Transforming L&D at United Welsh with Ciphr LMS

L&D has to adapt to the changing times and in a recent Ciphr webinar, Bob Price of United Welsh shared how Ciphr LMS has transformed his organisation’s L&D for the better

As workforces continue to adapt to remote working, organisations have to encourage virtual learning if L&D is to succeed and make a difference. But, with a June 2020 CIPD and Accenture report warning that 21% of UK employers don’t use any technology to support learning activities, there’s clearly a long way to go before digital learning is the norm.

One employer that’s ahead of the curve, and is using Ciphr LMS – a specialist learning management system (LMS) – to stay connected with its people and enable its L&D team to adapt to changing circumstances is housing association United Welsh.

In a recent Ciphr webinar, Bob Price, L&D business partner at United Welsh, explained why the organisation chose Ciphr LMS as its new learning management system, how employees embraced the technology, and the role that the LMS is playing now all staff are working from home.

Before introducing Ciphr LMS, “everyone was responsible for their own learning, but it was quite disjointed,” said Price. “There was no coordination and very limited record keeping… Now, people are taking the time to learn and tell us what new learning resources they want added onto Ciphr LMS.”

United Welsh’s requirement for a new LMS was “one site for all L&D functions.” said Price. An additional benefit of Ciphr’s LMS was its integration with United Welsh’s existing Ciphr HR system. “The executive team did not want a situation where we had a new system with new usernames and passwords; we wanted to have single sign-on, and to make better use of the systems we already had.

“We also needed this L&D site to be accessed by mobile, laptop, PC and tablets. And we needed it to host a lot of different types of content – not just eLearning packages but also videos linking to external sites. We needed this to be put into some type of learning pathway, and we also needed automatic logging and completion so we could see our employees’ training history.”

Price told webinar attendees that since choosing Ciphr LMS, “everyone has been getting on with their learning and it’s been really positive.” Employees have also told Price that the learning hub has increased their motivation, too.

“Everybody in the organisation has logged on and done stuff, so it is being used,” he said. “Employees are coming back to me saying that it is brilliant and are even asking me to add more content.”

Ciphr LMS is also helping staff to adjust to life working remotely. “What’s important to us during remote working is modifying a whole learning area in order to make sure people continue to learn.

“We have been sending out weekly emails on certain topics (equality and diversity for example) and we have changed the front-page content on the learning hub to match the current situation, because we want to direct workers to specific learning content. That content includes questions on coronavirus, a module on infection control, another one on productivity and working from home.”

Price added: “We have sent a flyer to furloughed staff with the eLearning modules they could do. These modules are not just work-related as it’s not just a case of learning stuff relevant to work, you can also learn generally.”

During this period of remote working, Price said: “Ciphr LMS has encouraged people to learn. We are telling people to take some time out of their day, log on and do something – and they are.”

To find out more about Ciphr HR and LMS and how it can support L&D in your organisation, call us at 01628 814242 or, if you are already a Ciphr customer, get in touch with your customer success manager.