Empowering a Workforce: How Essendant Scaled Personalized Learning and Built a Culture of Growth

Meet Essendant

For over 100 years, Essendant has connected thousands of businesses to the products, supplies, and technology they need to thrive. With their unmatched wholesale distribution and fulfillment (3PL) capabilities, Essendant fuels growth for thousands of customers, including independent resellers, retailers, B2B distributors, manufacturers, and eCommerce businesses; ranging from startups to multinational corporations. Essendant is proud to serve customers, and it’s their people – the innovators, planners, and movers making it happen.  

The workforce moving Essendant forward is as varied as the customers they support. From those fulfilling orders in distribution centers across the United States to employees working in the corporate office, each employee is vital to moving the business forward. 

The driving force behind this successful operation? A dedicated Learning & Development (L&D) team determined to equip every employee with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed and grow.  

The challenge

With over 20 distribution centers and over 3,000 employees spanning knowledge workers to frontline team members, the L&D team at Essendant needed a solution that could meet the diverse needs of their workforce. In assessing their programs, they identified that their existing Learning Management System (LMS) was not keeping up with their needs; it was outdated, difficult to use, and inefficient. A change was needed. Essendant sought a solution that could scale personalized learning opportunities across their varied teams and locations. The rigid, one-size-fits-all nature of the previous LMS led to learning disengagement, with employees feeling stuck in irrelevant training. Furthermore, employees in the field had difficulty accessing the system, creating yet another barrier to learning. 

The solution

Recognizing that technology is core to the employee experience, and employee processes, Essendant saw an opportunity to adapt their approach with a platform focused on technology adoption - but with the flexibility to do much more.  In their search for a more modern, flexible solution, Essendant’s L&D team discovered BrainStorm, an end-user training and adoption platform built to help organizations onboard and train employees on the technology, processes, and skills that enable their success. With BrainStorm’s adaptable platform, Essendant was able to build a truly customized learning experience. 

Using BrainStorm, Essendant’s L&D team revamped their learning approach, turning one-size-fits-all training courses into personalized learning paths. By creating custom Flows™—dynamic courses designed to take users down unique learning paths—employees could now easily access relevant content and move through the material that mattered most to them. 

Empowering a learning culture 

The move to BrainStorm also aligned with the L&D team’s mission of fostering a culture of learning. The team wanted all employees to have access to learning opportunities regardless of location. They ensured BrainStorm was accessible at kiosks at every Essendant location across the country. Whether at a desk, in a warehouse, or on-the-go, employees could now access BrainStorm courses from kiosks and other devices. Integration with platforms like ServiceNow ensured that learning resources were always just a click away, making development opportunities more accessible than ever. 

The L&D team continues to evaluate opportunities to help employees develop for the future, partnering closely with leaders throughout the business to review team members' career progression, growth opportunities, and development needs. 

From partnerships like these, the L&D team has created micro-leadership courses in BrainStorm to help employees bridge professional gaps to progress into leadership positions. They’ve also deployed courses in BrainStorm to help employees develop productivity and efficiency skills.