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Learning solutions can maximize IT investments

 

Learning and training is a key ingredient to maximizing ROI in an IT project. It enables employees to effectively utilize the new technology or system being implemented. Here’s an example of how a robust learning and training strategy improved ROI:

Our client invested in a new workforce management system to improve the accuracy of payroll and employee satisfaction. They recognized that without proper training and understanding of the system, their employees might struggle to use it to its full potential.

To maximize ROI, the company developed a comprehensive learning and training strategy that included the following elements:

  1. Training Needs Assessment: They assessed the skill levels and knowledge gaps of their employees related to the IT system. This helped them identify the specific areas that required training and customization.
  2. Customized Training Program: Based on the assessment results, they designed a training program tailored to their employees’ needs. It included a combination of classroom training, online tutorials, hands-on exercises, and access to training materials and resources.
  3. User Adoption Workshops: They organized interactive workshops to promote user adoption and engagement. These workshops encouraged employees to explore the system’s features, ask questions, and share best practices. This fostered a culture of continuous learning and collaboration.
  4. Ongoing Support: The company provided ongoing support and assistance through dedicated help desks, user forums, and regular communication channels. This ensured that employees had access to resources and experts who could address their questions or concerns even after the initial training.

The result of this learning and training strategy was a significant improvement in ROI. Here’s how it happened:

  1. Increased User Adoption: By investing in comprehensive training, employees gained the knowledge and confidence to use the CRM system effectively. This led to higher user adoption rates, ensuring that the new system was fully utilized throughout the organization.
  2. Improved Productivity: With proper training, employees could leverage the system’s capabilities to streamline their time tracking and approval processes, automate tasks, and improve the accuracy of payroll for its employees. This resulted in increased productivity, reduced manual effort, and improved efficiency in managing customer relationships.
  3. Enhanced Data Accuracy: Training helped employees understand the importance of accurate data entry and management within the system. As a result, data quality and integrity improved, leading to better decision-making and improved customer insights.
  4. Enhanced Employee Experience: With a better understanding of the system, employees were able to improve the process of scheduling, tracking and paying employees. This led to improved employee satisfaction, increased loyalty, and potentially higher retention of employees due to their ongoing satisfaction.

In this scenario, the investment in learning and training played a critical role in maximizing ROI for the IT project. It empowered employees to fully utilize the IT system, resulting in improved productivity, payroll accuracy, and employee experience. By focusing on continuous learning and training, the company was able to reap the benefits of their IT investment and achieve a higher return.

Is training for diversity and inclusion broken?

Author Anders Gronstedt

The traditional model of diversity and inclusion training is broken. Recently, the Harvard Business Review explained that the $8 billion D&I training industry is at best ineffective and at worst counterproductive, making participants even more biased.

Meanwhile, a new generation of virtual reality (VR) is hailed as “the ultimate empathy machine.” For instance, you can strap on a reality-bending headset and get a small taste of the bias others endure by walking a mile in someone else’s virtual body. Look at yourself in a virtual mirror as a person of a different gender, age, or ethnicity. After four minutes, you’ll begin to experience the “body transfer illusion”: This superpower maps brains to virtual bodies and can be used to convey how a minority customer, employee, or colleague experiences the world, with the intention to spur people to think and act more inclusively.

Study upon study has validated the “Proteus effect” in which an individual’s behavior in a virtual world is changed by the appearance of their avatar:

My firm, the Gronstedt Group, partnered with Providence Health to innovate unconscious bias training. The third largest not-for-profit healthcare system in the US teaches responses to microaggressions in the workplace with 3D hologram scenarios. The metaverse of real-time, spatial, 3D, immersive, and embodied simulations is upon us and promises to transform inclusion and unconscious bias training.

The bigger diversity opportunity might lie in recruitment. Anyone who has watched the coaches on the television show The Voice, with their red chairs faced away from the singers, has witnessed a blind audition in practice. Overcoming gender-biased hiring by auditioning musicians behind a screen has transformed the face of orchestras. Studies suggest blind auditions increase the likelihood of female musicians being selected by 30 percent. Women now make up half of the New York Philharmonic when 50 years ago they represented only six percent of most orchestras.

Evaluating a drywalling task on a construction site is harder to do blind, or at least it was. Now multiplayer VR provides a shared performance space for participants and instructors to interact seamlessly with hands-on skills without revealing the identity behind their avatars. Less than five percent of painters, drywallers, and glazers are women. The International Finishing Trades Institute (iFTI), the training arm of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), is determined to bring that to (at least) 25 percent.

