Havebury Housing is a private, not-for-profit social housing company that owns and manages over 7,000 properties in East England. It also builds, develops, and manages 200 new houses every year. For Havebury, customer experience is everything, and the organisation works with tenants to tackle a wide range of issues – from property maintenance, to financial concerns. Another key piece of the Havebury puzzle is its green agenda, and the company is exploring ways it can become carbon neutral and upgrade existing properties to reflect this.
As an organisation working in social housing, remaining compliant is absolutely pivotal, as is up-to-date and top-of-the-line training for its staff. However, much of the organisation, which had previously been part of the council, was still working in very manual, paper-based ways. This slowed the organisation down. Havebury knew it had to become more modern and agile. Transforming its HR processes, as well as its approach to learning and development, was essential.
The results
Inclusive implementation
Havebury provided every employee with a Cornerstone license, and implemented several modalities, ensuring that the entire organisation could find learning relevant to them. The change was implemented in a way that was inclusive to the many age groups working within Havebury, and included Microsoft Teams drop-in sessions, Q&As, videos demonstrating how to use the platform, and one-on-one training.
Centralised system
Adopting Cornerstone has allowed Havebury to consolidate training records and information into one system, simplifying access and boosting confidence that the company is audit-ready. The system also allowed Havebury to connect key dots – for instance, learning has been linked to onboarding, meaning new joiners are introduced to the suite of learning from day one. Finally, succession planning has been introduced, allowing Havebury to plan ahead for vacancies as well as boost internal mobility.
Creating a culture of learning
By implementing Cornerstone, Havebury met many objectives, including reaching its mandatory training targets. The strategy that underpinned the technology prompted a change to its learning culture to become self-directed and powered by AI, empowering staff to engage in highly tailored learning journeys. Additionally, by making learning available on any device, Havebury is creating a ‘learn anywhere’ attitude, encouraging field workers – who are away from desktops – to invest in their development as well.
Employee experience
Employee reception has been hugely positive, with 85-90% saying that Havebury offers a good selection of learning and development opportunities. Additionally, Havebury scored in the Top 100 List for Women to Work, showcasing a passion for diversity and equality throughout the business.
Getting ahead
The UK government has announced changes to mandatory training requirements in the housing sector, and these will kick in from April 2024. Havebury identified the competencies of this requirement and, using Cornerstone, incorporated them into its learning framework for employee training. This has placed Havebury months ahead of many its competitors in terms of readiness for the new requirements.
