Scaling a blended virtual learning curriculum for 23,000+ Amgen staff across 20+ countries 

How Hemsley Fraser helped Amgen move from classroom-only training to a blended virtual curriculum and digital learning hub, without increasing the learning budget.

23,000+

staff reached globally 

20+

countries reached

25+

learning topics, expanded from an original 11 

2x

more learning events delivered year on year
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The organisation

Amgen is one of the world's largest biotechnology companies, with staff working in more than 20 countries. Hemsley Fraser has partnered with Amgen since 2016, bringing career development, business effectiveness and leadership skills learning to the enterprise.

The original engagement focused on interactive, in-person classroom learning for personal effectiveness skills, delivered to staff in core locations including the United States, Puerto Rico and Switzerland. It worked well where population size supported frequent classroom sessions, but smaller regional offices, and the goal of delivering training in local languages, limited how far that high-touch model could scale across the full enterprise.
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The challenge

Amgen needed a way to give a much larger, truly global audience the same interactive, engaging learning experience, consistent everywhere, without expanding the existing budget.

A joint project team of Amgen stakeholders and Hemsley Fraser solution architects, programme managers and instructional designers was formed to solve this for 2020 and beyond. The team's answer was to replace each one day, in-person classroom session with a 210 minute extended Virtual Instructor-Led Training session, known as xVILT, ensuring every Amgen learner had the same core learning experience regardless of location or local budget.

Getting this right meant redesigning instruction for a shorter timeframe, adapting a workforce used to classroom workshops to a virtual format, and keeping content globally consistent while still allowing regional nuance. The scope also grew significantly along the way, from an original 11 topics to more than 25, organised into three categories: leading myself, leading others and leading the business.

The solution

Hemsley Fraser, in close collaboration with Amgen, designed and delivered a blended virtual learning curriculum and digital learning hub built around the scale, diversity and always-on nature of Amgen's global workforce

If you're looking to scale interactive, engaging learning across a large global workforce without expanding your training budget, we'd love to talk. Get in touch to find out how we can design and deliver a programme built around your organisation's specific challenges 

 
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  • xVILT, a 210 minute virtual instructor-led format designed to replicate classroom value rather than simply move classroom content online
  • Curriculum expanded from 11 to 25+ topics across three categories: leading myself, leading others, leading the business
  • A fully blended approach for a neurodiverse, 24/7 global workforce, combining xVILT with classroom workshops and asynchronous digital assets including interactive eBooks, infographics, videos, quizzes and podcasts
  • The Amgen Learning Hub, a highly customised instance of Hemsley Fraser's Digital Hub Learning Experience Platform, built with digital partner 5App, giving all 23,000+ staff instant access to curated Hemsley Fraser content, Amgen's own internal resources, and integrated third-party content

Results

  • Delivered double the previous year's number of instructor-led learning events, reaching an expanded global audience in-language, without doubling the overall learning budget

  • Amgen staff viewed more than 50,000 additional digital learning resources via the Learning Hub in the period following launch

  • Positive reported impact on organisational learning culture and engagement, with staff increasingly taking charge of their own development, sharing learning assets with colleagues and starting new learning communities

What made this work

  • Reimagining the learning experience for a virtual format rather than simply moving classroom content online

  • Expanding scope deliberately, from 11 to 25+ topics, once it was clear a true hire-to-retire curriculum was the right ambition

  • Designing for a neurodiverse, 24/7 global workforce from the outset, which made a blended, multi-format approach necessary rather than optional

  • A single digital hub bringing together Hemsley Fraser content, internal resources and third-party material in one place

FAQs

Scaling a learning curriculum to a large, always-on global workforce is a significant undertaking. Here are the questions organisations most commonly ask us before they start.

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Moving classroom training online successfully means redesigning the learning experience for the new format, not simply recording or shortening existing content. For Amgen, this meant developing a new 210 minute virtual instructor-led format built to deliver the same value as a full day classroom session, with instructional design adapted specifically for a shorter, virtual timeframe. 

 ‘I just want to let you all know how well the new platform and content is being received by the field. I rolled out some of the content to my new team and they feel an increased commitment to their development. One representative told me today that seeing the Resilience information gave her a sense of “hope” during this challenging time. They also mentioned that the digital learning resources were attractive, lively and bold! A++++ team! Well done and thank you!’ 

learning manager in European office

Scaling learning across a global workforce?

If you're looking to deliver interactive, engaging learning to a large global workforce without expanding your training budget, we'd love to talk. Get in touch to find out how we can design and deliver a programme built around your organisation's specific challenges. 
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