Customer Success Story

Nationwide

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Achieved Results

2,500 users within the first 6 months
100,000+ downloads per year
Helps overcome learning barriers
Facilitates development of an independent learning culture
Most popular learning resource

According to a survey we ran internally, getAbstract came out top as the learning resource that people want to see more of.

Emma Quinton, Leadership Development Manager at Nationwide

About Nationwide

Nationwide is the world’s largest building society. It is a leading provider of savings, mortgage loans, and other banking and insurance services in the UK. The company currently employs around 18,000 people.

Business challenge

The high number of employees, as well as the fact that Nationwide’s staff is spread across different locations and pursues a variety of different tasks, is putting high demands on the personnel development team.

Meanwhile, as demand for workplace flexibility is growing, traditional training programs are becoming less and less practical. As Emma Quinton, Leadership Development Manager, explains: “Our challenge was to find a learning and development solution that works for everybody in the organization.”

How getAbstract helped

Nationwide sought out getAbstract to help it achieve one of its core strategic learning objectives: to develop and nurture a continuous learning culture. A key advantage of the getAbstract solution is that it enables self-directed learning at the point of need. For Emma, getAbstract’s 10-minute summaries provide “bite-sized learning units that employees are able to digest.”


Compressed business knowledge from getAbstract, for example, complements the learning content offered at “Nationwide Academy,” an internal learning gateway geared towards business executives. Users of the tool thus have direct access to hundreds of curated channels on topics ranging from “Agility” to “Change Management.”


Emma thoroughly enjoys working with the getAbstract Customer Success team, which helps her tailor the platform’s content toward the company’s specific needs: “Our getAbstract Customer Success Manager is brilliant at finding and recommending titles relevant to our strategic learning objectives.”


Successful knowledge transfer depends on employees’ ability to absorb new knowledge and put it into practice. To assist in this process, the company offers a series of online and offline activities called “Espresso Sessions.” The program invites executives to participate in 90-minute meetings on personal development topics of their choice, such as “Growth Mindset” or “Emotional Intelligence.” getAbstract summaries thereby serve as a basis for discussion and provide additional background information to help participants consolidate the learning content.


Emma appreciates the variety and relevance of getAbstract’s content, which allows executives to learn new personal development strategies in “espresso” time: “Our ‘Espresso Sessions’ give our executives important new tools and techniques that they can then share with their teams. In addition, the getAbstract library facilitates access to both practical and theoretical knowledge, allowing participants to delve more deeply into specific topics.”


Self-directed, continuous learning is also facilitated by getAbstract’s Mobile App, which allows for onthe- go access to both text and audio versions of the platform’s diverse content. Nationwide employees have been actively sharing getAbstract content on a variety of interactive platforms, including Twitter and Sharepoint. Reading recommendations are also regularly discussed on the internal networking platform Yammer.


At Nationwide, employees embraced getAbstract very quickly: “By weaving getAbstract throughout all of our learning solutions, we were able to get the momentum going and attract 2,500 active users within the first six months,” Emma observes. She continues: “According to a survey we ran internally, getAbstract came out top as the learning resource that people want to see more of.”

Chevron Federal Credit Union

Chevron Federal Credit Union (CFCU) serves current and former employees of Chevron and Bechtel, along with their family members and other affiliates, to achieve their financial goals. Established in 1935, CFCU offers personalized service and financial guidance to over 130,000 members around the world.

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"getAbstract is a perfect complement to existing learning tools. The provider’s openness toward other learning partners allows us to combine relevant learning resources rather than using them in isolation.” - Peter Yarrow, Global Head of Learning & Proposition

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“The engagement is striking: Employees are using getAbstract not just to enhance their job-related competencies, but also to work on their own personal development.” - James Barton, Online Learning Manager

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