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Technology & Innovation

How Volkswagen is mastering workforce capability management with JR Plus

German automaker Volkswagen is a household name. Volkswagen’s academy in Australia manages the training and capabilities of its local franchised dealership workforce, delivering sales, product and technician qualifications across its passenger and commercial vehicle businesses and Skoda.

 

Training 100 students a day from three sites prior to moving online during the COVID-19 pandemic, Volkswagen is invested in enhancing its existing organisation-wide learning culture to ensure it can continue to stay ahead of future trends in the fast-changing auto sales and service market.

 

The challenge

 

Volkswagen in Australia relies on its franchised dealership network for the success of its vehicle sales and service business. Though it delivers competency-based workforce learning programs for each role, it is the dealerships who have managed staff training enrolments in their own businesses.

 

This made it difficult to track. Volkswagen wanted more oversight and control over the capabilities that existed within its dealer network. With a vision to create a stronger learning culture, it wanted to build learning engagement by creating defined learning pathways, and better understand its training ROI. Against the backdrop of a global automotive industry that is changing fast, it wanted to ensure its workforce had the skills and knowledge required to lead and stay ahead of change.

 

The solution

 

Volkswagen implemented JR Plus as its centralised workforce skills management platform. With the aim of gaining clearer oversight over dealership workforce skills, it implemented clear learning and development pathways for each role specification, across sales, product and technical.

 

These pathways include defined milestones for progression, competencies for staff to remain fully skilled, and recognition through digital badging. Volkswagen’s centralisation of skills management also required stronger engagement from dealerships in the learning and development program. It was able to marry the data in JR Plus’ workforce skills management platform with high quality learning and delivery using a tailored integration with Canvas learning management system.

 

The results

 

Volkswagen has achieved stronger workforce capability oversight and data as well as dealership engagement. Its custom JR Plus integration with Canvas LMS allowed it to flip at speed into fully online training delivery mode during COVID-19 and put education at the heart of its culture.

 

Oversight: Volkswagen was able to maximise control over present and future workforce capabilities across its Australia-wide dealership network.

Pathways: Volkswagen integrated detailed workforce learning pathways, defining progress milestones and capabilities in line with skills needs.

Engagement: Volkswagen engaged its decentralised workforce in a future-oriented learning culture through clear role and skill development plans.

 

What Volkswagen says

 

“Rather than just ticking a compliance box, we were interested in real learning outcomes created through engaging adult learning programs. JR Plus is an off-the-shelf solution from a local company that understands the education and work context in Australia and has worked closely with enterprises like us to provide solutions, even as requirements change. JobReady has enabled greater data management and insights to better target our training solutions across our workforce, and support our evolving blended learning strategy.”

 

Amy Morgan, Manager – Apprenticeships, RTO & Academy Experience, Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda

 

 

Want to learn more about how we help employers manage workforce skills with next generation student management technology? Learn more about JR Plus here.