Learning at Work Week Impact Awards

As a sponsor of this year’s Learning at Work Week Impact Awards, getAbstract is proud to announce two winners for inspiring a lifelong learning culture: St Andrew’s Hospice and GroupM.

St Andrew’s Hospice

St Andrew’s Hospice is a registered charity, employing about 140 staff and supported by more than 500 volunteers. Together, they provide free care for people of all ages living with a progressive life-limiting condition, including cancer, Motor Neurone Disease, cardiovascular diseases, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Each year, St Andrew’s provides care and support for more than 500 patients, both adults and children, and their families, friends and over 200 carers.

Jayne D’Silva of getAbstract highlights the hospice’s outstanding application for the award as follows: “St Andrew’s Hospice, a small charity, put emphasis on in-house knowledge sharing and skills development. By offering a broad range of workshops open to all staff, St Andrews showed a commitment to living a learning culture, proving that it can be fun and rewarding. They gave opportunities to all staff to share their passion and knowledge, in what can only be described as a very challenging and emotional role.”

What did the hospice do differently and more creatively than other competitors? We spoke with Lisa Tillison, who initiated the learning initiative and oversaw its implementation.

Read the conversation full of practical insights here.

Learning happens in all walks of life. And this has been truer than ever in this extraordinary and challenging year.

Jayne D’Silva, VP Sales UK at getAbstract

GroupM

GroupM is one of the world’s leading media investment companies. The company was formed in 2003 by WPP Group to serve as the parent company of WPP’s media agencies, including Mindshare, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence Global, and m/SIX. With over 36,000 employees worldwide, GroupM creates, integrates and scales technology-enabled services with partners including Google, Facebook, Amazon and more. The company handles over 30% of the world’s media billings.

Jayne D’Silva of getAbstract found the application for the award more than convincing: “GroupM showed a commitment to lifelong learning by offering its employees a wide range of developmental activities. These encouraged collaboration for transformation and inspired the innovation of new ideas, which will ultimately support employees’ long-term career and life goals. Through its ‘Thought Labs,’ it organized discussions on big life questions and encouraged people from different levels and occupations to get involved. It also used Black History Month as an opportunity to address questions of racial discrimination and inclusion. Its aim was to deliver content that was relevant to the current climate and the social and economic challenges we are all facing through this pandemic.”

Furthermore, getAbstract wishes to highlight the highly commendable efforts of the Department for Transport and Czarnikow Group, and the commendable efforts of Abcam. We congratulate all companies for their outstanding commitment to employee development and for winning the well-deserved awards!

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Learning at Work Week Impact Awards

The Learning at Work Week Impact Awards celebrate bold, creative and excellent campaigns which promote and drive lifelong learning at work. They are open to all organizations who take part in Learning at Work Week.

For Learning at Work Week 2020, organizations took activities online, delivering virtual events that addressed both the immediate challenges caused by the pandemic and longer-term goals. With so many colleagues working remotely and others furloughed, many companies used fun, interactive sessions to bring colleagues together, build essential digital skills and support staff well-being. Some firms recognized the unprecedented need caused by the pandemic and opened the learning on offer to employees’ families and friends too. Activities included digital drop-in sessions, expert masterclasses, group discussions and family yoga.