How Ashland gave every employee ownership of their own qualifications
37% less time on admin, automatic expiry alerts, and a workforce that books its own training.
A system only two people could see
Ashland is a specialty chemicals company with a broad operational footprint. Supply chain, production, mechanical, electrical, environment, health and safety all fall within its scope.
When François van Baal joined as EHS Training & Compliance Coordinator, he found a legacy system containing every employee’s qualifications that almost nobody could get into.
“Only two people had access to it. No one had insight into the contents, so no one knew what their exact status was,” he said.
Van Baal wanted a fix that was straightforward in principle, a system where every employee could see their own profile, take responsibility for their own certifications, and understand what they needed to develop within the company.
A workforce that manages itself
The impact of that openness has been most visible in how employees now handle expiring qualifications. AG5 sends an automatic email three months before a certification lapses, including the contact details of the relevant training provider. Production staff who need to maintain certificates for gas measurement or fire control duties are now booking their own training without being chased.
“It saves a huge amount of work, both for me and for the employees,” van Baal said.
It’s such an open structure; it is very convenient for the users.
François van Baal
EHS Training & Compliance Coordinator, Ashland
One action for an entire team
Before AG5, adding a qualification for a group of employees who had all completed the same training meant updating each record individually. Van Baal is direct about how that has changed.
“I can just select all these employees, or select an entire team, and then add that qualification for all of them in one go. Bang, one second, and it’s registered for all of them,” he said.
An integration with eWorks via LTI 1.3 has closed another loop. Employees can see which e-learning modules they need directly in their AG5 skills passport. Clicking through takes them straight to eWorks to complete it, no need for a separate login, much less manual tracking.
[Employees] are now taking action at their own initiative to register for training. It saves a huge amount of work.
François van Baal
EHS Training & Compliance Coordinator, Ashland
