Investing in people who serve Hawaii.

The State of Hawaii improves public service with continuous development for 15,000 employees using Adobe Learning Manager.

1,800

instructor-led training sessions replaced with self-paced digital learning

$30K

saved yearly in travel expenses by eliminating instructor travel for in-person training

15K

state employees supported through a centralized learning platform

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“Adobe Learning Manager gives us the tools we need to invest in our workplace and ultimately provide better service to the people of Hawaii."

Patti McDonald

Program Manager – Learning & Development, Department of Human Resources Development, State of Hawaii

Building stronger public service through training.

Every day, thousands of Hawaii state employees help residents access benefits, protect natural resources, keep communities safe, support businesses, and deliver essential public services.

For Patti McDonald, program manager for Learning & Development (L&D) at the Hawaii Department of Human Resources Development (DHRD), that means that knowledgeable employees are the key to improving public service. By making training easier to access and professional development available throughout an employee’s career, McDonald and the L&D team are helping agencies build a stronger workforce and improve the services they provide to residents.

Nearly 12 years ago, McDonald joined DHRD to modernize training. Today, Adobe Learning Manager serves as the central hub for onboarding, compliance, leadership development, and continuous learning, enabling her team to support 15,000 employees across 18 executive branch departments and build the skilled workforce that keeps Hawaii running.

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Creating one place for learning.

Before adopting Learning Manager, DHRD had already begun expanding digital learning with Adobe Connect. During her own onboarding, McDonald saw how the Procurement team used Adobe Connect to deliver prerecorded, self-paced training and recognized the opportunity to extend that approach across state government.

Under her leadership, Adobe Connect grew to support more than 600 courses. As participation expanded, DHRD introduced Learning Manager for centralized learner management, reporting, and administration.

Today, Learning Manager serves as the hub for classroom, virtual, and self-paced learning, while Adobe Connect continues to power live virtual training. Managers can easily track course completion and compliance requirements, and employees have a single destination for finding and completing the training they need.

“When we first introduced online learning, there was a lot of hesitation,” says McDonald. “Now departments call us asking why a new employee isn’t in Adobe Learning Manager yet. That’s exactly the kind of change we hoped to see."

Simplifying compliance while saving time.

One of the platform’s biggest impacts has been around mandatory compliance training.

Before moving Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) training online, the EEO officer led more than 1,800 classroom sessions. Departments manually tracked attendance and maintained records for their employees, forwarding files whenever employees transferred to another team.

Today, everything runs through Learning Manager. The state has assigned the certification more than 27,000 times since launch, providing a clear, auditable record of compliance for all employees. Similarly, McDonald combined multiple variations of Workplace Violence training into a single self-paced experience that has now been assigned more than 23,000 times.

Managers, employees, and departments can now access compliance information whenever they need it. The shift benefits employees, who can complete courses when it best fits their schedules.

The state has significantly reduced training costs by eliminating classroom-based instruction, including saving approximately $30,000 annually in travel expenses since trainers no longer need to fly to remote locations across Hawaii to deliver in-person EEO and Workplace Violence training. In addition, instructors who previously spent hundreds of hours each year conducting training can now devote more time to their core departmental responsibilities. McDonald plans to introduce badges through Learning Manager, giving employees an easy way to document skills and accomplishments throughout their careers.

“When we first introduced online learning, there was a lot of hesitation. Now departments call us asking why a new employee isn’t in Adobe Learning Manager yet. That’s exactly the kind of change we hoped to see."

Patti McDonald

Program Manager – Learning & Development, Department of Human Resources Development, State of Hawaii

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Supporting ongoing employee learning and development.

Employees use Learning Manager throughout the year to access onboarding, technology training, safety courses, and professional development from a single learning hub. The state offers curated learning from Content Marketplace alongside internally developed courses created with Adobe Captivate, giving employees a broad catalog of development opportunities.

Some courses offer hybrid experiences that combine in-person classroom with virtual learning. Leadership programs, for instance, assign self-paced learning plans that reinforce new skills between classroom sessions. Departments are also creating customized learning experiences tailored to their own workforce needs.

For McDonald, success isn’t measured by the number of courses available. It’s making sure every employee understands that development opportunities exist and knows exactly where to find them. The next step will focus on expanding learning paths, creating easy-to-follow course plans that will help employees find the courses that will help them reach their goals.

“I want every employee to understand that development is available to them,” she says. “Learning shouldn’t depend on what department you work in. Everyone should know where to go and have access to opportunities to grow.”

Growing the next generation of public servants.

As Hawaii looks ahead, learning is becoming an increasingly important part of workforce planning. Like many governments, the state is preparing for a large wave of retirements while competing to attract skilled employees. Hawaii faces additional hurdles as it’s much more expensive for young talent to move to the island state. McDonald believes that opening Learning Manager to interns will help students build workplace skills while introducing them to the benefits of public service careers, turning learning into a valuable recruitment tool.

McDonald also expects to broaden learning beyond government employees to members of the public. Programs such as Women, Infants and Children (WIC) could provide training directly to healthcare providers and residents, improving understanding of complex requirements and reducing questions to the state. Running programs through Learning Manager will also give the state data around who’s taking training, how many are completing it, and what they can do to make content even more useful.

“Learning is no longer just about compliance. It’s becoming one of the ways we attract, develop, and retain talented people,” says McDonald. “Adobe Learning Manager gives us the tools we need to invest in our workplace and ultimately provide better service to the people of Hawaii."