Learning & Skills Platform
Sumo Group
Sumo Group embedded a multi-award-winning, self-directed learning culture.
Rapid growth
Sumo Group is an award-winning games development company creating the industry’s most popular video games, including Sonic Racing, Little Big Planet and Hitman. In the last few years, they’ve experienced rapid growth, taking them to 1,200 employees and 15 videogame development studios around the world. With all that new knowledge spread across the UK, Europe, India, Canada and the US, the creative company needed a learning platform to surface employee expertise and share it across the entire company, connecting those in different locations.
Sumo’s vision
When looking for a new learning solution, Sumo found the more traditional learning management systems didn’t have the social features they needed to fulfil their vision.
Their key objective was to cultivate a culture where learners are teachers and everybody can take ownership of their own personal development. They also required a platform that could become their workplace hub where leaders can get their message out to the whole organisation.
Additionally, as a gaming company, UI and UX are at the heart of Sumo. So, it was crucial their learning system was engaging, easy to use and intuitive. They put a few learning platforms to the test and set out on a THRIVE Learning & Skills Platform pilot with 45 employees.
Jenny Muhlwa, Learning and Development Manager at Sumo Group, commented:
“Unanimously, THRIVE came back as our provider of choice because of the great user experience, it was so easy to use and understand.
We put it out to our people and asked how they felt about it. People said it was so intuitive and I’m going to be coming back to it regularly, which was the key point for us.”
Results and impact at Sumo Group
95%engagement rate
1,200+learners
89%user generated content
Learning and communication
Sumo Group teamed up with THRIVE to embed a learning platform they named DOJO. This would bring to life a self-directed, social learning culture and enable improved communication across the business. With THRIVE’s handy auto-curation tools, the L&D team were able to launch with a range of curated content, covering topics including wellbeing, equality, diversity and inclusion. Within the first 30 days, 89% of Sumo's people logged in and contributed 414 pieces of user-generated content, and since launch, 89% of the content on DOJO has been user-generated, with a 95% engagement rate.
From May 2020 to March 2022:
- DOJO usage increased by 98.3%;
- There were 80,000 logins, 309,750 content views, and 29,211 searches on the platform;
- Sumo's people completed 127,600 pieces of content, less than 1% of which was mandatory; and
- They generated 14,300 social interactions, including likes, shares, pins and comments.
What's more, by highlighting L&D and DOJO during recruitment, they saw a 42% increase in overall talent, and a 10% increase in promotions compared to 2020-2021.
Spotify campaign to stay connected
Since launch, Sumo has delivered a range of creative learning initiatives to drive employee engagement. One campaign that was particularly popular was their DOJO Dukebox; a Spotify playlist embedded in THRIVE with a weekly theme that learners can add songs to. This really brought their teams together and enabled their people to collaborate in social activities when working remotely; helping DOJO become not just the go-to place for learning, but the go-to social space for their people to connect.
From worlds apart to 'world class'
The positive impacts of DOJO were felt strongly in Sumo's employees' responses to The Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies to Work For survey too.
From 2019 to 2021, Sumo's overall score went from 1 star (very good) to 3 stars (world-class). In 2022, they retained 3-star status and were named the 12th Best Large Company to Work For in the UK.
Every survey category saw a sharp rise in scores, including 'personal growth', 'wellbeing' and 'leadership', showing DOJO accomplished what it set out to achieve: creating a place to meet others, share knowledge and develop yourself through networks of learning.
An award-winning relationship 🏆
After collaborative submissions with Data Lab, our in-house team of Data Analysts that help organisations prove the real impact of learning activity, our partnership with Sumo has won two awards.
Firstly, the Digital prize at the 2022 Learning Excellence Awards, then silver in 'Best Use of Digital Technologies' at the 2022 UK Employee Experience Awards.
Jenny Muhlwa Learning & Development Manager at Sumo Group
"THRIVE are incredibly responsive and really do their best to deliver and create an amazing learning experience for everyone across our Sumo Studios. "
5 stars
