Improving Workplace Safety, Performance and Training through video

Free Seminars – Seven Induction Tips for Improving Company Inductions

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Do new staff feel undervalued in your company?

When it comes to inductions common complaints are that they are ‘boring’ and ‘overwhelming’.

They also represent the only first impression that you get with a new employee. This is a great opportunity to align them with your company values and processes and make them want to stick around.

In this fun and informative presentation, you will find out what most companies are doing wrong during the induction process and what you can do to make your company a leader in safety inductions.

You will learn seven ways to instantly improve the induction processes in your company.

These great tips will help you to improve your safety culture, productivity and engage your new staff/contractors with clear and consistent training materials.

For those of you serious about improving the quality of safety training in your company or welcoming new starter or contractors, this event is not to be missed.

Wednesday 16 June – GOSH

Royal Geelong Yacht Club

6.30 – 9.00pm

Monday 26 July – Southern Safety Group

3 – 4.30pm

Protector Alsafe Premises at 41 Greens Road Dandenong

To find out more or register, click here.

Why training videos are best for staff training

Written on May 6, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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Over the last three years, online video has become one of the fastest growing web trends due to the widespread availability of broadband and YouTube. In fact, one of the most widely used search terms are “how to…” videos.

Now, more than ever before, there are hungry online audiences using video to educate themselves in their own homes.

And for good reason.

Everyone likes Pictures

In 2000, research by Gunter et al found that learners more easily understand and recall new material presented in video that allows participants to both see and hear the information. This dual-encoding process reinforces information in multiple brain areas which increases the chances of the information being stored in long term memory.

While studies by educational researchers have found that 83% of human learning occurs visually. Visually rich information keeps the brain busy and alert to learn more information.

You can’t see me

And videos can go where trainers can’t. It’s fairly difficult to visualise how the back works and what happens when you lift incorrectly. But clear medical animations can inform the user of how their spine works and what happens when they damage it.

When Trainers go Bad

Training videos also offer consistent training. When different training facilitators are involved confusion can arise when they teach different processes. In fact, inconsistent training is common within organisations, with around 54% stating that onboarding is inconsistent within their organisation. Imagine what effect this has on productivity.

“I need more time”

When it comes to training, often trainers are overwhelmed by the amount of time they spend training and inducting face to face. The truth is it doesn’t have to be this way. By converting repetitive training tasks into easy to understand training video modules, the trainer can be relieved of repetitive training tasks. And they can then spend time doing more important things like managing your site or taking the afternoon off to play golf.

You seem so Credible

Compared to written training materials, training videos actually increase comprehension and retention of subject matter by a staggeringly high 51%. They actually command the attention of the viewer and motivate them to learn more. But more importantly, they are perceived as more persuasive and credible than training materials which tend to be viewed as less important in comparison.

Here’s a test. The next time you have to induct a contractor tell them that you need to sit down with them and read through your training manual. After they curse and groan, smile and say, “actually, how about you watch our induction video with a small quiz?” They will love you for life. Or until the end of their shift.

Reduce Training Time

But the best part about training videos are that they teach information in around 50 – 75% of the time as an instructor. And if you get an expertly produced training video made, expect productivity to increase also. So if you are undertaking 45 minute inductions reducing the induction time to 12 minutes is about average. Think about the cost savings to the trainer’s time and the new starter’s time. The cost benefits can be quite enormous depending upon the amount of inductions your company does.

Do you make these mistakes in your induction training?

Written on May 3, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in company induction training, induction videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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Over the years, I have had the pleasure of revising company induction manuals and what I have found is that just about every company makes the same mistakes in its training materials.

Given that the quality of your induction training can actually determine whether a new starter will want to stay or not, it’s imperative to have the best training materials you can. So which of these common mistakes do you have in your induction training:

1. Provide text based training - This is when training is from training manuals or PowerPoint presentations that contain mostly text. Studies by educational researchers have found that 83% of human learning occurs visually. You can actually help people keep their brain active and alert to new information by providing visual information relevant to the training. Use lots of colours, photos, diagrams and video content to better explain training concepts.

2. Talk in corporate speak - Avoid formal corporate language in your training manuals. Workers at different site locations will know if corporate has written the training materials and they weren’t consulted. This can make the training manuals seem less credible. Make sure it is friendly and conversational – and welcoming! Keep sentences short (17 words or less), use short words (5 characters or less) and avoid jargon. And in this day and age of Twitter, keep it short and tweet!

