How can an organisation instil a learning culture when more than a third of its employees operate in the field? This was the exact scenario faced by Kat Soutar, Digital Learning Manager at geo-data
specialist Fugro, when she was tasked with establishing a culture of learning within a workforce that traverses remote locations and challenging physical environments.

Fugro analyses the Earth’s data, which is then used by its clients to design, build and operate
structures and buildings – on land and at sea – in a safe and sustainable way.

“One of the issues that we have is that a lot of our staff work offshore where the Internet connection
is not at its best,” explained Kat. “LinkedIn Learning provides our employees with the option to
download content prior to going offshore, for example. They can watch it or listen to it offline.
LinkedIn Learning has provided us with that functionality. It means that we can issue training to
people on boats and oil rigs and in rural locations.”

Taking control of learning

This is just one example of how Kat and Fugro’s learning and development team has assisted employees on their learning and development journey.

LinkedIn Learning was embraced and deployed by Fugro to empower employees to take control of their own development and to take ownership of their own skills training.

“I work within the Fugro Academy, which specialises in practical and theoretical training,” Kat continued. “We offer employees a range of courses. We use LinkedIn Learning content for universal skills training. This can be accessed by junior and senior members of staff. Plus, our specialist teams, such as cyber security, also access the content.

Top course content

“LinkedIn Learning champions help promote LinkedIn Learning content to colleagues across the world and we have identified top learners, who have completed many courses and insane amounts of hourly learning. They help promote learning too,” Kat added.

Top courses include content on unconscious bias, how to use Teams, personal effectiveness tips, interpersonal communication, diversity, wellbeing and productivity, managing stress and mindfulness.

Kat and her team use LinkedIn Learning’s content mapper to identify relevant content that is promoted internally each month. Stakeholders also promote content too and learning is promoted through the Fugro’s internal portal. Also, the learning and development team has identified that
employees prefer to watch content that is no longer than 30 minutes in length. As a result, every month, Kat and her colleagues chose two to three videos, each lasting 30 minutes, that tie in with key learning themes. Again, their success has been realised.

Kat explained: “We normally see a direct correlation between the content that we recommend and what appears in our top course lists. It means that we have established a good learning culture. In
fact, we have more than 3,800 repeat learners within the company, who enjoy the content.

“For example, some of our employees chose to listen to the content like it is a podcast. Once they realise that they can treat the content like audio and not just video, they realise that they can learn whilst cooking dinner or going for a walk.”

Establishing a “good learning culture”

The range of courses and the quality of learning content available is apparent. This is confirmed by Fugro’s LinkedIn Learning license activation rate of 83 per cent. Furthermore, Fugro promotes LinkedIn Learning to all 9,500 employees, regardless of job role.

Kat continued: “I love getting people onto the system and activating LinkedIn Learning licenses. Our activation rate consistently goes up, which is further proof that we have established a good learning culture.”

Establishing a good learning culture was paramount to Kat and her team. She added: “In the last 12 months, the world has experienced transformative changes. These changes need to be embraced so it was important for Fugro to foster innovation and agility and encourage our employees to develop a learning mindset so that these changes could be embraced quickly and easily. LinkedIn Learning has helped us to do that by providing a wide range of content, with a broad spectrum of perspectives relating to technology and business trends. It means that our employees are knowledgeable and prepared, and all thanks to self-learning and development.”

Last year, Fugro identified key content and focused on universal skills training. This year, it is focusing on both technical and universal skills training, which will allow the business to engage a wider audience.

Kat concluded: “I see people wasting time, struggling with an issue, when there is a simple solution that will help them to solve a problem.

“LinkedIn Learning is great. It helps people take control of their own development. It is different because it has so much content that can be learned at a time that suits everyone. Whether someone wants to watch a five-minute video or wants to invest more time. I want people to realise it is there for them and the benefits of it. It is so accessible and it allows people to nurture their own training needs, when they want.”