Case Study:Schneider Electric
The Challenge
Schneider Electric, based in France, is the world's power and control specialist, with more than
100,000 employees in 130 countries. Schneider Electric's mission is to give the best of the New Electric World to everyone, everywhere, at any time, by offering customers more performance, more comfort, and more safety.
Transforming into a truly global enterprise
Capitalizing on opportunities in Asia and other developing regions of the world—including Russia, Eastern Europe, and Africa—Schneider Electric has experienced an unprecedented rate of growth despite the fact that domestic growth has been dropping in comparison with international revenue. The company's growth strategy is to go where the opportunities are in terms of both geography and new markets. “We are dedicated to developing products that are cheaper and easier to install, use, and service, to making our systems smarter and more networkable, to enhancing product and system flexibility and scalability, and to continuously offer more support services,” said Flavio Scuccimarra, project director of the Schneider Institute of Management.
Schneider Electric knows that in order to capitalize on these opportunities, it must increase the investment in the development of employees and their competencies. “People, People, People” has become CEO Henri Lachmann's mantra.
Global communication is critical
At the heart of Schneider Electric's human capital development program are communication skills. "The globalization of Schneider Electric is happening very quickly. International business previously only affected a limited number of people—mostly expatriates and export salespeople. Communication among employees at all levels, around the world, is now a constant need," said Scuccimarra. In a survey of employees, 81 percent said that English skills are "required" or "important” in their current jobs. Seventy-six percent of employees said they use English on the job at least once a week. “Language has become like air for Schneider Electric: If we cannot communicate, we simply cannot work," continued Scuccimarra.
The Approach
Common language for efficient communication
In the last few years, the company has been transforming in preparation for the future. In the past, Schneider Electric's primary market was France; today, management is directing the company to be a worldwide leader in its industry, evolving its image as a "French-European" company to that of a truly global organization. To achieve this, management recognized the need for a common language for efficient communication, which will enable the company to maximize its opportunities to be innovative, capture new business, and enter new markets. Management decided that while it was important to continue to respect local languages and diversity, English would become Schneider Electric's official transnational language; every employee at the manager level and above would need to be proficient.
Schneider Electric identified two key business drivers that require improved English communication skills worldwide. First, the company is now a global organization and must be dedicated to global customers who demand consistent service around the world. Second, as a global company, Schneider Electric needs to share and capitalize on expertise and best practices, regardless of where they operate geographically.
Schneider Electric then closely examined its communication capabilities. It found that 85 percent of “high-need” employees reported that they had been told by their managers to improve their English skills; their progress would be regularly monitored or evaluated during their performance reviews. Ninety-four percent said they needed to improve their English skills within two years. And 70 percent said that English skills were "required" or "important" in order for them to get a promotion in the global organization.
The company also had explicit goals to achieve cost savings. Previously, English language training was purchased locally, with each region determining its own solution, vendor, and expenditures. With this decentralized approach, it was difficult to determine and control costs, ensure consistent quality of the training, and measure results to determine effectiveness. To overcome these problems, management directed that 80 percent of English learners should use e-learning. The global learning team knew that maintaining fewer vendors would mean fewer internal resources to manage. Also, a larger contract could provide significant cost savings.
More than 3,000 "high-need" and "high-potential" employees from all regions enrolled in the GlobalEnglish Corporate Learning Service™. The need for English training cut across all functions within the organization, and participants represented nearly all departments in the company, including R&D, HR, communication, sales, marketing, IT, client support, quality, manufacturing, finance and accounting, logistics, purchasing, and legal.
Business Results
After a year of deployment, Schneider Electric and GlobalEnglish measured performance improvements, satisfaction, and usage. The global learning team reported the following:
Employee Experience
69 percent of learners rated their overall experience with GlobalEnglish as GOOD, VERY GOOD, or EXCELLENT.
Employee Engagement
61 percent of learners used the GlobalEnglish service once a week or more, and usage remained strong even after learners were in the system more than six months.
Employee Performance
57 percent of learners reported that they have applied the English skills they learned in the GlobalEnglish service to their jobs. They identified strong improvement in creating and understanding English documents and email, conducting business telephone calls, and responding to questions and offering assistance in English.
"E" initiatives at Schneider Electric like that of the English language training program have been instrumental in preparing the entire enterprise for the opportunities of globalization. “We have weathered the recession much better than most of our competitors, thanks to the continuous improvement programs initiated in 1999 and accelerated through our NEW2004 program,” said Lachmann. "Today, Schneider Electric is one of the most profitable companies in its industry."
Schneider Electric measured the impact the program has had on strategic goals and money saved. What we discovered was that, with the GlobalEnglish program, we were able to train more people, our employees became more efficient and effective in communicating with each other and customers, and we have lowered our overall cost for training because we have better ways to learn and higher usage.
- Flavio Scuccimarra, Project Director, Schneider Institute of Management