Swarovski Optik

挑战

Although the headquarters of Swarovski Optik is in Absam, Austria, the center of operations for Swarovski Optik North America is in Cranston, Rhode Island, where it employs over 100 people. Chris Porrazzo, Senior Human Resources and Risk Specialist at Swarovski Optik, takes pride in the exceptional work environment at her company, and for good reason: for the past two years, Swarovski Optik North America has been recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Rhode Island.

“The Swarovski Optik North America division is a small organization that’s very much like a family,” says Chris. “As a company, we focus on employee engagement and initiatives that will support an inclusive workplace culture. Our CEO knows every single one of our employees and will visit the different departments almost daily at the Slater Facility. He and other members of the management team have implemented a lot of engagement initiatives through incentives, perks, extracurricular activities, and recognition awards for employees who go above and beyond and support the core values. Our Values in Action Recognition Program recognizes employees that exhibit the Swarovski Optik values of respect, trust, cooperation, and collaboration in their work.”

In support of Swarovski Optik’s continuous learning philosophy, the Director of Human Resources and Risk looked for compliance training options that would reinforce this philosophy and expand awareness around diversity, inclusion, harassment, and other important workplace issues. Instead of having the human resources department develop the necessary training materials, she began looking for vendors that could supply a curriculum to educate employees across all these critical areas. She also developed the Commitment to Diversity Program, which requires annual diversity training for all employees at Swarovski Optik North America.

“In recent years, with the growth of awareness around diversity, inclusion, and harassment issues, we wanted to find ways to further educate our employees on these topics, and to let them know that if they have concerns in these areas, management and human resources will be accessible to listen and address their concerns seriously,” says Chris.

“Of all of the vendors that we looked at who develop the employee training courses we needed, I especially liked Mitratech,” continues Chris. “I was particularly impressed that their courses could either be taken as a self-paced process through a learning management system (LMS), or could easily be adapted in a way that the HR team could deliver through live, interactive training sessions. Some of our employees are more receptive to live trainings rather than using an LMS. Plus, conducting live trainings provides the opportunity for employees to ask questions and interact with one another, which can be very effective.”

解决方案

Swarovski Optik North America decided to purchase courses from Mitratech covering harassment, safety, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition to how easily the courses can be adapted from eLearning modules to live presentations, other factors influencing the decision to choose Mitratech included competitive pricing and a broad course catalog. In fact, Mitratech has one of the largest catalogs of employee eLearning courses in the industry, covering many critical areas, including diversity, equity, and inclusion; ethics and compliance; employment law; health and safety; cybersecurity; and business skills.

“We provided employees the option to go through the training themselves within the easy-to-use Syntrio LMS or attend live training classes. For the groups of employees where I conducted the training in person, I used the LMS course material as support, which worked great. We started with the harassment course, and the feedback from employees about the training was very positive. Employees especially liked how, throughout the course, various workplace scenarios are re-enacted in a very relatable way.”

结果

“In addition to the live sessions being interactive, I found there was an added benefit of employees coming away feeling more comfortable with talking to their manager or human resources if an issue of concern should arise. We want our employees to know the HR team is there for them and their development, and these courses really help. Additionally, by offering live training, not only did I get to know my fellow coworkers better, but they also got to know each other better as we made an effort to combine groups from different departments in these sessions.”

Chris is also very pleased with the support she has received from Mitratech representatives along the way. “The Mitratech representatives that we work with are great,” says Chris. “Whenever we need anything, we reach out and quickly get the answer we’re looking for. It was the same during our evaluation. They listened to our needs and concerns and took the time to help us understand the offerings while making suggestions for how to best deploy the courses.”

展望未来

Once the initial harassment training was implemented, Chris went on to deploy Mitratech’s Valuing Diversity and Unconscious Bias courses. Next year, she will roll out safety courses, and after that, Chris plans to use at least two Mitratech courses every year.

“We will continue to keep our employees educated on a variety of important topics,” concludes Chris. “Thanks to the extensive selection and quality of Mitratech’s courses, we know that we will have the training curriculum needed to continue to make Swarovski Optik North America the best place to work for our employees.”