The Change
Introducing... The Upwards App
Features:
Tablet friendly.
Seamlessly integrates with Time Clock.
Employees can assign themselves a deadline to complete the month's training session.
When employees sign in and out, the Time Clock will remind them of the deadline that they gave themselves.
Time Clock will notify employees that the new monthly training module is available.
Time Clock will show employees and managers how much time was spent on the monthly training module by the end of the month.
Within reason, if an employee did not have downtime to spare to complete this training module and they were using their unpaid-break times, then management can approve additional compensation.
Employee Interface:
Each employee will have their own profile.
In their profile, they will be able to see several progress bars.
One bar will show their progress of the completed assigned monthly training topics.
A second bar will show the percentage of training topics they have completed in one calendar year.
Another bar will show the number of badges earned compared to the number of possible badges earned in one year.
Badges are awarded:
They complete the training module every month.
Achieve higher than 90% on their assessment activities.
When they meet their proposed deadline.
Additional badges could be given out by managers as positive recognition when employee displays proper safety practices during their shift.
The assigned training topics tab:
Before the start of the training module, employees will complete a pre-assessment before starting the material.
The training topics are broken down into small bite-sized pieces.
Each piece should take about 3-5 minutes to complete.
Training material include videos, quick activities, and lesson notes.
For one training topic, there will be various assessment types that assesses the same topic.
Employees can choose what type of assessment they would like to complete.
These can range from playing a game, filling out an electronic worksheet, or physically demonstrating the task to the management team.
Employees have a span of 1 month to complete each monthly training module.
Includes built-in dictionary function.
Management Interface:
Various charts are available for viewing.
One pie chart will show the percentage of employees who have completed the monthly training module.
A progress chart represents the percentage of employees who have completed the training in one year.
For each training module, the manager can see employees' assessment scores.
If an employee chooses to physically demonstrate the assessment task to a manager, the manager will enter the score in the employees' profile.
Managers will be notified of the training topics that employees are having the hardest time with.
Managers can then schedule supplemental training sessions to review the training material again to ensure employees have a thorough understanding, Once the training session is delivered, employees will need to complete the assessment activity of their choice again.
Steps to implement change:
Ensure the department has enough tablets for employees to use throughout their shift.
Create tablet sign out sheet for employees to sign out the tablet at their specified time.
Utilize a mobile training platform to host all the monthly training materials for the organization.
Management should host a training session to ensure employees know how to use this platform.
Management to share the vision of using the Upwards App with the team.
As a team, set team goals as to when they want to see all members of the team be trained on this application
An account for each employee will be created. When they borrow the tablet, they can enter their credentials and continue on with their training activities.
Possible Incentives
With the badges that employees earn, incentives are awarded.
In one calendar year, if all employees 100% of their badges, they will receive a percentage wage increase in the next year.
Percentage of wage increase is set by the organization
A team specific reward system can be developed as a group.
For example, by the end of June all members on the team must earn 45 badges. The reward is a team dinner.
Considerations when Implementing Change
The organization needs to ensure that there are enough tablets for the number of employees
The organization needs to develop and implement policies regarding using company's technology.
Since the tablet is company property, employees need to sign an agreement stating that with company property, only work-related activities are done on the tablet.
Employees with language barriers, various learning abilities, and learning styles may still need management's support with monthly training.
Purposes for Implementing Change
To empower employees to learn, they should be given an opportunity to choose how they would like to learn (Sharma, 2021)
Employees are able to learn at their own pace throughout the month.
Employees can take advantage of downtime during their shift for learning.
Employees can set their own completion deadlines.
Employees are given the responsibility to learn.
Employees have access to a self-guided learning module that is reasonably sized for them to digest the material.
Allowing employees flexibility and access to training material can allow employees to develop the desire to learn.
Employees can select their own assessment method to put their knowledge into practice.
Because the training is delivered on a tablet, employees are free to complete the training wherever they feel comfortable.
Management is given tools to track employee progress
If employees are still unclear on a training topic or need a reminder, they have access to a tablet to quickly review and continue on with their shift.
References:
Sharma, A. (2021). People Matters - Interstitial Site — People Matters. Peoplematters.in. Retrieved 21 November 2021, from https://www.peoplematters.in/article/performance-management/how-to-empower-employees-to-take-ownership-of-their-own-performance-23247.