Employee training continues to be important in every industry so that personnel understand updated guidelines, regulations and policies. This is especially true in the restaurant and retail sectors where turnover is extremely high. Of course, most of the skills they need to perform the job they can learn throughout the day and from line managers. However, more detailed information that they have to put to memory may not be so easy to transmit. Line managers probably don't have all the new information on new policies or regulations. That is why outside training techniques are required. There are a few particularly important means to make sure employees get the knowledge they need quickly.
Mobile Engagement
Of course, it is no longer cost effective or worth the time to put all your workers on a bus or plane to a class teaching them the most updated information for their jobs. In fact, these this teaching technique is not even the most effective.
Researchers have now found that mobile engagement actually is much better at helping staff to get the most out of their time and actually learn everything they need to. That's because mobile engagement can use the latest techniques including visual effects, story telling, compelling visuals, audio and short bites of information to give the employee everything they need. These short clips have proven to be very effective at helping employee learn new knowledge.
Best of all, workers are able to fit in mobile training to their busy schedules. Whether it is on their commute, at home before they go to sleep or during breaks in work, mobile is a means to get training in at all times of the day.
Quizzes
The latest research demonstrates that interactivity and short quizzes are the most effective way for students to retain information. One long test at the end of a course can be helpful, but it is not ideal for employees that don't have the time or energy to cram for the exam.
Instead, periodic short quizzes are the most effective way to help employees retain information. These give instant feedback on what was just covered. They may only be 3 to 5 questions long, but they cumulatively are many questions and help the student take a big step forward in their knowledge.
Customized
No employee wants to learn about things that are completely outside of their scope of work. The only want to see things that are pertinent to their job and industry. While office occupational codes are important, they don't apply that often to restaurant or retail workers that are consumer facing and not based in a traditional office.
Customized courses allow companies to provide the exact content they need when they need it. They can delete areas that are not relevant to the firm or the job. That way, the employee is hyper-focused and attentive at all times. The content is on target and directly applicable for the job.
While training is as important as ever, not every delivery method works in the modern restaurant and retail workplace. For more information download our guide, "Learn, Communicate & Measure: How to Future-Proof Your Learning Ecosystem"
