Employees want learning and career development today more than ever. Yet, companies in the United States can afford to waste billions of dollars on ineffective training. No industry has felt the consequences of that ineffectiveness more than the hospitality and retail industries. In 2018, the industries' employee turnover exceeded 70%. And lack of proper learning and development was one of the top reasons for quitting.
With the average cost of replacing an employee averaging $5,000 to $10,000, HR teams, CEOs and managers need to rethink and re-evaluate their training strategy. Studies show training content isn't necessarily bad, but rather, companies face serious challenges in delivery.
So if you're going to take your restaurant, store or hotel to the next level, you must find ways to address the delivery challenges now. And embracing a mobile first learning strategy is the surest way to do so.
In this post, we look at these challenges and limitations in detail and demonstrate why adopting a mobile-first LMS can contribute immensely in helping you manage them.
Challenges & Limitation in Content Delivery
Use Of Printed Materials
Despite the advancement in technology, most companies still deliver training in printed materials. Although the medium was successful in the past, printed materials have served their purpose in the training landscape.
Employees in the hospitality and retail industries, in particular, are highly mobile. This makes the use of printed materials impractical and costly.
For example, a waiter in a busy restaurant may find it difficult to keep sieving through papers to solve an immediate problem while attending to his/her duties.
Video Training
Videos offer a great way to train and engage employees. Studies show that the use of videos increases retention. However, it becomes a serious drawback when employees have to watch them in training rooms or designated areas with a PC.
At the same time, companies using mobile responsive content strategy also struggle with storage space. Constant buffering while streaming videos from the Cloud remains a serious challenge.
Inconsistent Updates
Moving away from printed materials to a mobile responsive LMS is still a good step. However, it can only do so much when creating consistent training throughout your branches.
For instance, when a document needs an update, you're left with two options: allow the trainers or the employees to make the changes. This can create serious inconsistencies since some employees may not update it. On the other hand, making regular updates can overload trainers.
Employee Engagement
Training your new hires by locking them in a room and loading them with lots of information about your company makes them lose interest in their new jobs. Employers who don't offer the right onboarding tend to lose new employees within the first year.
Frustrated IT Teams
Mobile-responsive LMS assumes all employees are tech-savvy and can, therefore, navigate through new techs quickly to engage with the learning content. But that can be a costly assumption because employees who are not tech-savvy tend to ask for help from your IT team.
And since most IT personnel in hospitality and retail are already stretched, they may become frustrated, overloaded and ultimately look for greener pastures elsewhere.
How A Mobile-First Content Strategy Can Help
Clearly, a paper-based and mobile responsive content strategy can only do so much in making training more effective in restaurants and hotels. Growing companies are now turning to a mobile-first content strategy because:
- A mobile-first LMS seamlessly brings learning to where employees work.
- Content updates are automatically enacted across all devices thereby eliminating inconsistencies and employees access it instantly.
- Promotes collaborative learning
- Engages employees through higher levels of interactivity
If you want to learn how your company can leverage mobile content enablement, read our eBook: "Why a Mobile-First (vs. a Mobile-Responsive) Training Strategy Wins Every Time."