3. Use negative language - Remove rules that focus on “don’t, can’t, forbidden”. Remember induction training is you most teachable moment with a new staff member/contractor, so use language that is friendly and warm. Let people know what they can do, rather than tell them about behaviour that you do not want.

4. Forget the How - This is when staff are told what to do but no explanation is given as to why. Company processes are perpetuated without people ever questioning why they do something. Over time, staff are taught processes that solve problems that no longer exist.

In order to boost retention rates and improve productivity levels, inducting right is important to any company who wants to improve the bottom line.

By making your induction training visually appealing and easy to learn, you will be able to improve your staff productivity and safety quite remarkably.

Start adding colour, video and pictures to your induction training materials and keep sentences short. Where can you convert processes into more visually appealing training videos that will get the messages across better than just boring text?

By fixing these common induction mistakes, you will have people commenting positively on the quality of your induction training.

We’ve won a Gold Award for Best Use of Video in a Training Program

Written on April 16, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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LearnX Asia Pacific 2010 recognizes Digicast Productions as producing induction training videos that are like gold.

We are very excited to be given a gold award for the induction training video we created for our wonderful client Conundrum Holdings.

The reasons we won were because of the amazing time/cost benefits we have saved Conundrum, as well as providing higher quality training.

Since the induction video was introduced at Conundrum Holdings, Conundrum’s induction training has been re-invigorated and they now get praise for their induction system whereas before they mostly got grumbles.

“We continuously aim to improve the safety and productivity at our quarry sites. Now
that we have a quality training tool that can be incorporated into our site induction
process, it has reduced the time to train staff/contractors by 68%. A major benefit has
been the saving to management time which is saving us around 2.5 hours a week or about
$20,000 a year. Site managers now have more time to get on with the task of actually
managing the sites. But more importantly, it still ensures that the inductions are of a
consistently high standard and we no longer get complaints from contractors about
having to sit through another dull site induction”.

Tom Kerr, OHS Manager/Quality Assurance Manager, Conundrum Holdings

Thanks to LearnX and Conundrum for this Award.

You can read more about how we helped Conundrum, here.

Five Induction Trends that can put you out of business

Written on April 12, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in company induction training, improving safety standards, induction videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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Do new staff feel undervalued in your company?

Getting new starters up to speed as quickly possible should be the goal of every company. Yet, sadly, most companies tend to induct new starters with boring reading materials and little training support.

Making new hires feel welcomed and valued needs to be the principal induction objective for every company.

Why? Here are five reasons.

1. First impressions count - Inductions represent the most teachable moment you will even have – so use it wisely.

2. Induct well or perish – 25% of new starters make the decision to leave in the first week of work. Some reasons include “boring” and ” sink or swim” induction processes.

3. 47% of new employees leave after 90 days – 60% of respondents in the Recruitment Solutions survey indicated that improvements to induction are a priority area to stop new talent leaving.

4. The cost of early leavers is high – It can take as long as six months to get a return on your investment after a new starter leaves.

5. 54% of companies surveyed by Taleo Research have inconsistent induction training. This has a big impact on productivity and also your safety culture.

The faster new employees get up to speed, the faster they can contribute to your bottom line.

And with a talent shortage forecasted to be at the end of the year, it makes sense for companies to overhaul their induction process now, to ensure that they are the company people want to work for.

And improving your induction process doesn’t have to be difficult. Sometimes, it can be as simple as introducing formal inductions that includes as much visually appealing training materials as possible, to improve engagement. This can be as easy as including photos and diagrams in your training, as well as training videos.

Oatmeal – The Secret to Good Health for Shift Workers

Written on April 8, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in workplace health, workplace performance

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According to the Worker’s Health Centre, studies show that shiftwork and shifts with extended hours can have significant adverse effects on health, workplace accident rates, absenteeism and a worker’s personal life.

Over 70% of men and 50% of women working shift work are overweight. Due to altered eating habits when working shift work, workers often experience higher rates of gastrointestinal problems, including indigestion, heartburn, or stomach ulcers, constipation, diarrhea and gas. Other issues include increased heart diseases, social problems and increased error and accident rates.