A VR recruitment simulation will help them reach that goal. High school students can step into a virtual construction site developed by my firm. Using both hands, they practice pouring water and mixing joint compounds for drywall finishing. Grabbing a virtual “tape bazooka,” they fill it with the compound, load it with a tape roll, and drag it across a drywall seam, taping it from floor to ceiling. The simulation suspends disbelief, giving young women, who perhaps couldn’t imagine themselves on a construction site, the opportunity to experience a career in the finishing trades during expositions and recruitment drives. This is one of VR’s superpowers, and it’s key to winning diverse talent during the Great Resignation.

NASCAR is leveraging gaming to attract more minority drivers. Rajah Caruth recently took the step from driving a virtual racecar in his bedroom to becoming only the eighth black driver in NASCAR history. He came through the eNASCAR IGNITE esports competition, which was created to recruit young talent by providing a low barrier of entry to the sport. iRacing allows players to race on renowned racetracks from all over the world on a computer with a steering wheel and pedal accessories.

If you don’t think this applies outside of professional sports, think again. Walmart is broadening its talent pool with the first “esports of retail management.” More than 500,000 people have played department manager in the Sims-style Spark City mobile game developed by my firm. Feedback from female users has been overwhelmingly positive. One woman raved, “I’m not a gamer. I hate games, but this is awesome.” Another woman said, “I can play this game all day long.” Walmart has taken the bold step of making the game public on the Apple App Store and Google Play, broadening its reach.

The metaverse revolution promises to broaden recruitment of nontraditional hires, making selection color- and gender-blind and making corporate culture more inclusive. But this is only possible if business leaders rise to the challenge and innovate their way to a more equitable future.

5 Benefits of Workplace Diversity

Author: Ability Options

Diversity in the workplace means the acceptance and inclusion of employees of all backgrounds. A diverse workplace is an important asset, since it acknowledges the individual strengths of each employee and the potential they bring. Valuing the differences of others is what ultimately brings us all together and can be the secret to a successful, thriving workplace and a fair work culture.

What is workplace diversity?

Workplace diversity means respecting and valuing the skills and differences that each staff member brings into the workspace. A diverse workplace is an inclusive environment that provides equal rights and opportunities for all workers, regardless of gender, colour, age, ethnicity, physical ability, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and so on.

In many countries around the world, it is law for workplaces to provide equal opportunity to their employees, as well as to create a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. Employers are responsible for putting measures into place to overcome employment disadvantage and discrimination in the workplace. This includes valuing workplace diversity and ensuring that a workplace is free from racial and sexual harassment, discrimination, and bullying.

Types of workplace diversity

It’s important to recognise the types of diversity and to provide ways to ensure that you as a workplace, employer, or employee are contributing toward a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Employing staff with barriers to employment and treating them fairly is one of the ways employers can attract a more diverse workplace and diversify the skill sets within a workplace.

There are now funding and incentive schemes in place to encourage businesses to support people with a disability, Indigenous, mature-aged people, and those who have been in long-term unemployment. Here are some tips to help create a more diverse workplace:

 

 

 

  • Discuss diversity with your employees and outline the benefits of a diverse workplace.
  • Identify and address any bias when it comes to the recruitment process. Have hiring managers be aware of the qualities and benefits applicants of varying backgrounds can bring to the company and ensure they are allowing for a fair hiring process. Let applicants know that you are an equal-rights employer.
  • Value the individual skills that employees bring and make sure to utilize these strengths to help broaden your market and grow your company.
  • Allow for flexible work options including flexible hours and less than full time hours
  • Provide the opportunity for parental leave for both women and men.
  • Create and implement your own Workplace Diversity Plan and certification for employees to become familiar with practising diversity and inclusiveness within the workplace.

Benefits of workplace diversity

Having a diverse and multicultural workplace brings several advantages. Since today’s world is increasingly more globalised and interconnected, workplaces should take advantage of the diverse range of skills individuals from different backgrounds and languages can bring. The top five benefits of workplace diversity include:

