Training and development programs for frontline workers are often limited, with varying results. Addressing the key elements that engage adult workers – or what may have turned them off – and making the content relevant to their work and schedule are key challenges to making a program successful.
Training and development programs for frontline workers are often limited, with varying results. Addressing the key elements that engage adult workers – or what may have turned them off – and making the content relevant to their work and schedule are key challenges to making a program successful.
Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, is no stranger to these challenges. Brian Poland, director of lifelong learning and talent development at Walmart and a 25-year veteran at the company, is tasked with engaging the retailer’s more than 1.2 million associates in education and training.
Poland reached out to global education and technology company Cengage, which had been providing workforce training courses to Walmart associates at its partner school, Northwest Arkansas Community College. Cengage had just launched the Career Online High School (COHS), part of the nation’s first accredited online high school district.
Part of the appeal of the COHS program stemmed from the fact that the curriculum was not simply an online version of a traditional high school program. Poland paired this high school diploma with a career certificate in a high-demand job area proved to be a winning formula – which has translated into success at Walmart.
“We couldn’t be more enthusiastic about the results,” said Poland. “In the year since we’ve implemented the program, over 200 Walmart associates have graduated. We are extremely proud to see many people new to the country enrolled in our program, who are also becoming interested in taking advantage of our other educational support programs after graduating with their high school diploma.”
