Ernst & Young

"At Ernst & Young, we recruit the best people and ensure they are provided with every opportunity to achieve their personal and professional potential. To do this, we must support a culture of continuous learning where people can develop their talents and apply their knowledge and skills. This enables Ernst & Young to provide its clients the highest level of service available in the market and allows our firm to achieve its strategic objectives. Our people, their ability to learn quickly, and our culture of continuous learning are what make Ernst & Young one of the best firms in the world and first choice for the world's best companies.” - Ray McGowen, Chief Learning Officer


Using technology as a means to an end, Ernst & Young, a global consulting firm employing 84,000 employees worldwide and 1,600 in Chicago, leveraged technological solutions to improve not only its education and training methods, but to directly impact corporate culture.

As a successful professional services firm, Ernst & Young has always recognized that its primary assets were its employees. In expanding the range of its employee development activities, E&Y took into account its global expansion, its need to strengthen its recruitment and retention practices, and a desire for consistent skill levels from employees. In response, corporate management hired its first time Chief Learning Officer which has elevated and globalized the company’s human resources function, making it a valued strategic business partner.

Investing heavily in development of high quality, high technology and customized internal learning activities, E&Y offers 4,000 course hours – 1,600 of them Web-based – in the areas of technical skills, leadership development, teamwork and interpersonal skills. But E&Y has been judicious in its use of technology. To select the best learning method, HR assesses the learning content, the audience, and the expected level of performance. For example, test scores of employees have shown that foundational knowledge is best learned through Web enabled technologies, while other activities, such as teamwork, require classroom learning to develop peer learning relationships. Furthermore, E&Y also expanded its training efforts to help employees develop interpersonal and leadership skills, critical knowledge in a consulting practice where employee expertise is the value-add in a sales setting.

E&Y’s use of technology has benefited both employees and management, through the use of timely electronic feedback and review systems utilizing peer counselors within the organization. Working with Web-based tools, employees can select mentors from across the company to assist them with feedback and performance issues, and can access, complete and review performance evaluations with supervisors in a much more timely manner. Placing E&Y number seven in its 2002 “Training Top 100,” Training Magazine recognized E&Y for its formal learning activities and technologies. Fortune Magazine and Diversity.com rated E&Y as one of the top companies for which to work.

Click here to view full case study. The information presented here was assembled in 2002. This does not necessarily represent the current status of Ernst & Young.