Customer Story
Automating Workflows and Developing Employees in a Compliance-Heavy Industry
Discover how Cresco Labs uses the Bridge LMS to transform its culture of learning and streamline compliance training in the highly regulated cannabis industry.
Mission
Cresco Labs, Inc. is one of the largest vertically integrated, multi-state operators in the US, with a mission to normalize and professionalize the cannabis industry. The publicly traded multi-state cannabis operator headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
The Challenge
A Clunky Legacy LMS, Dispersed Workforce & High- Compliance Requirement
When Bert Newsome was hired as the IT Training and Implementation Manager at Cresco Labs in 2019, he inherited a clunky LMS that he knew wasn’t going to do the job of training the company’s 1,000+ employees in the compliance-heavy cannabis industry. For one thing, the legacy LMS’ workflows were highly manual and therefore time-consuming. For another, due to the manual nature of the platform, it was prone to errors.
He immediately set out to find a solution that would allow him to manage compliance training, onboarding, technology training, manager training, and course authoring, all in one learning management system.
Additionally, a major challenge Cresco Labs faced was that its employees were spread out across the country, and cannabis regulations vary dramatically between the states.
The unique challenges of multi-state compliance made proactive reporting absolutely essential for us. We also need to develop training that meets the needs of retail associates and our operations team at a time when we’re growing substantially year-on-year. This is an emerging industry with lots of unknowns, and Bridge are an able partner in the development of our staff.-Bert Newsome, IT Training and Implementation Manager at Cresco Labs
The Solution
Game-Changing Automations & Mobile App Lead to Training Beyond the Merely Mandatory
Cresco Labs chose the Bridge LMS due to its ability to automate many of the workflows Bert found himself tasked with. To manage compliance training across multiple states, Cresco Labs leverages hundreds of smart groups to tailor training to different locations and job titles, ensuring that all its employees are compliant regardless of where they’re located. As the company operates in a relatively new and rapidly evolving industry, regulations and strategies are constantly changing. For Cresco Labs, the ability to automate the assignment of new courses to the right groups at the right time has been a game-changer.
The Bridge mobile app also solved major challenges for Cresco Labs, as it has numerous deskless workers and thus lacks the physical and technical infrastructure for all employees to complete training on an office computer at once. The Bridge mobile app increased Cresco Labs’ capacity to complete compliance training, creating space for more employee development, such as manager training and skill development.
The ability for employees to have more flexibility in completing their assigned training has been a game changer in terms of meeting each state’s training requirements. It has increased training completions ten-fold.-Bert Newsome, IT Training and Implementation Manager at Cresco Labs
The Results
A Company-Wide Focus on Employee Skills Development
The efficiencies created by Bridge transformed the culture of learning at Cresco Labs. Automated workflows allow Bert to spend more of his time creating employee development programs, and the Bridge mobile app frees up physical space for additional learning beyond compliance training.
Employees are now using Bridge to build critical job skills, such as word processing and data analysis. As a result, course completion rates improved by 15% in the company’s first year of using Bridge. Over the past four years with Bridge, Cresco Labs has been impressed by Bridge’s commitment to innovating and launching new features. Bert still attends every roadmap webinar and eagerly participates in beta testing Bridge’s new product releases.
The Bridge customer service team always provides a top-notch service, they’re always going above and beyond. Bridge has been a fantastic partner and helps us ensure that Cresco Labs employees receive top-tier staff training and development opportunities.-Bert Newsome, IT Training and Implementation Manager at Cresco Labs
Industry
Cannabis retail/medical marijuana
Established
2013
Headquarters
Chicago, IL
