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CANEX Training Evolution

By Mick Weston, Manager Strategy & Plans, CANEX

It’s been approximately two years since CANEX rolled out its online staff training platform, CANEX e-University, and the results to date have been excellent. Since launching, over 590 different employees have logged in more than 6,400 times to access online training. This has been achieved through an employee-focused approach.

In 2008, CANEX employees were asked to provide their opinions of CANEX’s training programs, of where CANEX could improve and if they would be interested in an online system of training. The feedback was very insightful.

A few of the key findings were:

• Classroom training, though perceived to be good, wasn’t frequent enough
• Employees were hungry for more frequent training opportunities
• Employees were open to trying online training and communications

Based on the feedback received, CANEX decided to evolve its training and launch an online portal, CANEX e-University.  Engaging its employees ensured that CANEX was providing a resource that its employees wanted.  The resource created a sense of ownership and acknowledged that the collective voices had been heard. Further, to ensure a fully supported (and understood) new training program, CANEX engaged its Store Managers and ran a full-day training session on customer service, coaching and  on the new CANEX e-University.

To date 14 courses have been launched. CANEX’s first customized course “Customer Service Excellence – Serving Those Who Serve”, was launched in June of 2008. This course focused on CANEX’s unique customer base and how to provide it with the best service possible. In addition to our customized courses, CANEX has launched a number of compliance-focused training courses such as Health & Safety, Loss Prevention and Basic Merchandising.  Vendors have also contributed to CANEX e-University by providing Product Knowledge online briefs. These briefs enable employee’s to educate customers on the features and benefits of products. Vendors such as Samsung, Monster and Magellan have all participated, and many more are considering joining them in 2010 and beyond.

The administrative portion of the online training solution allows for real-time reporting on metrics such as completion rates (which users have completed which courses), assessment detail reports (breakdown of each question in post and pre-assessments) and individual training reports (an employee-by-employee view of their training progress). This real-time, data was unavailable before launching the e-University and has improved how CANEX tracks training progress.

From an end-user standpoint, the feedback has been very positive. One of the powerful features of CANEX e-University is two-way communications. Aside from posting courses, news and resources, CANEX can regularly survey users and ask for recommendations on how to improve training in order to make it more effective and user-friendly. Users provide ongoing feedback, and since training on e-University is electronic, it is easy to update and saves on printing, logistic and environmental costs.

In 2010, CANEX plans to launch a number of new custom courses including a Convenience-focused customer service training program as well as a Visual/Store Signage program for all of its stores. Beyond these two programs, there are also merchandising and Product Knowledge courses in the early stages of development. The library of courses on CANEX e-University will continue to grow year-over-year, delivering the training content employees need - and asked for.

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