How Finist Group built systematic employee onboarding and training
An insurance broker was looking for a way to organize information across the company and make its knowledge base convenient for the sales team’s day-to-day work. During implementation, the knowledge base grew into a single hub that brings together information management and professional induction into new roles.
Client
Finist is a Russian insurance company with a broad regional network. A large share of its employees are specialists who work with clients every day: insurance agents, managers and front-office staff.
For the business, it is critical that new employees:
- quickly get to grips with insurance products and regulations;
- feel confident communicating with clients;
- understand service standards and corporate requirements.
At the same time, training had to take into account employees’ real workloads and the specifics of the insurance business, where information is updated regularly.
Challenge
Initially, the project was launched not as a classic training or onboarding program, but as an effort to bring order to the company’s knowledge and internal materials.
The HR team and the implementation team faced the following challenges:
- Organize and centralize the knowledge base
Create a single place to store up-to-date information, regulations and instructions, with convenient search. - Give employees fast access to information
So employees can find answers to work questions on their own without constantly asking colleagues and managers. - Build a clear role induction process
Define exactly what an employee needs to know and do at the start — not as an emotional onboarding experience, but as a clear professional induction.
Solution
The solution was to implement the Talent Rocks platform as the company’s unified digital workspace, primarily for working with the knowledge base and structured role induction for employees.
A knowledge base with “smart” search was deployed on the platform and became the entry point.
At first, the platform focused on storing up-to-date regulations, instructions and materials. As it was used, it became clear that the same digital workspace could support other processes too: introducing employees to the company structure, role induction and tracking training and in-person activities.
“Our knowledge base has everything — literally everything about our products, business processes and more. It was important for us that employees have one clear place where they can quickly find the information they need.”
From a knowledge base to a unified digital workspace
Beyond the knowledge base, the company gradually began using additional platform features:
- self-study materials;
- in-person training sessions with attendance confirmed via QR codes;
- certificates upon completion of training;
- gamification elements to engage employees.
The platform has become a working tool that covers several needs at once — from storing knowledge to supporting employees in their day-to-day work.
“Today we use the platform for more than just storing information. It helps employees get their bearings faster and understand what to look for and where, especially during role induction.”
Engagement through play
The company had no trouble getting new employees to use the platform — for them, the knowledge base and unified digital workspace became part of starting the job from day one. Engaging long-tenured employees, who were already used to their own work routines, was a separate challenge.
Ahead of the New Year, Finist’s HR team decided to use a game format as a gentle way to bring “veterans” back to the platform. They launched a New Year advent calendar tied to materials and sections of the knowledge base.
The advent calendar helped get employees engaged with the digital workspace: they logged in to the platform, explored its sections, searched for information and completed simple tasks. This format showcased the knowledge base as a working tool rather than a formal repository of materials.
Results
As a result of the implementation, the company gained not just a set of tools but a stable, working system that makes it possible to:
- manage knowledge base content and structure centrally;
- update materials so they always stay current;
- see which sections employees use;
- track participation in training and in-person activities.
The knowledge base and unified digital workspace have become employees’ go-to entry point for work processes: this is where they find up-to-date information, return to materials as needed and rely less on manual guidance from colleagues and managers.
New employees now get up to speed faster on products, regulations and the requirements of their role. Role induction has gained a clear structure and is no longer a scattered set of introductory briefings.
Summary
This case study shows how work on a knowledge base can become the starting point for broader change. Having started with the goal of organizing information and making it accessible to employees, the company ended up with a unified digital workspace that supports role induction and training.
For the HR team and managers, this meant a lighter operational load: fewer repeat questions and more transparency into how employees go through role induction and use materials. Training and onboarding have become managed processes rather than an area of constant manual oversight.
Sergey Burmistrov
EdTech methodologist, Talent Rocks“In many companies, the knowledge base remains just a file repository for a long time — documents get stored there, but it’s hardly used in day-to-day work. In practice, it becomes valuable when the knowledge base is convenient and built into work processes, with a clear structure, search and regular use.
In projects like Finist, we see that the knowledge base often becomes the starting point for digitizing HR processes — role induction, training and internal communications start to take shape around it. At that point, the platform stops being just a handy reference and becomes a development tool for modern teams.”