In the September/October 2008 issue of ELearning Magazine there was an article title Motivating Employees with Online Learning. The article focused on the low employee retention issue faced by FedEx Express with it's "frontline employees." The article mentions this issue was addressed in 2004 and continues on to discuss some of the key "factors" according to HR Development Manager Karl Guenther. The article then talks about the next steps taken, thenthe solution that was implemented, and finally the outcome as of 2006.
- Productivity - Most employees were permenant part-timers and not eligible for "on the clock" training and if they weren't working they weren't productive.
- Motivation - This lack of eligibility caused employees to be less enthusiastic about self developing.
- Marketability - The current program only allowed for those with higher education more promotional chances or career opportunities.
- Resource Contraints - Because of the lack of finances and/or time availability, the employees didn't seek company educational opportunites.
- Low Awareness - Employees just didn't know about existing educational offerings such as "Skill soft" or "Tuition Reimbursement."
In the end, FedEx created the College Credit Consurtium, which works with 17 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. By creating this consurtium the program offers things like:
- Free college credits for sucessful completion of e-learning courses.
- Deferred billing.
- Ability to skip terms without penalty during peak work seasons.
- Flexible degree progams.
- Custom curriculum development.
According to the article this blended approach to employee education has shown an increase in employee participation and ultimately employee retention. In 2006 the article states that participation was up to "15,000 employees" which is about "75%" of the FedEx Express division. This out of the box approach to e-Learning should be a model for other midsized to large corporations to help retain the talent they have.
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