Case Study: San Mateo County achieves rapid upskilling and a culture of continuous learning with Cornerstone OnDemand

Accelerating employee growth in both traditional and virtual work environments

The County of San Mateo, a public-sector agency serving more than 750,000 residents with roughly 5,500 employees, needed to modernize training for a younger, tech‑savvy workforce and accelerate succession planning ahead of a wave of manager retirements. Leaders prioritized building an active learning culture that could deliver on‑demand, relevant content across both traditional and virtual work environments.

They piloted and in February 2020 launched Cornerstone Content Anytime subscriptions (Professional Skills and Leadership & Management) alongside a new Learner Home. Adoption surged during COVID-19—course completions jumped over 450% in the first week and later peaked at more than a 1,200% increase—while evaluations showed 94% learned something and 92% would recommend the courses. The solution cut manual content-management work, provided a continually refreshed library for upskilling and re‑skilling, and helped institutionalize continuous learning to support succession goals.

San Mateo County

Theresa Rabe

Deputy Director of Human Resources