Over the last 20 years experience working with Fortune 500 companies across all industries, and I have been privileged to work with some of the worlds top Quick Service Restaurant organizations.
Ironically, compared to any other industry, Quick Service Restaurants have been utilizing some of the most sophisticated 3D game and simulation environments to on board employees, impact operational effectiveness, and significantly reduce time to competence.
Here’s a few examples of the results QSRs achieved with our solutions:
- 43% reduction in service complaints
- 12% increase in revenues per store
- 63% reduction in time to proficiency
- Reduced turnover rate from 204% to 73%
- Savings of over $3 million in paper/printing costs
How did they achieve these results?
Firstly, they had clear business targets to address. For one client, the aim was to reduce turnover and improve time to proficiency, or competence. This client had calculated that the turnover cost per employee was $3,300. They had also determined that by using traditional training methods (SOP manuals and on the job training (OJT) with co-workers, it took 8 shifts before they could perform their job without manager supervision. The client invested in game based online learning which included super realistic 3D environments. The online learning had 3D models of the equipment and work environment. The new employee would have to virtually serve customers, which included interacting with the virtual equipment, pressing buttons and doing everything they would do in the real world. By creating these realistic online environments, new employees quickly gained knowledge and experience, and built their confidence and accuracy. All of this was done in a safe learning environment, where no customer experience was affected negatively. The client found that as new employees quickly became confident, they were less likely to quit. This is a valuable lesson learned. How often are employees hired and quickly thrown into a sink or swim environment, only to be ‘coached’ when they are doing something wrong? Guests should not have to be exposed to people that don’t truly have the knowledge, confidence and experience to take care of them properly.
In the corporate Learning and Development (L&D) world, there is a lot of debate about millennials and ‘modern learners’, and whether or not they are different than any previous generation or demographic within the workforce. On one side, the argument is that data and research has not yet proven that these demographics benefit from any differences in training approaches. On the other side, I find it hard to ignore the fact that millennials and digital natives grew up with a different perspective, experience and relationship with technology than those before them.
We are all evolving in our relationship with technology, and how it affects everything we do. We can either deny or embrace this reality, and that is a personal choice. But we can’t deny the changes in the amount of information available to us, and the ability to access this information is at our fingertips- 24/7.
The early QSR pioneers of truly leveraging the power of online learning and gamification have experienced quantifiable returns on their significant investments. Advances in technology, both hardware and software, along with connectivity, is great news for the small multi-unit or independent restaurant operator. They now have an opportunity to utilize powerful and highly effective online learning technologies at a fraction of the time and costs incurred by leading QSRs just 5-10 years ago. In future blog posts I will dive deeper into this subject, with practical examples and trends.
In my next post, I will go over the reasons why the time is right for independent restaurants to get on board with eLearning.
Next Blog post: Are You Ready for the Digital Revolution?
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