The cultural differences resulting from mergers and acquisitions can cause communication gaps for companies operating in the global arena. Discover how Oshkosh Corporation automated their compliance process to successfully launch and deliver a unified message to their global workforce in four languages.
Background
Oshkosh Corporation, a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of speciality vehicles and access equipment, has a long history of successfully acquiring and integrating companies. However, its most recent acquisition of an organization with 5,000 employees presented several challenges. First, the acquired organization had the largest and most geographically dispersed employee workforce ever integrated by Oshkosh. Second, Oshkosh recognized that they needed to address the inefficiencies and challenges posed by using several different online providers; they needed to standardize with one online training provider. Third, Oshkosh needed to update and design a programme that would be sensitive to its global needs in ten countries and ten US states.
The company, committed to complying with current compliance and regulatory demands, hired a new Associate General Counsel to lead the compliance effort enterprise-wide. Even though there was significant senior management support, the new Associate General Counsel knew that that she needed to be successful with the first element of a new programme in order to establish a positive tone for the program as a whole. Counsel determined that the first steps would include unifying the Oshkosh Code of Conduct across the enterprise, integrating it into corporate culture and not just introducing it to new hires, and moving to one online provider.
After thoroughly evaluating several online solutions, Oshkosh replaced all outsourced compliance training programs with the SAI Global solution. The decision to change suppliers was based upon SAI Global’s expertise in deploying similar types of programs in merger/acquisition situations, in providing end-to-end control and full reporting capabilities, and in offering best practices guidance to both launch the program and maximize overall employee participation.
Training "The Oshkosh Way"
SAI Global’s Best Practices Code of Conduct library was chosen by Oshkosh because it provided the flexibility to choose the topics and scenarios that most closely align with their Code and to deploy them quickly and efficiently. The Counsel first commissioned a Code review and then selected the most appropriate segments from the established and translated online Best Practices Code library. Oshkosh had previously communicated their Code throughout the organization as “The Oshkosh Way” and decided to retain and build awareness of the programme using that name globally.
SAI Global customized the training to include references to the “Oshkosh Way” name. A personalized message by Oshkosh’s Chairman and CEO was included at the beginning of the course, giving employees an opportunity to directly hear and understand the importance of the training and relate it to their individual job roles.
SAI Global worked closely with the client to capture senior management sponsorship from the beginning. An initial kick-off meeting pulled key stakeholders from various departments throughout the globe including Legal, Human Resources, IT and Marketing to introduce the compliance effort and the role each would play in the overall program. "By regularly meeting with representatives from Oshkosh and their counterparts with the newly acquired company, I had the opportunity to build consensus and involve those with a vested interest in the program", stated Robin Schroeder, Associate General Counsel. "The commitment of the senior managers helped promote the belief that our leadership can be trusted by their ethical role modelling."
The program was implemented in phases to accommodate the large number of employees throughout the globe. After a comprehensive pilot was completed, a full roll-out to all managers globally was staged in three groups with launches taking place every two weeks. Key to the program’s success was the coordination of data for the various operating companies around the world. Each location submitted their employee data to Oshkosh's HRIS Manager at the company's headquarters who then formatted the data for sending to SAI Global. This streamlined approach resulted in faster uploading to the SAI Global Learning Management System which, in turn, allowed for real-time administration, delivery, tracking and reporting.
The Outcome
Oshkosh successfully and effectively completed the first phase of their new compliance programme. Within a nine month timeframe, they successfully launched their online Code training throughout the globe in four languages. The training delivered a unified message to employees and enabled Oshkosh to automate and streamline the compliance process.
SAI Global’s programme design supported the overall effort to embed ethical values across the organization. Universal acceptance and positive feedback of the program has been overwhelming and Oshkosh has seen completion rates reaching 98% - far surpassing the initial expectations of 90%. According to Schroeder, "The training had relevant video and story elements which our employees could relate to and apply to their daily jobs. Completion rates were beyond our expectations."
The programme has also driven additional functional stakeholders to come forward with specific compliance related training requests, thus leveraging the investment Oshkosh made with SAI Global. Oshkosh released an offline component to their Code training and additional online programmes including the use of SAI Global’s Anti-Bribery, ADA and FMLA courses, as well as two Ethical Moments®. Future plans include reaching out to different departments throughout the organization to hold curriculum planning sessions to determine their specific training needs.
"The training had relevant video and story elements which our employees could relate to and apply to their daily jobs. Completion rates were beyond our expectations."
- Robin Schroeder, Associate General Counsel
About Oshkosh Corporation
Oshkosh Corporation is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of specialty access equipment, commercial, fire & emergency and military vehicles and vehicle bodies. Oshkosh Corp. manufactures, distributes and services products under various brands. Oshkosh products are valued worldwide in businesses where high quality, superior performance, rugged reliability and long-term value are paramount.
SAI Global Compliance
For twenty-five years, SAI Global Compliance clients have built stronger corporate cultures and more effective all-around programs with our compliance, risk management and governance solutions. With offices in more than 25 countries, SAI Global provides risk and culture assessments; Code of Conduct reviews, development and training; award-winning, innovative online training; training needs assessments; benchmarking and surveys; hotline, ethics reporting and case management solutions; risk- and region-specific updates, databases, regulatory alerts and newsfeeds; and technology solutions that integrate and connect all aspects of a legal or regulatory compliance program.
