How Alinta Energy automated compliance with Acorn and improved their engagement in just 6 months

The gap: Providing equal learning to international learners 

Energy generator Alinta Energy is fast-growing with roughly 1500 staff across Australia and New Zealand. The ocean divide means they needed a way to provide equal learning opportunities, and that’s without factoring in the remote locations many of their employees work in.

Organisation Development Manager Kobie Shepley says it was then a must to have “a learning system that helps us manage our compliance training program in an automated way.”

“Beyond that, having an LMS helps us make learning accessible to all our employees where they are, including power stations in remote parts of Australia.”

“Having access to high-quality learning & development opportunities is an important part of the employee experience.”

Alinta Energy had experience with other learning management systems, so the organisation knew what their standards were. They’d already spent two to three years adapting to delivering online learning, and they knew the advantage of great quality eLearning content.

“Our goal was to be able to have the same capability when we went live and a smooth transition for our people.”

The impact: Anytime, anywhere learning 

Implementation can have its challenges, but Kobie admits the company was pleasantly surprised to have a few new features available when Acorn went live. “We had great support during the implementation process from a dedicated implementation manager and we hit our intended go-live date.” 

“We had the system up and running within 6 weeks.”

“High-quality learning and development opportunities delivered in an engaging way, at anytime from anywhere, is an important part of the employee experience at Alinta Energy. It also means that we’re able to build the capabilities in our employees that help us to be a successful commercial business. 

“In the six months we’ve had the Acorn system, we’ve been able to offer so much more through the introduction of new features and integrations. It’s now a really engaging place for our people.” 

Kobie says the big reason she’s enjoyed working with Acorn is the team’s willingness to incorporate new ideas. 

“They’re responsive and open to new ideas and feedback. We had some unique needs when implementing and configuring Acorn for our business, and we’ve been well supported by the team every step of the way.” 

The solution: Greater adoption of learning 

Acorn helps Kobie and Alinta Energy with a range of learning objectives and business operations. 

“More than two-thirds of our employees visit Acorn every month.”

“We’re using Acorn to support our onboarding and induction program, our compliance training program, to help upskill our people on new systems and processes, to deliver leadership training, and to support our growing call centre operations.”  

They’re also enjoying the benefits of more expansive content thanks to a recent Acorn and LinkedIn Learning integration, which gives them a wide variety of content to support employee learning and career development. 

“Acorn punches above their weight with the quality of their PLMS compared to much larger competitors.”

For Kobie, there’s one outstanding factor that has really helped Alinta Energy succeed with the Acorn team.

“Their big point of difference is their continuous innovation based on listening to what their customers want and need, and their personalised support. There’s a commitment to continuously improving the product based on customer feedback.”