The Realities Of Digital Learning in 2017

work experience in your very early life, it’s the beginning of a new adventure in not only economics, but also in socialization, responsibility and learning.

My career started in fast casual – Perkin’s Pancake house to be specific. In fact, nearly 30% of people’s very first jobs are in fast casual or quick service restaurants. These companies are the nation’s foundation of early employment for many, and as such, they need to be the most prepared at getting employees up to speed and productive. 

New training methods are capitalizing on mobile learning and the impacts that has on operational performance. We touch on some of these new modern training methods in our eBook: Modernize your Business Operations: Move Beyond the LMS. This article describes key metrics that your deskless employees have on customer satisfaction and business success, but keep in mind that without being able to tie training to the results, you’ll be in the dark.

4 metrics every restaurant should track

"A recent study by the National Restaurant Association found that one in three quick-service and one in four fast casual job openings go to people getting their first work experience in hospitality. Anyone who’s worked in the foodservice industry knows that employees are the lifeblood of customer satisfaction and repeat business, but lack of experience can negatively impact your business."

‍Let’s say you just took a new job at restaurant and are going to be responsible for cleaning the kitchen appliances. You’re hired in at minimum wage, but can quickly progress to nearly double that once you become certified on cleaning all the equipment. Here are your options: 1) read a 100 page manual on cleaning all the kitchen equipment in a restaurant and then take a test, 2) shadow another employee for 4 weeks watching their steps and processes for cleaning and then certify, 3) go to a piece of equipment, watch a brief tutorial video, then put what you learn into practice immediately having someone check your work. What do you choose? 

Mobile learning technologies and training methods are changing the workplace. Interactive documents, coupled with training videos and even short quizzes gives employees a chance to learn faster in a more engaging and collaborative way. Here’s a nice article that helps you understand the difference between eLearning and interactive learning, and why it’s important.

"Part of our role as industry analysts at Fosway is to understand and make sense of the evolution of technology and ongoing shifts in the market. To that end, the Fosway 9-Grids™ were launched five years ago to much interest from e-learning buyers and providers alike. But the demands from learning technology market are changing. There remains sustained demand for technology-led learning solutions across Europe and beyond. However, the nature of the requirements is sh..."

‍Turnover in retail and restaurant are notoriously high, with some companies experiencing more than 100% a year. For years this has been reluctantly accepted as just part of the industry and what comes with hiring a lot of first time employees at lower salary levels. Despite the efforts to hold on to people longer, the general trend has not been reduced materially and turnover still represents a significant challenge and cost to companies.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way, and studies are showing that an engaged employee is more likely to stay longer. How do you engage them? Give them opportunities to learn, but do it using micro-learning techniques that overcome some of the biggest challenges in retaining people, namely, great training, socialization, developing management skills, updated standard operating procedures, incentives for learning and performance, and a way to help other employees.

"When employees leave – either because you fired them or they quit by choice, their absence leaves a hole. Retailers hate holes… in merchandise, in displays and in schedules. The more employee turnovers you have, the more holes you have to deal with, the more costly it becomes. A CAP study found it costs, on average, $3,328 to find, hire and train a replacement for a $10/hour retail employee. Hay Group reported a median turnover rate of 67% for part-time retail employees."