  • Increased productivity: A diverse workplace allows for more ideas and processes. This diversity of talent means a broader range of skills among employees, as well as a diversity of experiences and perspectives which increases the potential for increased productivity
    Increased creativity: As various cultures and backgrounds work together, the opportunity for increased creativity exists. This is because there are more people with differing perspectives and solutions to problems, allowing for a greater chance of a workable solution to a workplace problem.
  • Improved cultural awareness: A diverse range of cultures within the workplace allows companies to deal with the different nuances within a global marketplace. If a company does business with China, for example, having an employee who can speak Mandarin is an asset and can lead to improved workplace relations.
  • A positive reputation: Companies that have a diverse workplace are often perceived as better employers. Potential employees want an employer who accepts and is tolerant of all backgrounds and who treats their employees fairly.
  • Increase in marketing opportunities: If potential employees or customers see that a company represents a diverse workplace, it makes them feel like they can relate to the company more. Using advertising that depicts mature-aged, differently-abled, or ethnically diverse people encourages applicants to apply, promotes a positive reputation, increases marketplace awareness, and generates a more diverse client-base
    Achieving workplace diversity means you are bringing out the very best of your employees and allowing them to reach their full potential. By doing so, your workplace benefits as it encourages a more varied and innovative talent pool.

Diversify your workplace

If you’re looking to introduce a more diverse approach to your workplace, get in touch with us for training, resources, or start your search for the perfect staff member here.

How to Overcome the Labor Shortages in 2022

You are not alone. Employers across the country are struggling to fill their open positions with qualified talent. As a result, there is increasing demand on employers to offer flexibility. Whether it’s flexible work schedules, personal time off, job sharing, or remote work arrangements, employees are holding out for better choices to stay mentally healthy and safe.

There are also demographic impacts, with some workers affected more than others. Recently, most of the job growth went to men, while women lost jobs or stopped looking for work.

The statistics show that flexible schedules is the top request. For employers looking to find and retain talent, consider the following flexible options:

  1. Job sharing opportunities to allow for flexible hours, in turn helping employers to cover off roles even during vacation season
  2. Remote and hybrid options could attract more candidates as well as address safety concerns related to COVID in the workplace.

By offering these options, you attract and retain people. Additionally, you can improve employee morale and build an inclusive, modern workplace. For more information, see WhenIWork’s blog Labor shortage.

 

 

 

Euphoria is proud to sponsor the Canadian Sport Film Festival

Euphoria Interactive is proud to sponsor the Canadian Sport Film Festival. The festival is running from June 8-10, 2018 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Their mission is to provoke dialogue on the power of sport to inspire social change.

Check out their website:

CSFF Sports Film Festival

And hope to see you at the movies.

Here is our promo video which will be screened for the first time at the event.

Web and App Design Trends for 2017

Some top predictions on what will be web and app design trends for 2017. It’s hard to predict. So let’s see what top industry experts are saying.

Adham Dannaway, UX/UI Designer & Front-end Developer

Adham is half UX/UI Designer, half Front-end Developer, 100% interface jedi. His work has been featured on Smashing Magazine, Web Designer Magazine and Awwwards

Style Guides and UI Patterns:

Adham believes in more of a focus on UI pattern libraries and style guides. Making user experiences more consistent, practical and usable. Designers will become more involved in strategy rather than visuals.

Prototyping Tools:

More demand for prototyping and interaction design tools.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (AR) Opportunites:

We are at the start of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality industry. This will create new opportunities for UI and Product designers.

Nir Eyal, Author of “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products“

Conversational UIs:

Nor believes that computer software will become more natural like in the way it interacts with a user. Currently, There are a wave of startups that promises to radically simplify our lives by making it harder to determine whether we’re communicating with a person or computer code.

Adi Mazor Kario, UX Architect and Founder of Wizard UI Consulting

Natural User Interfaces and Bot Interfaces:

She believes the industry will see more social collaboration & shared economy applications. Users trust strangers more and this will lead to new services and applications (mainly mobile apps that could add location-based options)

Mobile features added to web interfaces:

Adi believe that the trend for web interfaces with more mobile features, and look-n-feel, will grow.

James Archer, VP of Sales & Marketing at Crowd Favorite & UX Expert

James is an expert and design, content and marketing in the digital space, frequent conference speaker and part-time fiction writer

Death of the hamburger menu!:

By now it’s been pretty well established that the hamburger menu doesn’t work, but we’re still waiting for app and responsive web designs to catch up. As the year goes on, we’ll start to see the hamburgers being methodically replaced with tab bars, Priority+ menus, and other alternative forms of navigation.

Device-appropriate design:

Designers seem to keep getting mobile-first wrong by leaving desktop experiences feeling weak and incomplete, and users are feeling the pain. Next year will see a renewed interest in designing not primarily for mobile at the expense of desktop, but rather in creating experiences appropriate to whatever device they’re used on.

Tighter design/developer relationships:

As interface technology continues to advance, the static mockups of yesteryear become increasingly obsolete, requiring a renewed focus on tight collaboration between designers and developers. Neither one can get very far without the other, but together they can change the world.

