Employee training and development

The Corporate Online University

In 2019, we plan to redesign the corporate training portal and add functions such as planning and completing blended learning programmes, filing applications for external training, and uploading certificates of education, detailed analytics, and reporting. The renewed portal will be named the Corporate Online University to become Rostelecom’s single entry point for training.

The purpose of Rostelecom’s Corporate Online University is to build employees’ modern professional skills. Both in-house and external experts are involved: Russian trainers with experience of training in similar educational institutions, specialists who have studied and interned abroad, and international business coaches. Both face-to-face and distance learning opportunities are offered in-house.

We offer professional development opportunities to every employee from their very first day at work. Depending on an employee’s professional development needs, the following is offered, among many other benefits:

• Training programmes in various business segments
• Face-to-face training and distance learning courses or programmes through the Corporate Online University
• Access to Rostelecom’s e-library

Employee training and upskilling courses in business segments are provided by B2B/B2G, B2C, and B2O Centres of Excellence and the Technical Training Centre of Excellence jointly with the Knowledge Management Department.

In 2018, we began to build a pool of segment-specific trainers, and plan to deliver a nationwide trainer development programme in 2019. The programme aims to improve trainers’ professional knowledge, competencies, and skills, while fostering a community of employees to provide training and development within Rostelecom.

In 2018, to improve in-house training quality control, we developed common performance indicators with a focus on NPS scores for training programmes, and new feedback forms for trainees and their line managers.

Building digital skills

Remaining successful and efficient in the modern world requires building digital skills. To raise digital literacy in 2018, Rostelecom employees were offered the Basics of the Digital Economy online educational series, which received over 390 thousand views during the year. The series includes ten mini lessons in the form of 10-minute videos and self-check tests.

It covers key topics required for an IT company to build digital skills and capabilities:

• The Internet of Things
• Blockchain
• VR/AR
• Agile
• Digital communications
• Data science
• Robotics
• Quantum technology
• Cyber security

For each topic in the series, the Digital Economy. Jobs of the Future online programme commences in 2019 and is available to Rostelecom employees. Whatever the educational background, position, age, or length of service, every Rostelecom employee has a fair chance of mastering a new digital job. Those with the best performance will be offered a job in a chosen, new specialty. The online training will be delivered both in groups and individually, enabling trainees to learn at a comfortable pace at any time and place, surrounded by like-minded people.

To get employees involved in various training projects, we held the Conquest of Digital Space quiz in October 2018, with 1,899 people taking the quiz. The quiz questions revolved around the topic of the digital economy, and the answers were available from the Corporate Online University’s courses.

The UX/UI Basics online course was completed by 1,200 employees, who were taught to develop modern interfaces and use innovative solutions for visual content design and layout.

A top priority of the Knowledge Management Department for 2019 is to offer employees a set of user-friendly tools for self-learning and development, create a user-friendly Corporate Online University platform with a library of video courses and programmes to master related specialties, from the basics of digital communication to the basics of coding and algorithmics.

Developing management skills

To boost the management skills of future and current managers across the corporate hierarchy, we offer in-house and external training programmes. Managers master key tools for efficient team management and incentivising and leading their employees to achieve the best results.

We launched two programmes for top managers in 2018:

• The Sberbank 2020 programme from the Sberbank Corporate University — 18 managers
• The New Rostelecom Leadership Development programme at the SKOLKOVO Moscow School of Management — 55 managers

In late 2018, two new programmes (Key Leadership Skills and Situational Leadership) for new managers were developed and made available to in-house trainers.

Building soft skills

In 2018, the Knowledge Management Department began finalising the updated, centralised catalogue of in-house programmes for building soft skills.

Starting from 2019, all new training programmes will be launched in the blended learning format: at 80% for distance learning of theoretical material and 20% for practising the newly acquired skills at face-to-face master classes. Each programme will offer a range of options for immersive learning: a selection of articles and books on the subject, video courses or webinars hosted by experts, knowledge tests, and tools and advice on how to apply the new knowledge.

Key principles in rolling out the nationwide catalogue of programmes to build soft skills:

Building professional skills

Rostelecom places a special focus on developing the professional expertise of employees and ensures a consistent approach to training, tailored to the business requirements of each business unit. Both the best external professional training providers and in-house experts from the corporate Centres of Excellence are engaged in professional skills building.

Rostelecom’s Centres of Excellence:

• Technical Training Centre of Excellence
• B2B Centre of Excellence
• B2C Centre of Excellence

Technical Training Centre of Excellence

2018 highlights:

1. Developed a comprehensive training programme for six functional roles within the Technical Infrastructure Unit’s customer service function. The programme serves as a roadmap for developing educational content
2. Developed a nationwide programme, Customer Focus for Installers and Level 3 Technical Support, to improve touch point NPS scores. More than 3,600 employees completed classroom training within the programme
3. Successfully carried out the Video Mentor pilot project for technicians. Over 35 training videos showing technical processes were created with support from the Technical Training Centre of Excellence
4. Created a community of in-house domain experts bringing together over 150 specialists. The community aims at maintaining and developing expertise and sharing and discussing experience by the Company’s technicians throughout Russia. The in-house domain experts help collect content for future educational materials across a range topics — technology, equipment, and Rostelecom products and services

The Technical Training Centre of Excellence priorities for 2019:

