Ferrero Partners with Explorance for Learning Measurement Strategy

Montreal, Quebec – February 21, 2023 – Ferrero, a global manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products whose internationally-renowned brands include Eat Natural, Fox’s, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder, Nutella, Thorntons and Tic Tac, has commissioned Explorance to deliver a consulting project to lay the foundations for a new learning evaluation strategy.

The project has been initiated by Mary Jo Anderson, Head of Ferrero University, Ferrero’s corporate learning arm. “Ferrero has grown rapidly, even during my five years with the organisation, and moved from being largely European to multi-national and operating across Asia, North and South America, and from traditional chocolate confectionary into categories that we have never been in before,” Mary Jo explained.

“The pace of change and integration has been intense so there has been a big focus on how we support our employee base. Driven by our CEO, we are supporting line managers to take an active role in people development. As a result, we need to provide a growth path for the many different roles in our business. In particular, we want to understand how to evaluate and measure the impact of learning, how that is showing up in people’s work, and whether that is proving value for money. It is important in my role, and in companies of this size, to acquire the right expertise internally to support our business and the investment made in learning.”

Having used Metrics That Matter in three previous organisations dating back to 2004, Mary Jo approached Explorance Consulting, a team of experienced HR, L&D and talent practitioners from a wide range of industries and companies, to help inform the direction of a new learning evaluation strategy. Collectively they have over 100 years’ experience working with and measuring learning, talent and business outcomes.

“In developing a new approach to learning measurement, we were faced with a choice – find system technology that does the process for you, or develop the process first and then find the technology,” Mary Jo said. “My preference is the latter, and therefore a ‘going slow to go fast’ approach. The Explorance team, some of whom I worked with previously and consider to be trusted advisors in the space, are currently reviewing our existing measurement plans for two programs, identifying and developing reporting plans for each program, and providing a final summary of Ferrero’s current state of learning evaluation and help us plan where we want to go with consistent standards, processes and technology.”

Mary Jo added: “I learn something new from my team every day. I am also open to a ‘we don’t know but can find out’ approach which involves buying expertise from the marketplace. With the learning measurement strategy consulting project, I believe that we have engaged the go-to guys bringing in experience and credibility and apply that into our organisation. The ideal outcome would be proving, in the long term, that we have got the right mix in our measurement strategy and knowing where we need to be supported for later development.”

John Atherton, General Manager – Europe and Africa, at Explorance, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Ferrero on this project to help them measure, evaluate and increase the effectiveness of their organisation’s learning portfolio.”

About Ferrero

Established in Alba, Italy, over 70 years ago, Ferrero is a family-owned organization that has grown into one of the largest confectionery companies worldwide. Committed to continuous innovation, Ferrero’s brand is distributed across 55 countries and is led by executive chairman, Giovanni Ferrero. The company entered the American market after acquiring Tic Tac®, Keebler®, Famous Amos®, Mother’s Cookies, and other distinctive cookie brands. Ferrero has more than 4,400 employees in eight offices and twelve plants and warehouses in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. For more information, visit ferrero.com.

About Explorance

As the leading provider of People Insight Solutions, Explorance supports more than 20 million people in their individual journeys of purpose, growth, and impact. Founded in 2003, Explorance empowers organizations with actionable decision-making by measuring students’ and employees’ needs, expectations, skills, knowledge, and competencies. Explorance facilitates continuous improvement and accelerates the insight-to-action cycle leading to personal growth and organizational agility. Headquartered in Montreal with business units in Chicago, Chennai, Melbourne, Amman, and London. Explorance works with 25% of the Fortune 100 and 25% of the top Higher Education institutions, including 8 of the world’s top 10 business schools. The company has clients in more than 50 countries.