Case Study-L&D - Choc Co

Case Study: Learning and Development at Choc Co.
Choc Co. is one of the world's largest confectionery businesses with significant market share in many
of the world's biggest confectionery markets, including many emerging markets. It has a long and
proud tradition, stretching back more than 150 years, including a long history of developing its
employees, which has remained part of its ethos during its progress to becoming a global company.
Despite very positive sales figures over the last 12months, Choc Co. has prioritised streamlining the
business to make it more competitive and has placed a strong emphasis on reducing cost over the
next 18 months. Despite being keen to preserve its longstanding reputation as a firm that is committed
to developing all its employees, in respect of learning and development, this ‘streamlining’ activity has
focused on:
• ensuring a clear return on investment in training activities

• changing the way that learning programmes are delivered and being more creative in
developing approaches to learning
• connecting training activities to the strategic needs of the firm.
The most important driver of the assessment of its training provision at Choc Co. is change. Whilst
performing well in the marketplace, senior management continue to express discontent with levels of
productivity and employee performance. Moreover, senior management has determined that the
company needs to become more flexible and adaptable to respond to change in its market context,
for example by an ability to adapt organisational structures to meet new business needs or through
the introduction of technological innovation. However, as a traditionally minded employer, and with
low levels of employee turnover at shopfloor level, Choc co. appears to have instilled in its workers a
mindset of stability and steady progress, which is at odds with competition in a rapidly changing global
economy. Therefore, Choc Co. wants to move towards a system of continuous improvement by
creating a culture whereby workers are empowered to implement small incremental changes, rather
than have substantial change imposed on them from time to time.
Identifying training needs
Traditionally, training needs analysis at Choc Co. has been ‘gap-led’. In other words, training tends to
be focused where Choc Co. identifies a gap in capability – for example, where the introduction of new
technology requires worker skill to be updated, company policy is changed or a key worker leaves the
firm, requiring training to be provided to their replacement. Typically, this gap-led identification of
need is conducted at a local level, with little reference made to the wider national or international
workforce.
Whilst workers can put themselves forward for training courses, including those provided by local
education providers, there is no formal channel for doing this and access to such training often comes
down to personal relationships and the constraints imposed by departmental budgets. The culture at
Choc Co. is very much one in which training needs are typically identified for workers rather
than by workers.
Delivery of training
Currently, the company runs a number of large training events each year designed to update
manufacturing staff on everything from health and safety changes, business strategy and company
performance to the adoption of new production technology. This is sometimes coupled with skills
training for these workers as and when appropriate. This has traditionally been done at the specialist
training centre at their largest production facility, which doubles as the company’s headquarters. This
practice partly stems from a time when the company only operated two production facilities in the
country. It now operates across six geographically dispersed locations. Workers tend to view these
training events as a bit of a waste of time, particularly when they are delivered by consultants with
little real understanding of working processes at Choc Co. It is not unknown for workers to claim that
the training they receive is outdated and tells them nothing that they don’t already know.
The head of training and development, responding to a call to cut costs from the HR director, is now
of the opinion, however, that such long training programmes, often of up to three or four days, are
no longer the most cost-effective and efficient means by which to develop the staff. Such training has
the dual problem of requiring regular investment and repeat sessions to cover workers on different
shifts or at different plants, as well as leading to undesirable downtime of certain aspects of
production. In particular, the head of L&D is keen to reduce a reliance on external training providers
to design and deliver interventions to different workforce groups, from senior management to
shopfloor workers.
Moreover, the company has historically not evaluated the impact of these events. In the new era of
cost-cutting and added value, however, the company is keen to ensure that the impact of all training
interventions, however big or small, is measured.
Employee development programmes
A major investment in L&D at Choc Co. is in its manufacturing apprenticeship scheme and graduate
development programme, both of which are widely viewed as models of good practice in the industry
and beyond. These programmes are, however, under significant scrutiny by senior management to
better understand the extent to which this investment provides value to the firm. One particular area
under review is the turnover of employees who complete these programmes and then leave to work
at other firms.
Ray Barbie, the head of learning and development at Choc Co. recently attended a seminar at a local
university on ‘the changing nature of workplace HRD’. He was slightly alarmed to find out that much
of the company’s practice was seen as outdated. In particular, he was interested in examining how
some more contemporary approaches and techniques in HRD could help the company both reduce
costs and better performance through continuous improvement.
Questions
1. What changes would you recommend that Choc Co. make to their current learning and
development provision in order to reduce costs and improve performance?
2. Discuss how e-learning, competency frameworks and improved knowledge-sharing at Choc
Co. might help to cut costs and make the HRD activity at Choc Co. more strategic.
3. How might the firm seek to ensure a return on investment for its learning and development
activity?

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Case Study: Learning and Development at Choc Co.

• ensuring a clear return on investment in training activities

Identifying training needs

Employee development programmes

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