Effective digital training for production employees

From medium-sized companies to large corporations, industrial companies of all sizes are trying to figure out how to effectively train and develop their production employees with digital tools but without a computer workstation. In Germany alone, there are 5.7 million employees in the industrial sector who need regular training on new machinery, processes, and occupational health and safety standards. So how can digital training (in the form of eLearning) be implemented for production employees and become a firm fixture in their everyday working lives?

While eLearning is now commonplace in (home) offices, it’s clear that blue collar workers, such as tradespeople, delivery staff, and production employees, are still widely neglected when it comes to digital training. If they’re lucky, they’re allowed to attend digital occupational safety training once a year, but are otherwise excluded because they don’t work at a computer workstation. This is a real deficit, especially when you consider that their training needs are in no way fewer than those of office staff and white collar workers!

The biggest challenges here still lie in the lack of technical equipment and, often, a lack of knowledge about digital solutions. At the same time, there is also a non-existent or underdeveloped learning culture. Simply because, at first glance, digital learning is much more difficult to integrate into environments where machines are operated, where it may be dirty, and where quantitative results are important to a degree that is uncommon in offices.

The main challenge in training blue collar workers with digital tools is that a change in thinking is required in order to develop the same positive, digital learning culture that likely already exists in the office, on the shop floor.

The challenges at a glance:

• No fixed computer workstation
• No company email address to use for registration
• Low digital affinity
• Focus on the highest possible quantitative efficiency during working hours
• Language barriers

The latestdigitalization study by DIGITAL X,however, shows that the industrial sector, too, is becoming increasingly digital. In 2021, for example, industrial companies invested 27% more in mobile devices for their employees than in the previous year. 71% also agreed that digital processes and tools have enabled them to significantly increase their productivity. It is now important not to lose this momentum—not only because there is finally an opportunity to include production employees in effective, digital training, but also because, in view of the general shortage of skilled workers, digital training offers a real opportunity to train lateral entrants.

Once training processes have been digitalized and automated, a completely new way of tackling the skills shortage will emerge, based on the requirements of the respective job profiles. For example, the Free State of Saxony has created the “textil trainer”, a platform where lateral entrants and trainees can obtain basic textile-related knowledge to facilitate their entry into manufacturing companies.

Use cases like this prove that the potential of eLearning in industry goes far beyond the general benefits of digital training!

Probably the most obvious solution to overcome the problem of the lack of a computer workstation is mobile learning—eLearning on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. This means that knowledge is always right in your pocket, whether you’re at the production facility, in the break room, on the morning train ride, or on the couch at home. Small quiet periods throughout the day can be put to good use, learners do not have to adhere to fixed learning times, and they are not dependent on a computer workstation.

Another unbeatable advantage, especially in industry, is that you can always learn right where you need the knowledge, like at a machine that needs instructions. Ideally, you should offer small practical learning units lasting between 1 and 15 minutes rather than detailed, comprehensive courses (keyword: microlearning). The benefit: The knowledge is applied immediately and therefore retained long-term in the memory without employees having to take too much time out of day-to-day operations. All they need is a mobile device.

Flashcard apps are a form of microlearning with which employees do not complete traditional eLearning courses, but rather learn knowledge effectively in “batches”, similar to the way vocabulary used to be taught in schools. Flashcards are not suitable for more complex topics and instructions, but work brilliantly wherever factual knowledge is required. Targeted repetition and regular learning for short amounts of time ensure learners absorb content and can easily apply it in practice. In addition, flashcard apps generate a significantly higher level of motivation as stress levels and cognitive load are reduced. Plus, most learners find learning with flashcards fun, almost like gamification, which further increases motivation and receptiveness!

Almost any content can be covered with eLearning, but there is of course knowledge that can be better conveyed in analog training, like how to operate a new, highly sensitive machine with high material consumption. In such cases, blended learning concepts, in which analog and digital learning are effectively combined, work best. For example, employees can use eLearning to acquire the theoretical knowledge before the practical, analog training modules take place. The advantages and disadvantages of each type of learning naturally balance each other out, resulting in highly effective training.

If communicative and/or reactive skills are required, scenario-based coaches can help! Unlike traditional, one-way online courses, scenario-based coaches react directly to the learner’s inputs. Put simply, they are a sophisticated chatbot that reacts to the user’s choices, like in a conversational situation. They can help you prepare your employees for specific situations they could encounter in the corporate environment, optimize their communication skills, and improve their perception of the situation at hand, all in a fun way. It also enables you to provide them with information, improve their assertiveness, and develop their empathy in these contexts. In short, it helps you train target- and result-oriented communication wherever it is particularly necessary in your company.

How exactly you implement digital learning for your blue collar workers is of course highly dependent on the individual circumstances at your company, the knowledge you want to convey, and the learning objectives, so we can only provide ideas here. But how about creating “learning islands” on the production floor, for example, where employees can sit down and access digital learning opportunities via laptops whenever they need them? Or placing QR codes on machines so that employees can call up the relevant video instructions on their smartphone? We are here to support you with developing an effective learning strategy.

As simple as the solutions may be, you still need to follow a few basic principles to really solve the challenges we mentioned at the beginning. Unfortunately, simply handing employees a smartphone is not enough.

Above all, it’s important to choose the right eLearning software to ensure full responsivity from the outset (otherwise a computer workstation would be needed) and to be able to offer the learning content in multiple languages. Even if your foreign employees’ language skills are good enough to communicate with their colleagues, it can be an almost insurmountable hurdle for them to learn in their non-native language. They need all of their cognitive resources just to understand what is being said. When choosing your eLearning software, it is therefore essential that you look out for automated translation management.

However, the biggest task is likely to be developing a positive, digital learning culture that is supported by both the management and the wider workforce. To achieve this, it is not only necessary to convince management that employees need the freedom to learn during their working hours, but also to get employees used to independent digital learning. When introducing eLearning, always communicate clearly that employees really do have learning time available to them without having to fear consequences arising from being “absent” during working hours. Ideally, employees should have quiet rooms at their disposal where they can study without distraction. All of this requires a certain amount of trust, which must be shown by the company management before any success can be achieved. And even then, it takes some time for digital learning to really become an integral part of the corporate culture. Patience and trust are therefore basic requirements for any eLearning project that aims to achieve sustainable and long-term success.