Case study
Industry
Technology - Design and Print
Company HQ
Dublin, Ireland
Number of Employees
14,000+
Cimpress & Vista Empower Learning and Development with Remote-First Model
Udemy driving business outcomes
Case study details
Cimpress is a global organization – with well-known businesses such as Vista – that specialize in scalable, customized consumer goods, delivering uniquely personalized digital and printed products to its customers.
Following its switch to a remote-first, asynchronous working model in 2020, Cimpress & Vista wanted to ensure managers and team members were able to succeed by evolving and even transforming all aspects of work — not least its learning and development (L&D) strategy.
The organization formed a dedicated remote-first team, helping foster a continuous learning culture that supports the company’s transition to remote-first working, keeps people connected, offers fulfilling development opportunities, and supports team members’ wellbeing.
L&D to match a remote first, asynchronous working structure
During the COVID-19 pandemic, almost every company was remote-forced and had to adapt to temporary remote working structures. But Cimpress & Vista embraced the challenge in full force, making remote-first, asynchronous working a permanent fixture in August 2020.
“Our new structure means people can work flexibly from wherever they want, and whenever they are most productive,” says Kyle Pasake, Manager, Remote-First Learning & Development at Cimpress & Vista. “We knew that for the new structure to be successful, L&D would need to play a big role.”
Cimpress & Vista’s remote-first team wanted to create an L&D strategy that could evolve the organization’s previous approach to learning, function remotely, support the company’s planned growth, and help team members progress in their careers.
“Previously, our L&D was mostly in-person and instructor-led. This made it difficult to create consistency across all our global locations, and the sessions wouldn’t have worked with our remote structure,” explains Kim Lanza, Director, Remote-First Team Member Success at Cimpress & Vista.
“We needed an L&D solution that could help us deliver high-quality remote learning on a global scale.” “We also wanted to create a culture of continuous learning that encourages team members to seek out learning opportunities throughout their entire careers at Cimpress & Vista, whether they’ve just joined us or are reaching their 20-year anniversary,” says Kyle.
Director, Remote-First Team Member Success
Robust, remote, and scalable learning on-demand
Cimpress & Vista explored multiple solutions to help support its new working structure — considering the relevance of available content, how the systems support remote working, and how they could help the organization scale its learning initiatives.
“One of the key factors that made Udemy Business stand out among the other options we tried was its robustness,” says Kyle. “There are thousands of courses available on the platform, and they reach across all our business areas, covering both career and personal development.
High-quality learning, anytime, anywhere
The biggest challenge Cimpress & Vista wanted to solve with its new L&D strategy was the organization’s transition to remote working. Using Udemy Business offered a helpful solution for the remote-first team.
“We wanted specific, remote working content to support our team members and help them develop the skills they need to work effectively, such as communication, time management, and leading remote teams,” says Kim. “We found that Udemy Business’ content on this topic was much more up-to-date and relevant than other providers.”
It’s proven successful, too. In a recent audit by GroWrk, Cimpress & Vista received a 9/10 score for its approach to remote working. Plus, the organization’s internal remote team engagement score is now 3.5x higher than it was in October 2020, putting Cimpress & Vista in the top 25% of the most engaged tech companies, according to Workday’s Peakon Employee Voice Benchmark.
Icing on the cake for Cimpress & Vista’s success is the recognized cost savings the company has achieved so far. Moving from instructor-led training to a remote-first learning model, the company has reduced its need for external instructors and training providers, cutting travel costs and expenses. Plus, the company no longer needs to pay for duplicate training services — Team members can access the same, reusable training sessions whenever it suits them.
A 100-day learning pathway for new team members
Another priority for Cimpress & Vista was to address its approach to new team member onboarding. With the company growing, the remote-first team set the goal to onboard new people even more effectively than they previously did in an office environment.
“Onboarding used to be a one-day, in-person process, which was hard to keep consistent across all our locations and wouldn’t have translated to remote working,” says Brittany Sohns, Manager, Remote-First Onboarding at Cimpress & Vista. “Using Udemy Business within our learning management system, we now offer all team members a 100-day learning pathway for onboarding. It’s much more thorough, and it allows team members to go through the sessions at their own pace, no matter where they’re working. Plus, we know everyone in the organization is receiving the same, high-quality training and support.”
A chance to develop professionally, and personally
In addition to the dedicated learning pathways for onboarding and remote working, Cimpress & Vista’s team members can also access a broad range of courses based on their specific roles and their personal interests.
“Our team members can use Udemy Business to develop specific skills within their career development paths, from coding and web development to marketing,” says Kyle. “Or they can use the platform for personal development, with courses on everything from finance management to meditation.”
And to help create a continuous learning culture within the organization, Cimpress & Vista is actively encouraging its remote first team members to seek out these courses, with dedicated time every week to spend on L&D, known as ‘Focus Fridays’.
“We really see Udemy Business as a reward for our team members, giving them a chance to take control of their career progression and invest time in their personal wellbeing,” says Amine Beji, Coordinator, Remote-First Learning & Development. “And, ultimately, if we’re helping our team members perform better in their roles, that benefits our company and our customers.”
L&D that’s popular among team members and new hires
Cimpress & Vista has already made major positive changes to its L&D strategy using Udemy Business, and it’s showing in the feedback from the organization’s team members.
“We send out on-going engagement surveys which include gauging how much our team members believe we create a culture of learning. Since launching Udemy Business and our learning management system, 360Learning, team members’ positive sentiment has risen 30%, which is a huge improvement,” says Amine.
And it’s not just current team members who see the new L&D program’s value. The company’s job applications have risen 300% since adopting Remote-First, and 69% of those who join Cimpress & Vista say they’re joining for career development opportunities supported by Udemy Business.
“We’ve also seen our Net Promoter Score for onboarding rise 23 points since introducing the platform, which suggests we’re introducing team members into the company more effectively,” says Brittany
Manager, Remote-First Learning & Development
Courses tied to career progression
Moving forward, Cimpress & Vista is expanding its use of Udemy Business across the organization, with more team members set up on the platform.
“We’re using the data from Udemy Business to understand how much time our team members are spending on the platform and what are the most popular courses,” says Kyle. “So far, our team members have spent more than 2,500 hours across professional and personal courses.”
Cimpress & Vista is also planning to use Udemy Business to define career progression structures, matching specific courses to individuals’ KPIs to support their development. “Udemy Business definitely went beyond our expectations,” says Kyle. “It’s helping us shape an L&D strategy that truly matches the way our company works, and that’s crucial for any organization.”
Manager, Remote-First Learning & Development
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