Industry Research: Maui Jim Frames a Successful Training Program with OpenSesame

Maui Jim got its start in 1980 as a small company selling sunglasses on the beaches of Maui. Much has changed since then — the company now sells its sports and fashion eyewear in more than 100 countries, and recently began offering prescription lenses. But what hasn’t changed is Maui Jim’s vision: a 20/20 focus on providing an exceptional level of service, both to its customers and to its employees. OpenSesame fits squarely in that vision, helping Maui Jim provide a world-class training and development environment for its 1,000 global employees.

When Holly Brune joined Maui Jim as Director of Training and Development five years ago, the company did not have a training and development department. “Until then, training had been one-on-one, primarily focused on educating team members about our products and internal procedures,” Brune recalls. “There wasn’t much structure, and we had no formal training materials or guidelines. Our goal was to roll out a training and development plan accessible to all our employees, at every level and in every location.”
 
The company chose OpenSesame to help achieve that goal. OpenSesame integrates seamlessly into Maui Jim’s learning management system (LMS), and the OpenSesame Plus subscription provides unlimited access to more than 6,000 of the most popular courses — many available in multiple languages — covering an extensive range of topics.      
 
“OpenSesame suits our needs perfectly,” Brune says. “Staff can search for and access thousands of vetted courses from top publishers. From compliance, to soft skills, to professional development, and even fun topics like desk stretches — OpenSesame has the relevant courses.”

Maui Jim employees have shown they are highly receptive to the OpenSesame elearning training content. “Our results have been very positive,” says Brune. “People say they like that they can jump in and complete some training right at their desk, from home, or on their mobile devices. Our course completion rates are very high, indicating people are finding the material engaging and valuable. And we consistently fill at least 95 percent of our subscription seats each year.”
 
“It is inspiring to see employees taking advantage of the training offered,” adds Ashley Cole, Training and Development Specialist for Maui Jim. “Some of our employees come to us straight out of high school, so they may not yet have all of the more advanced computer or software skills we value. We see individuals making use of the OpenSesame training courses not only to support their current positions, but to improve their skills and advance their careers at Maui Jim. They appreciate that the company cares enough to invest in their development.”

Maui Jim’s Training and Development team has grown to five dedicated professionals — still a lean department — who keep busy building a corporate learning culture. By leveraging OpenSesame’s curriculum for general, overarching training, the team is able to focus their time and resources on developing critical company-specific training curriculum.
 
“Our brand is our bread and butter,” explains Alysse Emken, LMS and Training Coordinator at Maui Jim, “so it’s vital that we consistently train every employee at every level on our products, our voice, and our values. But other types of training — compliance and professional development for example — are also important. With OpenSesame providing the content for that type of training, we can concentrate on delivering company-specific curriculum. We save valuable time and free our team to quickly react to the needs of our workforce.”

Maui Jim’s 1,000 employees are stationed around the globe and communicate in five languages, complicating the logistics of any corporate training program. Brune considers the ability to efficiently and effectively reach remote employees one of the biggest benefits the company realizes with OpenSesame.
 
“A full 40 percent of our workforce are remote or internationally stationed,” Brune says. “Without our OpenSesame elearning curriculum, it would be very difficult to make training available to them in their preferred language. OpenSesame gives our learning and development efforts a large, global reach.”
 
And that is a welcome sight.
 
“We see individuals making use of the training offered not only to support their current positions, but to improve their skills and advance their careers at Maui Jim.”
 

  
To learn more about Maui Jim Sunglasses and OpenSesame, contact info@opensesame.com or call (888) 487-8107.