Case study:
Effective onboarding and ongoing learning
at HealthStream

Like most industries, technology has changed the world —of healthcare in ways we never imagined just a few years ago. HealthStream, through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, empowers healthcare providers to better support and develop their workforces. To succeed in its mission, it needs a technology staff that’s agile and current on new trends and best practices, which means solving three challenges:

A solution for training at the point of need.

“As a group, we realized we needed to do more to provide professional development opportunities for our employees,” says Spenser Aden, Director of Product Architecture. A solution emerged when one of Spenser’s employees came to him to talk about online training through Pluralsight. The employee had heard about Pluralsight and its reputation for working with top industry experts to produce its courses.

“We are involved with Pluralsight today because of who was generating content and because what they generated was as good online as it was in person, if not better.” Spenser says. “What I’m really looking for is content that’s relevant and content that is good quality. I think from the very beginning when we started working with Pluralsight, that’s what we found.”

Pluralsight is an essential part of the team’s routine of refreshing their skills. “What really helps me about Pluralsight is the fact that I can take courses on newer technology that I didn’t learn when I was going through school,” says Spenser. “I find that using Pluralsight…is a great way to keep current with the newer kids that we’re hiring.” 

Streamlining employee onboarding.

Pluralsight has had a major impact on making HealthStream’s employee onboarding process more efficient. The team first discusses skills and languages that candidates for each role should know. New hires are asked about their current skills and what they might need to learn before fully assuming the responsibilities of their new role.

Through their analysis, HealthStream can determine which Pluralsight courses new employees need to watch.

“We assign them a whole bunch of Pluralsight videos that they need to watch to get up to speed on,” says Chris Franklin, Senior Developer. “That’s the first visibility that a new hire gets into Pluralsight.”

Cultivating a culture of learning.

Pluralsight contributes to HealthStream’s strong learning culture in numerous ways. “As a performance incentive, we get a small bonus if we complete certain tasks throughout the year,” says Chris. “So each quarter, we have one of our goals bound to Pluralsight videos.”

The senior developers select around five courses from the Pluralsight library that they want their teams to take, and employees select an additional course outside that list. It’s a way to encourage skills enhancement in a structured way, but also helps to establish a culture of learning overall.

“We have a learning culture where we strive to encourage innovation,” says Chris. “Pluralsight is a great resource to support us in this value.” 

HealthStream at a glace: