CAOP: from summer school to continuous development

CAOP (Centrum Arbeidsverhoudingen Overheidspersoneel) creates impact by supporting employees in government, education and healthcare. They do this by exploring, connecting and changing as a knowledge center. This includes using SkillsTown's online platform. We talked to Reinier van Bemmel, head of HRM and Sanneke Zeegwaard, HR advisor at CAOP.Reinier van Bemmel is head of HRM at CAOP and, among other things, sets HR policy. Sanneke Zegwaard is HR advisor and in her role is responsible, among other things, for the development and training of CAOP employees. "In recent years we were already orienting ourselves toward an online learning environment, but Corona was a booster that accelerated everything."

It began with the Summerschool

Sanneke: "Every year we organize a Summerschool for our employees. This past year, of course, we suddenly had to do that online. Where we were used to working physically with trainers and groups, we had to look for another form." It became a great pilot for SkillsTown's platform. "This online Summerschool was a good time for us to try out the online platform, so to speak. Not only in operation, but also whether it would fit our organization," Sanneke says. Ultimately, the pilot ran from the summer until the end of 2020.

"Above all, we want to keep and strengthen connection. And that's perfectly possible this way."

A combination of existing and proprietary content

Reinier: "We are enthusiastic about the amount of material offered. We have therefore chosen to continue with the CAOP Academy, but in a new form. There will be an updated launch so that we can notify our employees. We were already using the online calendar on the platform for our own content, but now want to use that even more so that colleagues can, for example, add their own course as an agenda item."

Sanneke says that right now it mainly features learning from SkillsTown, but that more and more of her own content will be added in the future. "For example, we're going to expand the program to include peer training and our own curriculum. We are currently working on turning Summerschool into a year-round academy. In the process, the platform will be even more visually and content-wise adapted to CAOP."

Both emphasize that online will always be combined with offline training. "Our employees want to be challenged, preferably classically. But that doesn't mean we can't combine this." They are thinking of introduction materials for new employees and standard information becoming available online. "That way you can work faster and more efficiently, everyone on their own time." Reinier and Sanneke see the power in the combination. "Above all, we want to stay connected and strengthen. And that is perfectly possible this way."