The ViGØR Group has chosen XtraMile as its new learning platform. The goal is to better organize and structure training, ensure proper documentation of competencies, and make it easier to develop employees across the group.
The ViGØR Group consists of ViGØR Rehabilitation Hospital, Levvel Health, Charlottenlund Daycare, and Makāi Bungalows, and has a total of approximately 190 employees. The group already has strong professional teams and extensive training programs, but until now has not had a single shared digital platform for learning and professional development.
XtraMile spoke with HR Manager Karen Eline Johansen about the reasoning behind the choice and how the ViGØR Group plans to use the new learning platform.
Photo: Karen Eline Johansen, HR Manager at ViGØR
From Department-by-Department Training to a More Holistic Approach
Over the years, ViGØR has built up a great deal of expertise and professional content internally. However, training has largely been organized within individual departments, without a common learning platform or a holistic structure across the organization.
The need for a new solution is part of a larger development effort. ViGØR has been working on an HR strategy aimed at recruiting, retaining, and developing employees, while also assessing which systems the company needs in the long term. Employees, department heads, and employee representatives have been involved through surveys and feedback sessions.
For ViGØR, this initiative is therefore about more than just digitizing existing courses. Professional development will be more systematically integrated and become a natural part of employee follow-up.
“We want to be a workplace where people want to stay for a long time and where they have the opportunity to grow. That’s why we’ve also been working more systematically on how to organize this better,” says Johansen.
XtraMile—A learning platform designed to engage all employees
When ViGØR was evaluating a new learning platform, user-friendliness was one of the most important criteria. The group consists of employees with very different roles and varying levels of involvement with the workplace—from full-time employees at the rehabilitation hospital to instructors at Levvel who work part-time.
“We have employees who are on site every day, and others who may only be there a few hours a week. That’s why we need something that appeals to absolutely everyone, regardless of how much time they devote to their role with us,” says Johansen.
The solution therefore had to work for the entire group and make training accessible and engaging, regardless of role or field of expertise. At the same time, having a clear overview of competencies and completed training was important. A competency matrix and documentation thus became key criteria.
“The main focus was that it should be user-friendly, intuitive, and exciting for employees. At the same time, it was important for us to have a clear overview and documentation, including through the competency matrix,” says Johansen.
How XtraMile Will Enhance Training
ViGØR already sees several specific use cases for the new learning platform.
👉A more structured onboarding process
One of the first areas ViGØR wants to address is onboarding. Until now, the introduction and training of new employees have largely been organized manually and have varied somewhat between departments. At the same time, ViGØR has a strong tradition of in-person orientation sessions where new employees get to know the organization.
With XtraMile, ViGØR aims to build on this and establish a more consistent onboarding process. Standardized content can be quality-assured, made available when the employee needs it, and reviewed later. This makes it easier to ensure that new employees receive the same basic information.
“A lot of time and resources are spent on helping new employees settle into the organization. If we can make that process smoother while also ensuring that employees feel seen, I think it will be very positive,” says Johansen.
👉Compiling and digitizing existing professional training
ViGØR isn’t starting from scratch. Especially in the medical fields, a great deal of training and in-house instruction is already taking place, and the company has extensive existing training materials.
The value lies, among other things, in consolidating the content in one place, digitizing more of the training, and making it easier to see which employees have completed which courses. Department heads are already in the process of prioritizing which materials and training videos should be developed first.
A shared platform will also contribute to better quality assurance. When the same content can be distributed to relevant employees, training becomes less dependent on who delivers it, while at the same time making it easier to ensure a consistent message.
“We already have a lot of training and internal instruction. The value for us lies in bringing all of this together and digitizing it on a single platform, so that we have better structure and oversight,” says Johansen.
👉 Better documentation and simpler certification
Documenting competencies is also an important use case for ViGør.
The rehabilitation hospital is CARF-certified—an international certification in rehabilitation that, among other things, sets requirements for transparency, systematic processes, and documentation.
Until now, the degree of digitization has varied between departments. With a shared learning platform, ViGør aims to make it easier to document completed training and gain a comprehensive overview of the organization’s competencies.
This provides managers and department heads with a better foundation both for ongoing competency development and when training and competencies need to be documented for certification purposes.
“Certification requires that we demonstrate transparency and a clear overview. For us, it is therefore important to have competencies and training better documented and digitized across the organization,” explains Johansen.
👉 An investment in all employees
Perhaps the most important long-term goal concerns employee development.
ViGØR wants the learning platform to make it easier for managers to follow up with individual employees and provide a better overview of competencies, completed training, and opportunities for further development. In internal surveys, employees themselves have expressed a desire for more follow-up and development.
For a knowledge-driven organization, this is also crucial for retaining expertise over time. ViGØR invests significant resources in employee development and aims to create a work environment where employees feel they can continue to learn and grow.
“We want employees to see ViGØR as a place where they can grow, develop, and find new opportunities. That’s perhaps one of the most important things we can gain from this initiative,” says Johansen.
According to Johansen, this also has clear long-term value for the company:
“If employees feel they can grow with us, we also hope that more of them will want to stay longer.”
About the ViGØR Group
The ViGØR Group has approximately 190 employees and includes ViGØR Rehabilitation Hospital, Levvel Health, Charlottenlund Daycare, and Makāi Bungalows.
ViGØR Rehabilitation Hospital traces its roots back nearly 75 years and, throughout its history, has aimed to contribute to better health. Today, the hospital offers specialized rehabilitation to patients from all over Norway, including through an agreement with Helse Nord.
The other companies in the group operate in the fields of health and fitness, daycare, and rehabilitation and fitness stays.