Company
Marshall E-Learning was founded in 2002 by David Marshall, Head of Research at Penna PLC and a network of Penna Consultants. The first course developed by the newly formed firm was titled “Diversity in the Workplace”, where working with our friends at ACAS we developed a web based diversity training course.
David founded the firm believing there was a gap in the market for digital learning by a team who would combine in-house knowledge on the topics as well as the technological expertise. This skillset means clients stay with Marshalls for many years as we carefully keep our work updated. It means clients can share a challenge with us, which is difficult and nuanced, and we can help them develop a script with them.
That course and variations of it have kept Marshalls busy every since. Now 18 years later we have trained over two million people in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Germany, Holland, United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Vietnam, China, Thailand, Spain and France.
Based in Bankside, London SE1, Marshall E-Learning have a team of developers, illustrators, graphic designers, writers all supporting that core team who founded the firm back in 2002.
Update from David Marshall, Marshall E-Learning 2020
Dear Clients,
We were full of plans for 2020 principally around developing a brand new unconscious bias course with a brand new approach to film. It was due to use branching technology to people could make decisions and see the impact of their decisions being acted out in front of them on the screen.
However sadly we shut down our office in March as the COVID virus emerged. We carried on working from home though and initially I was quite concerned about how to manage the business and carry on paying our office costs. Initially everything was very quiet so to keep busy we motivated ourselves with different projects, my favourite being an animated poem on the situation we found ourselves in:
An Animated poem by Marshall E-Learning
We then invested time and resources into “The Manager’s Lockdown Toolkit” a tutorial covering guidance for working from home, managing a virtual team, leading in a time of uncertainty and mental health and wellbeing whilst working from home. It kept us busy and as we told clients about it we realised there was a huge market for it. I am so pleased that we have been able to help charities, arts and health organisations on a pro bono basis. Then existing and new clients have been able to purchase this resource at a fraction of our usual prices. It supported clients and kept us focused and avoided us needing to furlough anyone. Here is a sneak preview:
The Manager’s Lockdown Toolkit
Now as things are opening up and clients are working on their return to work plans we have renamed the resource “future ways of working” with a brand new chapter on “return to work”. We have a wide variety of organisations all using this from the NHS, to local government, to universities and finally many firms in finance and law.
So what is next? We are going to build that brand new module on unconscious bias using the branching technology and look forward to developing something innovative. We think our first set of courses in this area showed how bias can emerge in the workplace through recruitment, work allocation, performance management and customer care. This new resource is going to look at the impact of micro behaviours and looking at who gets mentored and promoted up the organisation via informal support due to bias. It will give the user some tips on how they can manage their bias and be more inclusive in their workplace. Do come back soon and ask us for a demonstration and in the meantime thanks again to our all existing and new clients who have kept us busy in 2020.
Best wishes and stay safe,
David Marshall, London, July 2020
