Case Study: UNISON
“What Happy are really good at is immersing themselves into the organisation. It’s never a ‘one size fits all’ approach when we ask for training,” says Ursula Winkler, IT Applications Manager at UNISON. “Happy has delivered excellent training for very bespoke systems, sometimes very complex bespoke systems, that we use here at UNISON. They learn how people work and use the system – making the training and learning relevant. That approach and trying to understand an organisation is also a very equitable approach, which I appreciate – so the cultural fit always worked well with Happy’s ethos.“
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Background
UNISON is one of the UK’s largest trade unions, with 1.3 million members. They represent staff who provide public services in the public and private sector.
Happy has partnered with UNISON for many years, and has had a long-standing relationship with Ursula Winkler, spanning over 20 years. In a previous role, Ursula had worked with Happy on a major IT system roll out. The positive experience with Happy’s user-focused approach led to our continued collaboration when Ursula moved to UNISON.
Challenges
Happy has collaborated with UNISON on the rollouts for several systems, including custom IT systems and with the sudden shift to homeworking during the pandemic.
UNISON wanted a training partner who could give custom solutions and adapt to the changing needs of their staff – being flexible as needs changed during the pandemic. As is common in large organisations, their people have a range of IT skills, so trainers needed to be able to accommodate a range of abilities.
Solutions
Happy has provided a range of training solutions for UNISON over the years, including:
- Happy’s training team immersed themselves in UNISON’s organisation, delivering tailored, task-focused training. This approach has ensured that the training is relevant and effective.
- During the pandemic, Happy quickly developed an online training schedule for Excel and Word, to upskill staff working from home.
- Happy has played a crucial role in the smooth rollout of Office 365, including delivering Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint training. The programme was delivered by the same trainers, and this continuity of learning has helped to build confidence and familiarity among UNISON’s people.
Results
Our ongoing collaboration has had significant positive outcomes for UNISON.
People feel a lot more confident with Teams now. What I have heard quite often in feedback is ‘finally, it makes sense’. People didn’t understand what OneDrive was for or what SharePoint was for, and how everything was stored in the Cloud, and when to use Teams for example – so it’s an excellent result to get that. It was a very good outcome and I wouldn’t hesitate to work with Happy again on other training programmes.Ursula Winkler, IT Applications Manager at UNISON
The Office 365 rollout has been really smooth, thanks to the support of Happy’s account management team. Happy handled much of the process on the administrative side, including setting up a webpage so that UNISON staff could book with Happy directly rather than going through the inhouse booking system, saving on admin time.
“All of your staff, everyone that I’ve dealt with have been really helpful – everyone we’ve come across has been brilliant. Special shout outs to Daphne, Christine, Gill, France in your accounts team, and obviously Sabina is amazing,” says Maddie Taylor, Staff Learning and Development Administrator.
The adaptability of your staff is brilliant – we have a culture of staff who cancel training at the last minute, leaving lots of gaps in already small cohorts. Happy has been adaptable to make the training session fit with the amount of people they have, as well as letting us cancel sessions or move people to different sessions at short notice. We find it so helpful when you are willing to move things around for us.Maddie Taylor, Staff Learning and Development Administrator at UNISON
“We have had outstanding service – no problem was too big,” says Ursula. “Sabina is an absolute diamond. She’s fantastic to work with. But everyone is really easy to deal with. Your team move heaven and earth to make something happen, but it doesn’t feel difficult. Somehow, you manage to make it easy so we don’t have to worry about anything.”
Happy’s trainers have also received excellent feedback for their adaptability, flexibility, and ability to cater to a diverse range of skill levels, sometimes in the same session.
“For any bespoke systems, Happy will create amazing learning materials and videos, because they don’t just learn the system – they learn about how people use the system and what tasks they will be using it for,” explains Ursula.
Client testimonials
UNISON staff had high praise for Happy's services:
- "Happy's training has always been a great cultural fit, and their trainers are excellent at making the training relevant and engaging"
- "The continuity of trainers and their deep understanding of our organisation has been invaluable"
- "Happy's adaptability and willingness to help have made a significant difference in our training programs"
- "Sabina just moves the earth to help us. I just think she’s fantastic – just brilliant. She’s been really helpful when we were rolling out the OneDrive and SharePoint training"
Happy's collaboration with UNISON has been marked by people-focused, tailored training solutions with incredibly positive outcomes. Their ability to adapt to changing needs and provide incredible customer service has made them an invaluable partner for UNISON.
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