• Develop customer focus and upselling skills among Rostelecom technicians
• Develop educational materials for six functional roles within the Technical Infrastructure Unit’s customer service function

B2B Centre of Excellence

2018 highlights:

1. Developed a product-focused training system:

   Developed and rolled out 25 new product-focused training courses. Over 4,000 employees completed the courses, with 36 webinars on products organised across all macroregional branches

2. Actively pursued two nationwide training programmes:
   • Over 2,700 employees received training within the Customer League programme
   • Over 2,200 employees underwent training within the Sales League programme
3. Created a training portal, Intellectual Power, in collaboration with the Headquarters’ marketing department

   A total of 3,873 employees benefitted from access to the portal since its launch, including 107 new hires trained through the portal’s Onboarding section. The portal enables staff to acquire new knowledge and put it into practice immediately, helping them in preparing and consolidating quotes

4. Developed and approved a segment-specific coach management model
5. Launched the Pro100 Best, a joint project with the Headquarters’ Regional Development Department, with the first module implemented in December — 15 webinars covering 5 industries and over 500 employees

B2C Centre of Excellence

The B2C Centre of Excellence was set up in the second half of 2018. Every macroregional branch appointed a supervisor for the B2C sales force training process, responsible for developing B2C coaches and organising distance and classroom training within product- and skill-focused programmes.

Goals of the В2С Centre of Excellence:

• Build a high performance sales team with excellent product knowledge and good sales and promotion skills
• Develop and roll out a uniform system for skill- and product-focused training for the Company’s B2C sales force
• Build a centralised system for B2C coach development and assessment
• Build automated reporting on training and development of B2C sales force, including the Active Sales’ technical team agents

Objectives of the В2С Centre of Excellence:

• Plan and set up the training process for the B2C sales force, including the Active Sales’ technical team agents
• Develop training methodology in line with the B2C annual training matrix
• Manage, control, assess, and supervise the activities of the B2C coaches
• Set up and supervise training programmes
• Perform assessments of the employee training process
• Introduce new training methods and techniques

The В2С Centre of Excellence 2018 highlights:

1. Built a team comprising 110 B2C coaches from all across Russia
2. Developed a uniform coach assessment system. Performed an annual B2C coach assessment bringing in an accredited external provider. Coaches at the Volga Macroregional Branch showed the strongest performance
3. Launched the B2C Coach Workshops, where all employees can gain new knowledge and master their skills while working with a team of experts. The programme helps build a talent pool and train coaches to be mentors or teachers at the workshops
4. Developed new sales training programmes in late 2018 for each channel, including for the B2C Active Sales’ technical team agents
5. Developed a new, unique mentorship programme covering all B2C sales channels

Product-focused training

Starting from 2018, all nationally available products and nationwide campaigns and changes have been launched via an integrated training system. Courses are developed by the В2С Centre of Excellence, adapted by macroregional branches (if needed), and then provided to coaches within Rostelecom branches for employee training. We use different formats to provide training to employees: long reads, interactive courses with challenges, video lectures, broadcasts, product review videos, interactive instructions on how to use IT systems, dialogue trainers, a chatbot (which attracted over 1,000 users in a month), interactive battles to assess product knowledge, and many others. All new formats are developed in-house.

In 2018, Rostelecom developed over 160 product- and skill-focused programmes and tests, and provided training to more than 15,000 employees, including 5,000 technical team agents at the B2C Active Sales. Plans for 2019 include launching a single training platform offering all available courses and tests online.

Plans for 2019:

1. Launch a single B2C incentive and training portal enabling users to monitor their KPI performance and earnings, learn about all existing and new products and best practices, and join a nationwide incentive programme
2. Standardise training programmes across the B2C sales channels
3. Launch a mentorship programme
4. Enhance the competencies of coaches through programmes offered by the Knowledge Management Department and the B2C Coach Workshops
5. Launch digital training tools (a chatbot, text message training, and online training on different platforms)
6. Provide B2C coaches with new programmes to build soft skills for regional B2C sales force (Emotional Intelligence, Individual Performance, Antifragile Team, Leadership Skills Development, etc.)
7. Automate reporting on training and build an individual learning path for each B2C employee, complete with an online feedback option

Online training

Over 45,000 employees were trained online in 2018, and 400,000 courses and programmes in total were completed by employees. Up to 9,000 unique users per month were trained through distance learning.

In 2018, the Company launched Online Lectorium, a new educational project. It includes lectures delivered as webinars on relevant and interesting topics by leading industry speakers and successful people from various fields. The eight broadcasts gathered an audience of over 10 thousand people. Lectorium’s average NPS score for all broadcasts is 72. Over 20 lectures are planned for 2019, covering topics such as business leadership, robotics, self-driving vehicles, humour in a corporate environment, and others.

Rostelecom employees receive a weekly Development Environment digest where useful practices and approaches are discussed and hot business concepts and methods are shared. The digest includes up-to-date information about upcoming training events and new literature available in the corporate libraries and online courses. Our colleagues have already been offered materials about goal-setting, procrastination, time management, neuromarketing, design thinking, and VR technologies.

In addition to the Corporate Online University, employees were trained under upskilling and retraining programmes at higher education institutions and with training providers delivering advanced and professional training programmes. Over 400 educational institutions and training providers are contributing their services to upskilling and retraining at Rostelecom.