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Immersive Learning at Union Investment

How User-friendly, Scalable Soft Skill Training Transforms Workforce Development

Union Investment partnered with 3spin Learning to pilot a new immersive learning approach, designed to give employees easy, low-barrier access to communication and leadership training.

Success Story

In a pilot project, Union Investment successfully introduced a flexible, scalable, and hands-on immersive learning solution for soft skills development, leveraging AI-powered coaching and ready-to-use training content.

Union Investment Soft Skill Training with AI Coaching

Union Invest Logo

Union Investment, one of Germany’s leading asset managers with around 4,400 employees, is known for its forward-thinking approach to talent development and innovative learning strategies.

Challenge

Scaling Soft Skills Training 

The central question was how learning is evolving and how it can be better integrated into the flow of work. Up to that point, Union Investment had primarily relied on traditional in-person soft skills training, typically delivered as two-day workshops combining theory and role-play exercises.

However, this approach came with several challenges such as limited training capacity across different topics, restricted participant numbers despite a large workforce, lack of flexibility in terms of time and location, and limited scalability when training needs arose on short notice.

For employees, unpredictable day-to-day workloads often made it difficult to attend trainings booked well in advance. In addition, some participants felt uncomfortable with live role-play exercises. As a result, Union Investment set out to explore a complementary, more flexible format for soft skills training, one that would make learning more accessible, scalable, and easy to engage with.

Union Investment Soft Skill Training with AI Coaching

Solution

As part of a five-month pilot, Union Investment tested 3spin Learning’s standard library, which includes 15 immersive soft skills trainings covering leadership, communication, feedback, and conversational skills. The focus was deliberately placed on using existing content from the open library rather than developing custom trainings. The goal was to evaluate a ready-to-use, scalable learning offering.

Union Investment Soft Skill Training with AI Coaching

3spin Learning convinced Union Investment due to its low barrier to entry. The trainings are accessible anytime and anywhere via a web browser and required no integration into the existing IT architecture. Employees can practice in a safe environment with an avatar, receive immediate feedback from a virtual coach, and repeat conversation scenarios as often as they like to reflect on and improve their behavior. This allows for practicing realistic dialogues, formulating messages, and developing constructive communication skills.

As this was a pilot project, Union Investment focused on systematic evaluation. Key aspects included the perceived relevance and sustainability of learning, the actual improvement of communication skills, and the overall suitability of the solution for a scaled rollout within the organization.

„“3spin Learning is very well suited to prepare a broad target group within the company for conversation scenarios in a flexible, low-threshold way, independent of time and location. You can practice how to formulate feedback or remain constructive without having to wait for an in-person training.”

Birgit Schuster
Senior HR Specialist, Group HR, Learning, Development & Culture Team at Union Investment
Birgit Schuster Union Investment-1

Results

Better Communication Skills with AI Coaching

Initial findings show a high level of flexibility across different target groups and working time models. The format was particularly well received by employees who tend to feel uncomfortable in traditional role-playing scenarios. The coach avatar provides strong content-related input and offers targeted support in improving conversational skills.

High acceptance: Immersive learning was consistently rated positively by participants

Strong future potential: Users see the format as a valuable addition to and evolution of existing training programs

Excellent usability: Intuitive to use with no technical barriers to entry

Low-threshold access: Especially suitable for employees who are hesitant about traditional role-playing exercises

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