With a focus on flexibility and work-life balance for their employees, Premier America uses Class to conduct engaging virtual trainings and cements themselves as an employer of choice.
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THE CHALLENGE
Premier America Credit Union is a financial institution that offers full-service, state-of-the-art banking services. They provide training to their contact center employees on how to best support their member-owners. Amid COVID that in-person training shifted to a virtual setting, but their video conferencing tools weren’t delivering an engaging learning experience. “There’s lots of tools out there that facilitate meetings, but they’re not really great tools when it comes to conducting training or keeping attendees accountable,” says Shelley Tam, SVP Chief People Officer.
Premier America realized they needed a better virtual training tool that could be flexible to their new hybrid environment, replicate the on-site learning experience, and encourage employees to engage with the content. “We needed to find a solution that embodied what the instructor-led, in-person experience had,” recalls Chris Ritcher, the company’s Manager of Organizational Development.
THE SOLUTION
After discovering Class, Chris knew she’d found the right online learning tool to deliver a more engaging learning experience for instructors and employees. “We realized that Class was the solution for us because it really imitated how it would be in an instructor-led environment in the credit union industry,” says Chris. “There’s a lot of hands-on training with the different types of systems, lending systems, deposit systems. So it really mirrored that. What we really enjoyed was the ability to see the facilitator in a single spot, as well as the ability to invite other presenters. That mirrored their ability to be in front of the participants as well. Additionally, just having that ability to see everyone in those breakout sessions is also critical. Being able to drop in and pop in on those conversations as if I were with them in the same room was excellent.”
“If you are considering teaching in Class, go for it,” encourages Evelyn Montes, Talent Development Specialist. “It’s a very easy platform. There are so many ways to keep your participants engaged. We have a range of team members. Some have been with us for 20 years, and some who’ve been with us for months. They seem to all really enjoy Class.”
“Class has allowed Premier America to join the modern age of technology by providing learning opportunities remotely, which is a big win for us. We’re very excited that we’re continually using Class and that it will be in our future.”
ROBYN BILAUCA, Manager of Talent Development, Premier America Credit Union
“Just having the ability to see everyone in those breakout sessions is also critical. Being able to drop in and pop in on those conversations as if I were with them in the same room was excellent,” shares Chris.
“I started using the polls, but I actually started using it a little bit different than a poll question. I actually kind of used it as a quiz. So I created ten poll questions that I launched and then give them a chance to provide the answers. So that’s how I’ve been using the polls. They’re fun, easy to create, and the participants enjoy them,” says Evelyn.
“By creating a Class template, you can upload the template to a new session, for example, a different date and time, and be able to apply that template and all the information automatically populates, which includes maybe a participant guide, maybe you’re using quizzes and tests that you use on a regular basis. You can also edit any documents that you’ve uploaded using that template as well, which gives you some flexibility. So from a training perspective and managing your courses, it’s nice to be able to set up all the training at one time,” shares Robyn.
“Within the chat feature, when you break them out into a session, you can actually talk to each of the groups individually or post as a whole. So it’s great because if they’ve got a question or concern, you can chat right there with them. Maybe you’re in a session, or maybe you’re just monitoring the chats as the time goes on,” notes Robyn.
THE RESULTS
By adding Class to their technology stack, Premier America can deliver a more engaging virtual learning experience that supports the whole employee, improves the quality of their courses, and positions the overall business as an employer of choice.
“Using the Class virtual tool has really opened some doors for us as far as team member engagement is concerned,” explains Chris. “That is a top priority for Premier America as our goal of being an employer of choice, so using tools like Class where it allows team members to easily replicate in-person experiences will be the key to a consistent member experience and team member experience moving forward.”
“The training team really enjoys using Class,” adds Robyn. “I think as a whole, it makes the remote learning easier. They have tools and resources where it naturally engages the learner.”
“Class not only allows our trainers to be more effective at delivering the content, but it also holds our attendees accountable for actually participating. And that has been kind of a missing piece of our training,” concludes Shelley. “Our team members have really embraced being able to be trained remotely because they appreciate the fact that they don’t have to sit in traffic, and it helps them with scheduling for childcare. They just really appreciate that flexibility and the fact that we’ve considered their needs, which is beyond a work need. As part of our goal of being an employer of choice, we want to make sure that we focus on our team members, the whole team member, not just the person in front of me today and the work that they’re going to do for me, but also what makes up that particular team member. Their families, their circumstances, where they live. So the more flexibility that we can provide for our team members, I believe that that’s again a differentiator for us in creating an employer of choice and will lead to long-term retention.”
“Our differentiator is our people and the service that they provide to our members. So some roles do need to be on-site and in-person. But for those that don’t, being able to offer that flexibility allows your team members to be engaged in their work. Also it allows for long-term retention as well. It makes us more competitive and, anything that makes us more competitive, I will embrace that wholeheartedly,” shares Shelley.
“It’s allowed us to explore more content, more topics that we may not have been able to provide in the past that we can in the future. So we’re working on leadership courses. And some of the vendors we use and the content they have, Class makes it much easier to deliver those courses based on the setup and level of engagement that we can get from our leaders. And so just that ease and using the application, I think will provide us an opportunity for more courses in the future, more learning opportunities,” boasts Robyn.
“As a credit union, we compete with the big banks. So we feel like we need a very compelling proposition for our team members to actively choose us and work for us here and not even for just the short term, really being here on the long term to invest their careers with us and really grow the Premier America brand alongside us. The flexibility of Class has truly positioned us as an employer of choice,” says Shelley.
