ALIGN 2018 Employee Training Awards Recap

Derek Smith | Training & Development Industry Researcher | Derek researches, discusses, and writes about the impacts of employee learning on organizations and individuals. He regularly interviews L&D and HR professionals, sharing their insight on trends and best practices that help organizations create stronger training programs, and help to grow their employees and their business.
Oct 1, 2018

Another October means another ALIGN conference in the books. This year we welcomed over 200 training professionals to St. Louis to discuss best practices in employee training programs, share ideas, and offer inspiration to new and veteran training professionals alike.

In between breakout sessions and inspiring keynotes from BizLibrary CEO Dean Pichee, Dr. Kevin Snyder, and Dr. Ray Jimenez, ALIGN offered networking opportunities and the presentation of The BizLibrary Awards. This year we recognized winners in Best New Program Launch, Best Use of Learning Technology, Best Measured Results, Training Professional of the Year, and Program of the Year.

Here are this year’s winners!

Best New Program Launch

The award for Best New Program Launch goes to a program that is in its first year after implementation, best utilizes BizLibrary content and technology, and is focused on goal planning and results.

This year we recognized Club Fit, a health and wellness club whose program has helped retain, hire, and discipline staff without the hands-on guidance from human resources.

Club Fit saw a high success rate in usage, and saw their staff friendliness score increase by five percent immediately after launch.

Cara Austin, Club Fit’s Talent Development Specialist, was in attendance on behalf of Club Fit to receive the award.

Best Use of Learning Technology

The Best Use of Learning Technology award recognizes innovative uses of technology tools to deliver learning to employees.

Nominees for this award have programs that incorporate a broad use of technology to deliver or facilitate employee learning, and they track measurable results driven from effective and innovative uses of technology to better achieve organizational goals and key objectives.

This year, we awarded Monarch Beverage Company for their use of learning technology. The beer and wine distributor created a cutting-edge program designed to meet their learning and development goals while following the company’s beliefs and guiding principles to address their business challenges.

Lloyd Brown, Monarch’s Training and Development Manager, was in attendance and accepted this award on behalf of Monarch Beverage.

Best Measured Results

The award for Best Measured Results goes to a learning program that best demonstrates best practices in tracking and measuring the impact of their efforts.

To receive this award, a training program must have defined metrics and calculated returns, the training efforts must be linked to business results, and finally, the organization must gather and report on employee feedback regarding their program.

This year, BizLibrary recognized Conductix-Wampfler for their outstanding work in measuring metrics related to ISO standards, including safety, employee retention, customer satisfaction, on-time shipments, and costs.

This year, Conductix-Wampfler has measured a demonstrable ROI of $106,625 while decreasing the time it takes to manage training by over 50 hours.

Jessica Jones was in attendance and accepted the award on behalf of Conductix-Wampfler.

Training Professional of the Year

This is BizLibrary’s only award given to an individual, and is awarded to the professional who best delivers excellence in learning through progressive thinking regarding training and employee development, depth of professional experience, and a high level of enthusiasm for learning while aiming for constant professional improvement.

This year, we recognized Kristen Davidson, the VP of Organizational Development at Consumers Credit Union.

Kristen, a SHRM member at both national and local levels, serves as the President of her local chapter, has been a member of ATD for five years, and has served as a member of the Michigan Women’s Foundation.

Over the past year, Kristen has partnered with CCU’s leadership team to align training to strategic goals and develop employees. This effort has had a tremendous impact on the credit union’s success this year.

Program of the Year

The Program of the Year award is given to a top-performing training program that uses BizLibrary’s online employee learning solutions.

The goal of this award is to recognize true excellence in employee learning and development. To qualify for this award, the nominees must have a strong marketing plan for their training program, they must strive for engagement and buy-in throughout their organization, they must use training to achieve goals, they must define a unique vision, and prove some level of return on investment for their training program.

This year, we recognized Tarrant Regional Water District for their incredible training program. This year, The program saw a 45 percent increase in utilization, with an outstanding 89 percent of their total usage coming from elective training.

Through their program, the company has saved over 170 hours of employee time, increasing productivity by a measured 52 percent, while reducing training costs by 65 percent.

In addition, TRWD has reduced employee termination by 64 percent, saving almost $29,000 in recruiting and onboarding costs alone.

Victoria Cason and Sarabeth May were in attendance and accepted this award on behalf of her program at Tarrant Regional Water District.

We’d like to share our sincere appreciation for all of our clients, and congratulate all award nominees and winners.

Keep up the great work – we’re excited to see you next year!