We are all familiar with the process where skilled trades and workers are shuffled into a site shed for 4-6 hours while they listen to safety managers run through powerpoints:
Compliance; Safety; PPE; Community; Quality; Environment; site maps - similar messages on different slides compiled by different divisions in the business.
Workers being paid to sit still for four (or more) hours is an opportunity which is proving too good to miss. Instead of achieving only a compliance objective, Principal Contractors are also using this time to upskill their workers with engaging training content.
Onboarding 800 workers for 4 hours @ $90/hour is an $280K project investment. What sort of return would you accept for this type of investment? All too often, a piece of paper with a name and indecipherable signature is the only tangible outcome.
Principal Contractors are recognising there is an untapped opportunity to leverage the worker onboarding process to upskill the workforce and share critical messaging and learnings with the workforce. So many trades and professional workers in our industry are tactile learners - when they listen, interact and think, the learning outcomes are much more effective than listening to a lecture about the project rules and answering a series of multiple-choice questions as a group.
Transitioning to a digital format that is rich, interactive content is a shift in the thinking of some of the leading operators in the industry.
As an example, simply replacing statements about safety with video messages from the leadership team and using thought-provoking exercises to check a learner's understanding and help to reinforce messages delivers great outcomes and reinforces messaging.
Transitioning workers to digital e-learning onboarding, means they are not only highly engaged and tested on their knowledge, the process can be carried out prior to arrival to site. This equates to large savings on the project and ensures workers get onto the job quickly.
As one major infrastructure project reported: Over 25,000 workers using the 3D Safety onboarding platform saved the project millions with an ROI of 860%
In a survey of these workers using this new approach, more than 2 in 3 of workers said they found the experience positive and over 80% said they would recommend the approach to other projects.
Additionally, many workers commented that they had sat through this messaging on other projects and never actually understood the way that safety, quality, environment and behaviour interact to deliver successful projects.
The workers are embracing this change and it only takes a slightly different approach to transform the outcome and deliver stunning returns – for far less than the currently questionable investment outlay.
Talk to us today to see how we can digitise your onboarding process!