THE CHALLENGE: Engaging Employees and Empowering New Managers

 

Cineplex came to us looking for a learning solution to help them support employee career progression and increase retention of top talent.

In its theatre management group, Cineplex hires many young people to provide guest-facing services. Turnover can be a challenge for this demographic; therefore, when Cineplex identifies talented and committed young people there’s a real desire to ensure these employees are presented with clear opportunities that will keep them engaged at the company as their careers progress.

“We want to ensure that employees are able to visualize their career path with the company,” explains Allison Dell, Cineplex Director of Learning & Development.

“The intent was for employees to feel supported by Cineplex in their career goals and understand the development opportunities available to them. For many who move up into management positions, it is their first opportunity to lead others in a professional setting. “Taking on a new management role is a critical transition for people to make,” says Dell. “It’s essential for our success as a business that this transition be handled well.”

THE SOLUTION: Encouraging Professional Development

 

Cineplex leverages the Docebo learning management system to support more than 13,000 learners across Canada. They call their solution The Cineplex Academy, and through this solution they deliver more than 300 unique courses and 140 learning plans to their employees. There is approximately a 2:1 ratio of eLearning courses to classroom courses, and training material is delivered in variety of mediums, including in person, through podcasts, and via videocasts.

Docebo is integrated with Cineplex’s Human Resources Information System (HRIS), so when a new hire is added into the HRIS they’re also added to Docebo. “Employees engage with the Cineplex Academy early and often,” says Dell.

Training content is largely created and assigned based on roles and associated tasks, and as a result much of the eLearning material delivered through Docebo is scenario-based. Cineplex also takes advantage of microlearning, providing information that is bite-sized and easily digested by its often young learner audience (the average age of a Cineplex Academy learner is 24). Knowing these audience demographics and the working environment, delivering mobile learning through Docebo is another extremely important aspect of Cineplex’s training delivery strategy.

While some of this training is compliance- based, much of it is designed to enable professional development. Cineplex’s Reel Manager Training Program, for instance, delivers comprehensive onboarding and transition learning programs designed to prepare employees to take on new management roles. These cover topics such as profit maximization, leading a team, and managing a theatre. Those who complete the Reel are awarded a badge within the system and an actual lapel pin.

THE RESULTS: Successfully Promoting and Retaining Top Talent

 

On a typical day, approximately 1,900 learners log into the Cineplex Academy. The average session length is 23 minutes, suggesting that employees are engaging with training content when they log in.

Cineplex measures employee performance and the effectiveness of this training content by using tools such as pre
and post training surveys to ensure knowledge retention and learner surveys to gather feedback on the impact of the training content. Meanwhile, gamification leaderboards are providing both motivation to learners and much-needed visibility into learner progress for managers.

However, perhaps the most business- critical metrics that Cineplex is tracking are its talent retention rate and its increasing success in promoting from within. Cineplex has seen a 95% retention of promoted top talent, which it credits in large part to its learning development programs that encourage career path planning. Or as Allison puts it, “this strategy has helped us to begin building the next generation of leaders within the company.”