A Norwegian company's experience with ICDL
Everybody at Bud og Hustad Forsakring (BHF, a leading Norwegian insurance company) has the ECDL. All employees have the ECDL certificate after completing all seven modules. Two years ago, BHF realised that they had to do something to reduce staff turnover and at the same time increase the company’s profitability.
An ECDL course at PLUSS IT School became the solution. According to Palmer Sjaholm, BHF Managing Director, this is one of the best investments the company has ever made. “We have never received so much for so little”, he says.
In terms of IT use, BHF is a typical Norwegian company. They have used IT in their organization for quite some time and the employees were more or less self taught. This meant that if there were any issues the staff who knew less had to ask for help from the ones who had more IT knowledge.
A fairly small sized company, BHF chose to give all employees the same training at the same time. Classes and self studies were carried out both during work hours and in the employees’ spare time. The full course took almost a year to complete. Each module ended with an exam.
The biggest subject of discussion at the time of training at the company was the course, solutions to problems and advice related to the course. Course generated great team spirit and enthusiasm. Students not only travelled at least one hour each way to come to class but also brought home baked cakes with them!
The aim was to get all employee’s IT knowledge up to the same basic level. However, there were other benefits from the ECDL project. The company has become more efficient, reduced increasing workload, had fun team building exercises and created a much happier workforce. The employees at BHF have also more understanding for each other’s areas of work and are more motivated to learn more about IT.