Learner marketing as a motivation booster: How Peppermint gets its employees excited about eLearning
Chief Human Resources Officer, Ulrike Bergler, provides insights into the strategies she has used to make modern training methods a success
The Peppermint Group has been producing intelligent and sustainable industrial products since 1997. It focuses on developing innovative textiles that not only raise the bar for the industry, but also actively shape its future. Based in Berlin, the owner-operated industrial group employs around 700 people in Germany and other European locations such as Czechia and Romania.
To counteract the skilled worker shortage and the demographic-related loss of knowledge, Peppermint has this year taken a decisive step toward digital training and preserving and compiling its specialist expertise. In this interview, Ulrike Bergler, Chief Human Resources Officer, reveals the challenges the textile industry is currently facing and how Peppermint is using creative learner marketing strategies to get its employees excited about digital learning formats—right from their very first day.
Interview:
Together with her team, Ulrike Bergler is the driving force behind all HR-related matters at the Peppermint Group. As Chief Human Resources Officer, she plays a key role in defining the company’s strategic direction. An expert in talent acquisition, personnel development, learning and development, and employment law, she has over 20 years of experience in this area. She is passionate about collaboration, culture development, and transformation. What motivates her most is developing customized HR solutions that are perfectly tailored to the needs of the company and its different employee groups. She’s authentic, pragmatic, and someone who firmly believes that successful HR strategies are the key to corporate success.
What challenges does the textile industry face in terms of personnel development and training?
The skilled worker shortage is the biggest challenge for us. Where there were once textile strongholds around Saxony, many production sites are now disappearing, and with them the valuable expertise of their workers. Several of our most experienced employees are about to retire and have an immense wealth of knowledge. Passing this on to the younger generation is of crucial importance to us.
In these times when sustainability, environmental conservation, and proven technologies are becoming increasingly important, we are faced with a crucial question. How do we keep textile knowledge alive when vocational schools have fewer and fewer students and this kind of content can no longer be taught in such a specific and contemporary way? We want to train inquisitive young people, but there’s a lack of modern and educational structures for us to utilize. The large increase in lateral entrants—often from abroad—is a great thing. But here, too, the question arises: How do we impart this valuable knowledge if the appropriate resources are lacking? These issues challenge us every day.
What inspired you to use digital learning formats to counter these challenges?
We became aware of the textil trainer online learning platform in 2023, and started using it to supplement conventional learning methods within our vocational training program. The textil trainer provides basic textile knowledge free of charge, openly, and with a low barrier to entry. Anyone can simply register and get to work on the online courses immediately. Companies use the platform to provide free training for lateral entrants and new employees to make it easier for them to get familiar with the industry.
We were immediately impressed—not only by the content, but also by how it’s communicated so interactively and dynamically. We quickly decided that we wanted to use this resource for Peppermint and expand it to include our own specialist topics. And that’s how the idea for our own learning platform, PEPPER4YOU, was born. We contacted chemmedia in January 2024, and from then on everything happened very quickly. Just three months later, we were able to go live with our new learning management system and take the next big step into the world of digital training.
There were some internal hurdles you had to overcome before you could start introducing digital training measures at your company. What were they?
One of the first hurdles was convincing the Works Council. Many of its members are long-standing employees who trust proven, traditional learning methods. Face-to-face training in physical classrooms used to be the standard. So their question was: How would digital learning work? There were some concerns, both in terms of the technologies and a lack of experience with eLearning.
It took detailed discussions and clear, transparent, eye-to-eye communication to demonstrate the added value of digital training. In addition to the flexibility and the options afforded by location-independent and customized learning, the cost factor was also key. Not only does eLearning save on travel costs and room rental, it also enables knowledge to be shared more efficiently with fewer resources. Ultimately, the aim was to make these benefits clear to all those involved and to create trust in the process.
Today, PEPPER4YOU is not only used for eLearning management, but also functions as our central communication platform. What does that look like specifically?
PEPPER4YOU has long been more than just a tool for managing eLearning. We now have over 180 articles on the platform that go far beyond traditional training courses like compliance and occupational health and safety. In addition to subject-specific eLearning courses, PEPPER4YOU is now the central hub for sharing important news in the company. Whether it’s introducing new colleagues, a topic-specific survey, the betting game for the Euros soccer championship or distributing documents—our employees have everything in one place.
The many interaction options offered by the platform are particularly valuable. They help enormously with networking. Our employees can take different combinations of learning content and embark on an custom learning journey that not only supports their initial induction, but also their ongoing development. This holistic approach boosts employee loyalty and establishes a closer connection to our corporate culture.
Like Peppermint, many other companies face the challenge of reaching blue collar workers—employees in production halls without direct access to computers. How do you manage that?
We’ve installed large monitors that are clearly visible to everyone so we can reach our employees directly on the shop floor. We use them to display news and our current eLearning courses. QR codes then take our employees directly to the relevant content. They can easily use their own smartphone or access the tablets provided. This enables us to provide all employees with important information and training opportunities promptly and efficiently, even if they don’t have traditional office workstations—flexibly, quickly, and right at their workspace.
And when do the employees complete the new training courses? Do you set special learning times aside for this?
We’ve scheduled fixed study times for our trainees just before their exams. This works wonderfully and ensures they are perfectly prepared. However, this is somewhat more complex for our production employees. They often have to complete their training during their shifts, which can be a real challenge. During busy production weeks, we simply don’t have the time or the necessary resources. This is still difficult to manage at the moment, but we’re working hard to find flexible solutions so that all employees—regardless of their position—can benefit equally from further training opportunities. Involving the team leaders in the process and incorporating their continuous feedback is a must for us—after all, it is a project close to our hearts and carries with it a multitude of opportunities.
Modern training and digital formats sound promising, but some employees can find it difficult to get started. How do you motivate all your colleagues to use these new tools?
The key is learner marketing. We’re pursuing a targeted strategy to get each and every employee on board from the outset and to actively support them through this change process. One highlight was the launch of PEPPER4YOU. We streamed the event live to all our locations, introduced the platform, and shared our enthusiasm for the new tool first-hand. This enabled us to create positive momentum right from the start.
In addition, all Peppermint employees received a letter with their access data for PEPPER4YOU with their paycheck, accompanied by a flyer with clear step-by-step instructions. This explanation helped the employees to get through the first steps hassle-free: How do I register? Which settings do I need to configure? How do I find the latest messages? These flyers were also available in all of our break rooms and turned into posters so that they’re always around to refer to.
IT and HR support is available at all times to ensure that no one feels left out in the cold. With this comprehensive introduction and continuous support, we ensure that everyone gets on board and sees the new formats positively.
PEPPER4YOU has been running successfully for several months now. What feedback have you received from the workforce so far?
The feedback has been consistently positive—our employees appreciate the flexibility and the new opportunities that PEPPER4YOU offers. But we still have a long way to go. We’re bursting with ideas for capturing the valuable knowledge of our long-standing employees in the form of digital learning content and making it available for future generations. In particular, the expansion of our multilingual services is at the top of the list. We want to ensure that our Ukrainian, Romanian, and Czech-speaking colleagues have better access to the content.