of surveyed companies plan to increase or accelerate their investments in web self-service over the next three years. Recruiting and benefits are among the most prevalent self-service applications, but training and performance/career management are also popular. In the category of training, it's not surprising that e-learning tops the list. Fifty-one percent of respondents indicate they use the web for this purpose. However, going head-to-head with e-learning is course enrollment; 48 percent of companies surveyed say their employees enroll for courses online. Curriculum overview is an equally popular application, with 48 percent of organizations indicating their employees use the web to review material related to course offerings. In the category of performance/career management, the web is most commonly used as a resource for job descriptions. This is followed by employees using it to obtain information about promotions/career paths. The third most popular use of the web in this category is skill/competency tracking. Competency at Its Core The PeopleComeFirst solution provides a system for career development, but Genesys indicates its product can also help companies identify required and desired competencies for employees in specific positions. "Our clients - especially those in areas such as healthcare and manufacturing - have expressed great need for a practical technology that can help them manage highly detailed competency models. In some cases, organizations must have detailed reports and audit tracking in order to meet strict certification licensing requirements," says Mike Hanninen, director of strategic systems for Genesys. At Lands' End, although career development is the current focus, there are plans to utilize PeopleComeFirst to track competency. Gloudeman explains that at some point the company intends to link other processes, including performance management and recruitment, into PeopleComeFirst, with competency as the tie-in. At present, however, Lands' End is moving ahead with initial implementation and its goal of bringing all employees online for the purpose of development planning, managing learning, and delivering content. "We know this isn't going to solve all over development challenges, but the PeopleComeFirst product is going to help our execution of some of the pretty good things we've already had in place tremendously," says Gloudeman. ### Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners. - Back to Top - Copyright © 2000 -
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