Quick facts about GrECo Group: 

Challenge 

GrECo Group offers risk management and insurance solutions across Europe. Staff must complete mandatory training, but this was mainly classroom-based, while access to digital learning was very limited. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic acting as a catalyst, the company was seeking a new digital platform that would empower learners across all locations, significantly scaling up learning opportunities and encouraging a knowledge-sharing culture across the organization.   

“Learn365 is transforming the learning culture at GrECo. It has opened learning up to all our employees across all our markets and is enabling every individual to better control their own learning journey. We’re on a truly exciting journey that is embedding learning into the working life of the whole organization and changing us for the better.” 

Solution 

GrECo is focused on specialty risk insurance products in a highly regulated industry; employees must undergo mandatory training and complete at least 15 hours per year. Gabriele Andratschke, Group Head of HR, comments,

“Our employees continuously update their knowledge. We produce all our training internally, but most of it has been delivered face-to-face. Digital learning was very limited and not at all engaging, with no video or audio.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic brought forwards a long-held ambition to overhaul digital learning throughout GrECo. Gabriele Andratschke remarks,

“When the pandemic hit, we had to go digital with our training. We needed a learning platform that was very easy to use, would streamline administration and reporting, and meet our high security standards.”  

As the team researched suitable products, Learn365 stood out, not only because of its rich features, reasonable cost, and intuitive interfaces, but also because it integrated seamlessly with GrECo’s Microsoft 365 environment.  

“The pandemic meant we had to launch quickly. We partner with Microsoft in all our markets and Learn365 was so easy to implement. We had two or three calls, a few training sessions and we got started!” 

Gabriele Andratschke, Group Head of HR

After populating Learn365 with content, GrECo’s new Learning Hub was launched to 800 learners in March 2021. 

Results 

Today, GrECo’s Learning Hub is growing stronger by the day. Since launch, 80 e-learning modules, 35 webinars, and 12 classroom blending learning courses have been added, with these numbers increasing each week. Learners reach Learn365 through a SharePoint page where they can find learning news and access a range of courses, videos, and webinars. There is also a related mobile app, providing learners with more choice in how they want to access learning material. 

Gabriele Andratschke is delighted with the response to Learn365.

“It’s been a success story for us! People quickly saw that it’s easy to use, and they wanted more. Our specialists have also provided more and more material. Now, learning reaches all our employees so much faster than before.” 

She is particularly pleased that Learn365 is being used across a diverse workforce.

“GrECo is a very international company and we wanted to grow learning outside Austria. Learners in each country access both central courses but also their own sub-hub with country-specific learning specific, sometimes in their own language. We call it ‘Learning Happier’.” 

As well as rolling out mandatory learning, Learn365 has enabled the team to launch a global onboarding program. Gabriele Andratschke comments,

“The Onboarding 12345 module means each new employee finds a “Welcome to Learning” email in their inbox detailing all the training they need to support their role and life at GrECo.” 

An important factor in Learn365’s success is that it empowers learners to find their own courses and then take them at the most convenient time. Gabriele Andratschke remarks,

“We promote everything with a news item so learners can find out about new courses. They can also search the catalogue. We’ve defined fifty knowledge categories that learners can filter the catalogue on, so employees can find what interests them. Providing digital learning also helps employees to be more flexible about when they take a course, especially as they can access it on their mobile device.” 

These empowering factors are changing the way employees view learning. The team has always tried to promote self-learning, but they’re now seeing this happen naturally. Gabriele Andratschke shares,

“Many learners are doing more than the mandatory 15 hours. Employees are enrolling themselves in courses. We get many requests to participate in webinars – we even have waiting lists! The use of Learn365 has snowballed.”  

Easy reporting is also helping support managers learning within their teams. Gabriele Andratschke comments,

“Our IT department customized the Power BI report to give every line manager an overview of the progress of mandatory training and how many hours had been completed.”  

Learn365 has also made life easier for the learning team themselves.

“My team had never run a learning platform but launching Learn365 was very straightforward. The ease of use and automation has saved my learning team so much time and it’s allowed us to achieve a lot in a short period.”  

Reflecting on the success of Learn365, Gabriele Andratschke believes the platform is starting to change the learning mindset throughout GrECo. 

“Face-to-face training was not only expensive, but it was always the same people attending.  Now we can reach a much larger target group and an employee can find the learning they need. Learn365 is helping us to integrate learning as part of the working day and supporting a culture of lifelong learning through the organization.”  

Future  

Going forward, the learning team will continue to expand and extend the use of Learn365, embedding a learning and knowledge-sharing culture throughout GrECo. Gabriele Andratschke explains,

“In the next year we’re planning around 20 new training modules, and we’ll also roll Learn365 out to a larger number of users.” 

The flexibility of the platform also means that the learning team can experiment with new formats. Gabriele Andratschke remarks,

“We are considering doing podcasts because when you’re in the car you could listen to some things. We may also make the Learning Hub available via Microsoft Teams. Learn365 makes all this easy.”  

Overall, Gabriele Andstraschke believes Learn365 has set something truly exciting in motion.

“I think the Learning Hub will go from strength to strength. We’ll continue our focus on increasing adoption through our markets, ensuring more employees take control of their own learning, and subject matter experts are empowered to add their own courses. Learn365 will continue to gain momentum as a knowledge-sharing platform.” 

About 

GrECo Group provides risk and insurance management solutions. Operating since 1925 and still family-owned, the company is headquartered in Austria and employs over 1,000 people across 16 countries.