WellPoint: Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Georgia
Headquartered in Indiana, WellPoint is a leading health bene.ts company serving about 28 million medical members and 80 million specialty members in the United States. It has more than 38,000 employees and owns Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield plans in 13 states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. WellPoint also serves customers through a number of specialty companies and subsidiaries including HealthLink, UniCare and AdminaStar Federal.

In January 2003, WellPoint's Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia division evaluated the annual associate satisfaction surveys that include questions about employee satisfaction with existing career development opportunities. The results showed only 62 percent of associates felt the division's learning and development opportunities met or exceeded their expectations, below the company's national standard of 69 percent or greater.

Because associate satisfaction is a predictor of customer satisfaction, BCBS Georgia needed to improve its satisfaction scores to ensure continued high-quality customer service and ultimately low customer defection. In addition, the division spends about $13,000 per employee during the first year of services to train new associates. It sought to reduce first-year associate turnover through improved career development opportunities.

LearnPoint and the Associate Career Development Program
Utilizing the company's learning management system, LearnPoint, the learning and development team created a comprehensive, self-directed resource called the Associate Career Development Program (ACDP). Targeted to customer service associates, claims associates, and membership and billing associates at BCBS Georgia, the program uses job-specific competency models to guide associates in developing and implementing personal learning plans.

Each job role has associated tasks, responsibilities and performance criteria that link to specific competencies and learning opportunities at WellPoint. Those opportunities include SkillSoft business skills courseware, internal instructor-led training, on-the-job learning activities, WellPoint shadowing and mentoring opportunities, and self-study books available through the company library.

"We performed a comprehensive job analysis and tied e-learning and other learning opportunities with competencies and tasks," explained Ferdinand Tesoro, director of the operations performance department for BCBS Georgia. "We don't just give you a list of courses; we have you start by identifying what tasks and responsibilities you are having difficulty with and what competencies are aligned with those tasks."

Associates must first log on to LearnPoint, find their particular job overview and review the description of job responsibilities, competencies and aligned learning opportunities. Next, they complete a personal learning plan that will guide how they begin to develop and improve existing skills and competencies.

To launch and market the Associate Career Development Program, the learning department established the theme Driving for Success, employing the D.R.I.V.E methodology to guide individuals in their learning strategy:

Develop your learning plan
Review your plan with your supervisor
Implement new knowledge, skill or ability
Validate what you have learned
Evaluate your development

"This is a self-directed program," Tesoro said. "If you have the tools, you are in the driver's seat and you can take control [of your career development]."

Results
Initially, the learning department targeted about 1,130 associates with the Associate Career Development Program, but has continued expanding to other job roles and departments throughout BCBS Georgia. After the first year, the program exceeded its target participation rate by five percent, with 35 percent of associates completing personal learning plans and actively taking courses by May 2005. Follow-up surveys conducted in December 2004 revealed associate satisfaction had improved 15 percent.

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