Crossing continents
How Aviva engaged over 16,000 staff in 20 countries in just six weeks.
By Nige Howarth
The business protection team at Aviva was looking to communicate and monitor compliance with policies and standards relating to the way employees conduct themselves at work. This was no mean feat given that the insurer has 54,000 employees serving over 50 million customers in 28 countries around the world.
Aviva has grown rapidly in recent years, often by acquiring businesses and merging them into the international group. Previous training on business protection policies (such as information security, physical security, and health and safety) had been carried out in an ad hoc and localised manner with a mixture of classroom training with some online information. The team recognised that it provided no consistent message across the group and had no way to accurately audit what training had been carried out.
It was decided to produce an e-learning programme and deliver it to all staff. This would be the first time a global programme had been introduced and the excellent work of the business protection team, and its partner Inmarkets, was recognised when they were awarded the bronze award in the “Securing Widespread Adoption” category at the E-Learning Awards 2009.
This was quite a challenge, with learning to be delivered over 16,000 staff (not all English-speaking) in 20 countries, without centralised delivery platforms or systems, or even a centralised HR database. In addition, for many this would be their first experience of e-learning so it was important to get it right.
The business protection team contracted Inmarkets to produce the e-learning content and opted to use its hosted learning management system (LMS) to deliver the programme and produce management information.
To make the content as accessible as possible it provided end-to-end support for 16 languages – including translating the course content, LMS portal interface, and all email communication.
Since this would be the first use of e-learning for many employees it was essential that the design of the LMS portal and course content provided simple and intuitive navigation.
The central business protection team recognised the importance of gaining support for the programme from line managers and business protection reps in the various countries as well as the business units that make up the group so they involved them in the content development and communication plan.
Instructional and multimedia design
The content had to both incorporate material on a diverse range of issues within a single 30-minute course, and provide an e-learning experience that was engaging, informative, and easy-to-use for a large spectrum of employees, encompassing a wide range of cultures and job roles, many with limited bandwidth. Subject matter experts at Aviva helped to identify the key learning objectives of the course so that it linked clearly to business practices and used recognisable examples and scenarios. These were aligned with business practices to give a realistic and appropriate context for the learning. For example, when dealing with the appropriate use of Aviva communication systems, realistic depictions of the Aviva desktop were used; when dealing with confidentiality and NDAs, valid Aviva sample documents were shown; when dealing with physical security, photographs taken on Aviva premises were used to illustrate the risks and so on.
Translating the content
English language content was constructed so as to enable all text content (including text within graphics and interactive exercises) to be exported into a single XML file to enable the translation process.
Course content was delivered as a single multi-language module so learners could switch between languages. This meant a learner could begin a course in, for example, Chinese, exit and then return to their bookmark in the English language version. This enabled learners to access the training in the business language of Aviva but with a safety net of reverting to their native tongue should their language skills be insufficient. It also greatly simplified the management reporting challenge since the training records relate to a single course, rather than 16 alternative versions of the same content.
Marketing and communications
To achieve the required take-up a comprehensive, multi-lingual communication strategy was essential:
Pre-course information: The business security team launched a variety of marketing initiatives in the run up to the course release including:
- Poster campaigns
- Pre-course information sent to each business unit, which translated them into the local language and posted them in communal areas
- Rolling PowerPoint presentations. In the run-up to launch day these were shown in communal areas
- Video message from CEO Aviva Andrew Moss run in communal areas, in which he outlined the strategic importance of the course.
Course rollout communication and reminders: All email communications from the LMS were translated into the local language. Email templates were created for each step in the course release process covering:
- An initial invitation email
- 1st reminder – one week before the deadline
- 2nd reminder – one day before deadline
- 3rd reminder – one day after deadline
- 4th reminder – one week after deadline.
Once an English version of each email had been drafted, local business protection representatives provided a translated version together with the correct contact information. Each mail was then linked to the relevant date in the course programme at which it would be automatically triggered. To illustrate the flexibility of the communication system, a learner on secondment to another business unit in a foreign country could set their language preferences and receive all communication, and complete the course in their preferred language.
A Romanian information security officer said: “We really liked receiving e-mails in our language. It made communication more comprehensible and familiar.”
Feedback
On completion of the programme 93% of staff agreed in a survey that the content used good practical examples from real-life situations. Post course feedback indicated that everyone found it easier to learn when they could choose the content language.
From April 2008 the programme was rolled out to business units across the Aviva group and of the 20,000 employees targeted in this rollout 84% completed the training within six weeks. To evaluate the success of the programme Aviva and Inmarkets analysed a number of metrics including:
Level 1, initial learner reaction: to measure the reaction of employees to the programme they looked at the overall uptake, what percentage of employees starting the programme completed it, and the results of a learner feedback survey. On completion of the course 92% of respondents agreed that “After completing the course I have a better understanding of Aviva Business Security practices.” All agreed that “The course was interesting and enjoyable.”
Level 2, effectiveness of the learning: to measure the degree to which employees understood the topics covered in the course they used a post course assessment test to discover which options were selected for which questions in individual business units. One question concerned appropriate use of the internet: “Are you allowed to use the internet and/or email for personal use?” Diagnostic tracking showed for example that 97% of learners in Poland answered this correctly while only 68% of the Chinese audience did. The data enables Aviva’s business protection team to address such inconsistencies. The average score on the post course assessment was 92.6%.
A director of information assurance commented: “I’ve worked in security for the best part of my career and recognise that we need to provide and sustain awareness training. Awareness is a people issue and at last we have an effective people tool.”
Level 3, business outcomes/impact: A tangible way of identifying the level of raised awareness was through assessing the internet traffic on the internal “Security and You” website. Hits rose from around 50 to 6,000 a month after the rollout. Further, 100% of respondents to the post course survey agreed: “I have used or expect to use the information I learned in my job since completing the training.”
The new initiatives applied to this project enabled Aviva to roll-out its first ever global course to all business units, and achieve completion rates way above anything previously attained. Knowledge acquisition across the group showed an average pass-mark of 92% in post-course assessments. By pre-empting and dealing with technical, cultural, and linguistic obstacles throughout the life-cycle of the project, Aviva and Inmarkets achieved a smooth and successful global implementation.
Nige Howarth is Head of community at Towards Maturity