Working Nights, an excellent blog on, well, working at night, talks about a recent study in the journal Obesity that has found that when we eat may be more of a driver of weight gain than what we eat. This obviously has significant impact for shift workers.

In the study, mice were fed a high-fat diet during the time they’d normally eat, the regular day-time hours on their daily circadian cycle, gained 20% in weight over six weeks. But mice fed the same high-fat diet during hours they should have been sleeping gained 48%! This new study was initiated to consider the potential impact on at night shift workers, who eat the most of their daily food intake during hours when humans are usually sleeping. The researchers believe that findings for people would be consistent the results within the mice population.

But there is good news!

Working Nights has also published some information about a new study by scientists at the University of Illinois that has found that soluble fiber, found in oats, nuts, and apples, strengthens the immune system and reduces the inflammation related to obesity-related diseases (e.g. diabetes and heart disease). These results will appear in the May 2010 issue of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

The bottom line is to enhance their immune systems, shift workers should consider the amount of soluble fiber they eat. Of all grains, oats have the highest proportion of soluble fiber.

Working Nights suggest that shift workers need to stock up on high fiber nutrition bars. These are easy to pack for consumption while working at night. Our bodies’ digestive system slows down at night, even if we’re awake working. So, employees working the night shift should eat light meals. To read more about the importance of eating the right foods when working shift work, click here.

Companies who have shift workers should consider making oat based bars available to their workers through vending machines.

Personally, I think that all shift workers need to eat porridge for dinner just because it’s yum! Add some chopped nuts and sliced apple and you have a great meal that your body will thank you for.

Company Meditation – Chilling out for productivity

Written on March 25, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in Happy staff, improving safety standards, workplace health, workplace performance

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Recently, I started a meditation course. I’ve actually been meditating daily for nine years, but was persuaded by a close friend, to do this amazing meditation course led by a Swami. Given that I’d never had any formal training and that I’ve always wanted to meet a guru, I signed up without a second thought.

So far what I have learnt is, I actually do know how to meditate, meditation CDs are very good. But meditation is becoming extremely popular, almost mainstream! There were no hippies in the room, in fact there were 86 (yes, that’s not a typo) very normal, middle class people learning how to meditate in a beautiful house in Melbourne. And yes, the Swami is very good (and funny).

Meditation is a growing trend. The Herald Sun reported on how meditation is now moving into the boardroom with numerous studies showing that it improves concentration. Businesses such as NAB, Victoria Police, Diabetes Australia, Origin Energy and The CEO Institute are now running meditation sessions for their staff.

According to research by Medibank Private, workplace stress costs the Australian econony $10.11 billion through poor productivity and absenteeism.

Under the Workplace Health and Safety Act 2004, companies are responsible for implementing stress management programs. In Victoria alone, the average cost of a stress-related work claim in 2009 was $51,000. So it makes perfect fiscal sense for companies to introduce company meditation courses to improve stress levels and productivity of their workers and ensure they reduce their work claims.

Given the need for companies to reduce the stress levels of their workers, introducing meditation classes is a great way to help workers and boost morale. It’s only a matter of time before meditation is readily accepted in the workplace, as a quick way to alleviate stress and improve productivity.

Companies losing billions from poor safety, says Professor

Written on March 22, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in improving safety standards, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, workplace performance

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According to a recent article published on IndustrySearch, companies lose 10% of their annual turnover, as a result of poor safety costing billions in lost production and flow-on effects.

Professor Patrick Hudson, based at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, made the comments at a briefing with journalists recently in Melbourne.

“I have an estimate that a company may be losing up to 10 per cent of its turnover as a result of poor OHS and E (occupational health, safety and environment) performance, that is usually a whack of money,” Prof. Hudson said.

Professor Hudson, who specialises in safety for the health, oil, gas, construction and mining industries later told reporters the figure could mean billions of dollars for large miners.

“When you have a shutdown you lose production, and you just add it up,” Prof. Hudson said.

“It is a massive amount of money and most of it goes in relatively small-scale stuff, not necessarily payouts to people who are injured but in the whole way things are run,” Prof. Hudson said.

“If anyone disagrees with me, that is fine, but when I challenge them to come up with the real figures I find they don’t have any,” he said.

