How digital learning is preparing Municipality of Hengelo for 2040

Learning and development remains a challenge in many organizations: employees have little time and adoption lags. This was also the case at Gemeente Hengelo.
How do you make learning accessible and a regular part of the working day? With SkillsTown Inspire, the municipality transformed learning and development into a strategic part of the organization. Wondering how they approached this? Read the customer case!

From individual training courses to a strategic learning platform

Hengelo Municipality is a city on the move. Not only in the city itself, but also within the organization is continuously working on improvement and innovation. The municipality strives to be an agile organization in which employees continue to develop themselves to respond to social changes. But how do you ensure that learning and development are not only possible, but also become a real part of the culture?

Therein lay the challenge: There was no central learning environment, which meant employees had limited access to learning opportunities. With 1,000 employees and a strong focus on service delivery, the need for a structured learning solution was great. SkillsTown Inspire provided a solution to make learning and development a part of the organization

The challenge: How do you get employees to learn?

In 2020, SkillsTown was chosen as the digital learning platform after a tender. But the implementation unfortunately did not go as hoped for us: due to the corona pandemic, many initiatives came to a standstill. There was no clear responsibility for digital learning, so the platform was not used optimally.

It was not until the municipality decided to put learning and development back on the map in 2023 that everything changed. With a strategic approach, learning no longer became "something extra," but an essential part of the organizational culture.

The solution: more than just a learning platform

To make learning really live within the organization, Hengelo Municipality chose to relaunch the SkillsTown Inspire platform. The focus was on accessibility, relevance and interaction. This resulted in five smart initiatives:

- Onboarding via e-learning: New employees are introduced to the platform from day one. This hybrid onboarding process saves time and gets employees settled in faster.
- Integrating learning into work: by linking training to practical topics, such as vitality and Microsoft tools, learning was no longer seen as "extra work," but as useful and applicable.
- Interactive learning environment: various physical meetings and events were integrated into the platform. Employees now easily enroll and discover new training courses as they log in.
- Customized content: in addition to the extensive catalog of e-learnings, the municipality developed several customized trainings. One of the in-house trainings is: "The secret language of the municipality," in which employees learn about internal abbreviations and processes within the municipality.
- Active engagement & communication: learning was actively promoted through internal campaigns, updates and thematic learning offerings, such as during Vitality Week.

This approach ensured that learning was no longer something casual, but became a regular part of the workday.
"What started as a way to make onboarding more efficient quickly grew into a widely supported learning culture within our organization. The goals we wanted to achieve in six months, we achieved within three months!"

(Demi, Consultant digital learning & communication)

The result: broad learning culture

The impact of the new approach became immediately apparent:
- More than 50% active users: More than half of the employees attend training and take advantage of the academy's opportunities.
- Time savings & efficiency.: By making onboarding digital, physical sessions are replaced by on-demand webinars. This saves time and increases productivity.
- Increase in demand for customized content.: demand for specific e-learnings grew so much that learning offerings were further expanded.
- Learning as part of the 2040 strategy: learning and development is now an integral part of the municipality's long-term direction.

Vision for the future with SkillsTown: building an agile organization

By partnering with SkillsTown, learning and development is no longer an afterthought, but an important part within the community. The next step? Further investing in customized content and encouraging even more employees to continue to develop.