Joanna Ngai, UX Designer at Microsoft

Joanna released her first book, ‘UX for Beginners: A practical handbook on the space of user experience design and strategy‘, on Kindle this year

Mobile first / Mobile only markets:

Millions of consumers have leapfrogged the PC era altogether, joining the connected world in earnest through their mobile phones. Product designs should be reimagined for a mobile environment, not just adapted to fit a small screen.

Special thanks to

Justinmind: Prototyping tool for web and mobile apps

New Green Rooftop Deck at the office

I love being in my office building. They just rebuilt the rooftop garden. Click Continue Reading link to see a picture!

Our office building at 401 Richmond Street West has always been focused on the Toronto Green Roof initiative. They just rebuilt the rooftop garden. I love it!

E-Learning for Corporate Training – What you Need to Consider

While e-Learning has many advantages in corporate training, it is important to implement the following key points when developing courses. This helps to ensure a smooth delivery with successful outcomes.

Are the learning objectives and goals measurable?

Ensure that the objectives and outcomes for the course are well planned and clearly outlined.  Having well developed expectations set from the outset provides a clear path for the learner.  This also serves as a roadmap for the delivery of the content. In other words, the objectives should read; “At the end of this course you will be able to…” as opposed to “This course will teach you…”

At the end of each section, refer back to the objectives to reinforce the relevance of the content.  In doing so, this roadmap emphasizes the key components of the course. This, in turn, provides the learner with a clear path so they feel the learning is a valuable use of their time.
According to Adobe Articulate’s e-Learning community, one of the world’s leading e-learning software provider, understanding why the course is being built and what the learner will take away from it, helps to create learning objectives that meet the course’s goals.

Who are the learners?

When it comes to learning, one size does not fit all. It is important to incorporate various e-Learning tools in order to ensure the content is effective for all learning styles and approaches. A major selling feature of e-Learning is the ability to learn anything, anywhere. This can be accomplished by integrating interactive content to engage the learner. At the same time, these tools test the knowledge gained. Clients can then customize the e-Learning programs by picking and choosing the tools they feel are best suited for the learners. Clients can empower their employees to learn more effectively and at their own pace by taking advantage of this flexibility.

Is the content accessible?

Not only must the content be relevant and presented in an engaging and effective manner, it must also be accessible. Learners may miss content or give up entirely if it is not easy to navigate through the content. Keep in mind the technology level of the users when developing the layout and delivery of the content. What is the point of developing a flashy e-Learning program with all the bells and whistles if the learners are not able to navigate it?
At the other end of the spectrum, if the graphics are outdated, for example images of professionals with flip phones, or of poor quality, this could be translated to the content being obsolete.
E-Learning programs hit the mark when they are user friendly and the content is presented in a clear and professional manner.

What are the end goals?

Be sure to review the content from their perspective, in order to increase the buy-in from the learner. Here are some questions to consider:

• What will I get out of this?  / What’s in it for me?
• How is the content related to my day-to-day activities?
• Why do I have to take this course? I don’t have time.
• Will this course lead to advancement in the company?
• Will this course help me to do my job more effectively/efficiently?
• How will I be recognized / rewarded for completing this course?

It is important that the learner sees the advantages and relevance of what they are learning. As employers, it is essential to provide employees with the tools and resources they need to succeed in their role. Therefore, the employee must be able to take the outcomes of the course and directly relate them to their role within the organization. It also demonstrates that the company is investing in them by expanding their skill sets and knowledge.

Are you tracking the results of the training?

Another key factor is to do a check once the training is complete. The Kirkpatrick Four-Level Training Evaluation Model can be employed to gauge the outcome of the training. This model considers the following levels of post-training:

• Reaction:  The degree to which participants react favourably to the training.  (Did the participants like the training?)
• Learning:  The degree to which the participants acquired the intended knowledge and skills.  (Are the participants getting the knowledge they require to fulfill their current role).
• Behaviour:  The degree to which the knowledge gained through the training is applied to their daily activities on the job. (Will the participants use the training in their daily performance on the job?)
• Results:  The degree to which the desired outcomes were met as a direct result of the training.  (Did the training succeed at achieving the initial goals?)

Many learning systems focus on the delivery of the training. This includes incorporating interactivity to gauge the participants’ motivation and assessments to measure retention.  However, it is essential to include tools to track the results and to provide on the job resources or job aids as a form of on-going support.

With these key points in mind, e-Learning can become an effective complement to more traditional corporate training approaches.