Professor Hudson said that while the companies he dealt with did not put a figure on the worth of a worker, a workplace death was usually estimated to cost a company millions.

“It may be an individual is costed at one, two or four million dollars, depending upon what country you are in,” he said.

“Really what costs is things like lost production, slowdowns, having regulators all over you, having a lot of lawyers getting very excited,” he said.

Prof. Hudson said Australia had come a long way in improving occupational health and safety.

“The old Australian culture, looking back a long way, was pretty rough,” he said.

Why induction training programs are so important to company success

Written on March 19, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in company induction training, induction videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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Staff inductions According to research by Recruitment Solutions in April 2007, 47% of employee turnover occurs within the first 90 days of employment. With 60% of respondents highlighting induction improvements as a priority area for investment.

While other research points to 25% of new starters making the decision in their first week that they no longer want to work with the company. Again, a poor induction process is to blame with many feeling overwhelmed, bored or confused.

Further research by the Aberdeen Group in 2008, found that companies that were the best at inducting had:

100% improved their retention rate of new hires;
60% reduced their ‘time-to-productivity’ rates.

With these figures, you think it’d be pretty obvious that companies would value their induction process and use it as a great opportunity to get new starters on-board and aligned with the company culture.

Yet, we all know that many companies are guilty of providing boring and drab induction processes, that do little to engage people let alone lift productivity.

While the GFC has enabled many companies the time to review their procedures and processes, it would appear that only the rare ones, gearing up for abundant times, are getting their induction processes in order.

By improving the induction process, companies will be able to boost retention rates and productivity levels enabling new recruits to contribute to the bottom line much quicker. After all, in Australia it is being estimated that we will be having a talent shortage later in 2010.

So what are you doing to improve your company induction process to improve staff retention levels and productivity?

Why do men feel the urge to insert sexual terms into workplace training materials?

Written on March 9, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in Inappropriate sexual terms, OHS videos, company induction training, corporate videos, improving safety standards, induction videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos

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Back in the early 90′s, there used to be an Australian comedy series called “Fast Forward”, that featured a character called, Calvin Cunnington (played by Michael Veitch), who would burst into laughter at any sexual innuendos mentioned in the workplace, subsequently driving his colleagues mad.

As a training video producer, specializing in safety and induction videos, as well as marketing videos in the industrial arena, I come across training materials that are pretty dry. My job is to transform the training materials into training video scripts that are interesting and will improve message retention and comprehension.

Yet weirdly, I feel a bit like Calvin when I read training materials and find all sorts of sexual terms lurking behind quite mundane and technical text.

My favourite one is slab penetration. Any shape and size of penetration can be made through decking. If size of penetration is greater than one rib…..

I couldn’t work out what it all meant and was very surprised to discover that slab penetration is all about cutting. Who knew that cutting a piece of metal is really all about penetrating and that even the size is so important?

The next one is “insert the fuel nozzle into the receptacle“. Okay, that’s probably harmless and the more I think about it, it would be pretty hard not to write that in a suggestive tone!

But time and time again, I come across very technical training materials that seem to use a lot of references to penetration, erections, vibrator compaction (ouch!) and receptacles. And many times, I’ve felt that the words are just said too many times or could be substituted for something else.

It reminds me of my biology notes at school. I found it quite funny to write orgasm, instead of organism in my personal biology notes. My mother read them and was quite disturbed that I had got those words so wrong. But that was just a teenager deliberately exchanging words for a bit of fun.

What I can’t work out is whether men are deliberately slipping in sexual terms because they are finding the material just a tad boring and they want to spice things up a bit. Or whether it’s all a bit subconscious.

One thing for sure is that while inserting sexual terms into training might be a bit of fun for the writer, it certainly doesn’t help the learner. Once I stumble on sexual innuendos in a very non-sexy topic, it is fairly distracting. Particularly, when I can’t understand how in the world cutting can be replaced by penetration. Or maybe it’s just me (or just a girl thing)? Maybe men are fine with all of these phallic phrases and don’t even notice them.

But as for staff training, how do employees go with reading these training materials? Are there Calvin-esque type sniggers occurring during induction training in workplaces across the country?

What I want to know is has anyone else experienced sexual terms being inserted into training materials (or even marketing materials) that just seemed a little bit inappropriate?

Improving Workplace Safety, Performance and Training through video

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