700+
employees
96-98%
compliance rates
57%
of employees participated in optional courses
Industry: Nonprofit, Housing, Real Estate
Use Case: Internal Training, Compliance Training
Products: Litmos LMS, Litmos General Compliance Training Content, Litmos Soft Skills Training Content, Litmos Content Authoring Tool
Customer Since: 2018
Who is Stockport Homes Group?
Founded in 2005, Stockport Homes Group manages approximately 12,000 properties on behalf of Stockport Council. The organization consists of four key divisions:
- Stockport Homes Limited: Core housing services, including neighborhood management, rent collection, and corporate functions
- Skylight: Support services for independent living, welfare, and homelessness prevention
- 360: Repairs, maintenance, and construction services
- Viaduct: Home sales management
Their mission is to be “one team transforming lives,” with a strong focus on customer service, safe and sustainable housing, and maximizing resource efficiency.
With so many individual divisions, Stockport Homes needed a way to centralize compliance training and tracking. To create a more efficient learning program, they turned to Litmos.
Why Litmos?
Before adopting Litmos, Stockport Homes faced numerous challenges with engagement and their compliance training program. Their training reminders and compliance tracking processes were manual, leading to inefficiencies and inconsistencies. Some employees had not completed the required training for years, and there was limited ability to tailor content to meet specific regulatory and organizational needs. Traditional training methods also struggled to engage employees, failing to address diverse learning preferences.
According to John Madden, People & Organizational Development, L&D Partner at Stockport Homes, “Litmos has been a long-standing partner of Stockport Homes Group, consistently adapting to the ever-changing social housing landscape. Beyond offering off-the-shelf content and a robust content authoring tool, Litmos has provided tailored support through specialist expertise to meet our specific needs.”
With Litmos, compliance rates for mandatory courses reached between 96 and 98 percent, far exceeding the initial target of 80 to 85 percent. And system usage quadrupled as employees accessed both mandatory and optional courses, demonstrating a newfound enthusiasm for learning.”
Success with Litmos
Stockport Homes currently trains around 700 employees. Even with so many users, the organization provides a single access point for mandatory and optional training, using Litmos as their centralized learning solution and utilizing features such as Team Admins, Team Leaders, Escalations, Custom Fields, and Auto-Assign.
The introduction of automated compliance tracking proved to be transformative, empowering managers with dashboards to monitor team compliance, due date features, automated reminders, and escalation processes for driving completion. This not only enhances transparency but also fosters a culture of accountability. Additionally, by automating processes and taking advantage of the Team Leader feature for managers, assistant directors, and heads of service, the Stockport Homes learning and development team is able to delegate administrative tasks to managers, allowing the L&D team to focus on strategic initiatives. This shift contributed to a positive cultural change, with employees proactively seeking training opportunities.
Stockport Homes embraces content customization by developing bespoke courses through Litmos’ Content Authoring Tool. They successfully integrate pre-built Litmos Training Content with personalized modules, often featuring messages from executive leadership. A notable example of this approach to custom course creation, was the Stockport Homes specialized course on damp, mold, and condensation, which was developed in response to regulatory changes. This course quickly became a standout success.
“The built-in Litmos Content Authoring Tool within the platform has been instrumental in the success of our projects, enabling quick turnaround times and efficient content creation. We have used the tool to rapidly develop training on critical sector topics that weren’t previously available online, such as Damp, Mold & Condensation, and Data Literacy. These subjects are essential for regulatory and compliance purposes and play a key role in empowering our colleagues with the knowledge they need to provide the best possible services to our customers,” according to Madden and Jade Whittle, Learning & Development Partner, Stockport Homes Group.
Gamification plays a crucial role in boosting engagement by introducing badges and prize draws for completing optional learning paths, fostering a sense of healthy competition. Initiatives like Neurodiversity Awareness Month in April 2024 encouraged team participation and collaboration, further enhancing engagement. “In May 2024, for Mental Health Awareness, we leveraged Litmos’ 60-second skills courses, offering bite-sized lessons on topics like sleep habits, eating at your desk, and healthy work routines, alongside longer awareness courses. These optional courses and initiatives saw remarkably high engagement. The Neurodiversity Awareness initiative also saw around 407 colleagues—approximately 57%—participating, which was thrilling since it was all optional,” explained Whittle.
A blended learning approach combines eLearning with face-to-face workshops, creating a comprehensive learning experience. Pre-training eLearning modules help build baseline knowledge, while post-training modules facilitate action planning and reflection.
Overall, the adoption of Litmos has led to significant improvements in training compliance and engagement at Stockport Homes. “With Litmos, compliance rates for mandatory courses reached between 96 and 98 percent, far exceeding the initial target of 80 to 85 percent. And system usage quadrupled as employees accessed both mandatory and optional courses, demonstrating a newfound enthusiasm for learning,” says Madden.
Litmos has been a long-standing partner of Stockport Homes Group, consistently adapting to the ever-changing social housing landscape. Beyond offering off-the-shelf content and a robust content authoring tool, Litmos has provided tailored support through specialist expertise to meet our specific needs.”
Looking Forward with Stockport Homes & Litmos
Stockport Homes has ambitious plans to further integrate Litmos into their operations. They hope to consolidate additional training systems into Litmos, creating a one-stop learning platform. The organization also aims to expand the use of competencies and job-role-specific training assignments.
“One of our next steps is to conduct a gap analysis by assessing key roles and gathering insights from colleagues to determine their existing skills and identify any gaps. With this information, we can strategically plan future budgets based on actual needs. This process helps prioritize training by analyzing the number of employees requiring specific skills, allowing us to determine whether this should be a large-scale initiative or a more focused effort on particular teams or roles. This approach ensures that our training offerings are highly tailored, whether through e-learning programs, in-person sessions, or long-term qualification pathways,” says Whittle.
“We’re also planning to relaunch our LMS offering, looking to rebrand and refresh our learner homepages and dashboards. We hope this will keep colleagues engaged in learning and committed to their personal and professional growth,” continues Whittle.
Exploring new Litmos features, including AI-driven course recommendations, is also on the horizon for Stockport Homes. Additionally, they plan to leverage Litmos for their 20th anniversary celebrations, engaging employees through creative learning initiatives.
“While we weren’t directly involved in the initial procurement, our recent procurement exercise reaffirmed Litmos as our LMS for the next two years. We’re excited to continue our collaboration and explore new opportunities together,” explains Whittle.
Stockport Homes Group’s partnership with Litmos has transformed their approach to compliance training and employee development. By embracing automation, customization, and gamification, they have fostered a culture of continuous learning that supports their mission to transform lives. We hope their journey serves as an inspiring example for other organizations seeking to enhance training effectiveness and engagement.