rolling out e-learning
Retail revolution
Mothercare Group is undergoing a rapid modernisation of its staff training programme and investing in e-learning for the fi rst time. Development consultant Jo Brosnan reveals what it’s like for her and the L&D team to be at the forefront of change in the competitive retail sector.
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etail has a reputation for being ahead of the game when it comes to learning technologies, compared to many other sectors, at least. Research by Towards Maturity suggests retailers are doing signifi cantly better than the private sector average for the impact
learning technologies is having on learners. So it is a bit of a novelty to fi nd a major high street name rolling out e-learning for the fi rst time. Mothercare Group, which also includes Early Learning Centre and the clothing brand Mini Club, is starting off with a new health and safety compliance module. Until relatively recently, the company’s training was still being delivered on a fl ipchart to some staff. The retailer employs around 4,000 people in-store and around 600 at its head offi ce in Watford, Hertfordshire. “It was an aspiration for the company to modernise training for colleagues. We have had a challenging few years in UK retail and had to develop a strong business
case to invest in digital learning,” said Jo Brosnan, development consultant at Mothercare, who has worked within retail L&D for 14 years. “Our colleague training was predominantly paper-based in our stores and classroom-based in our offi ces. The L&D team knew they wanted to develop e-learning prior to me joining the team, and it was their hard work and persistence that allowed me to bring the project to life.” She’s under no illusion about the challenges of introducing e-learning from
scratch in a retail environment, having been part of the retail management team at Next before moving into L&D. “I’ve seen it from both sides of the fence; the shop fl oor is such a busy place, it’s just not practical to expect staff to leave customers for long periods to complete training, face-to-face or online,” said Jo. “Technology was a question early on in the process. In my previous experience, we had accessed online learning through the tills. But at Mothercare with so much
e.learning age september 2015
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