First impressions matter! In this training module, you will master the art of the perfect customer service greeting. You will also gain understanding on the service sequence to create a warm, welcoming, and memorable experience for every customer. Elevate your customer service game by starting with a friendly hello!
Languages: English, Chinese, Bahasa, Tamil. Add your own language selection with SmartTranslate™️.
This training module explores the vital role that a professional image plays in customer service. It highlights how having a professional image can influence customer perception satisfaction, loyalty, and overall business success. Discover the power of a polished professional image in customer service and unlock the key to exceptional customer experiences.
Languages: English, Chinese, Bahasa, Tamil. Add your own language selection with SmartTranslate™️.
This module equips you with the insights and skills necessary to curate irresistible shopping experiences. Navigate consumer behaviour and make informed merchandising decisions that contribute to the overall growth and profitability of your retail business
Languages: English, Chinese, Bahasa, Tamil. Add your own language selection with SmartTranslate™️.
Produced with reference: https://sra.org.sg
This module sheds light on a common yet often underestimated hazard that can affect employees in various industries. Discover practical strategies, from proper floor maintenance to appropriate footwear choices, that can make a significant improvement in workplace safety. Take proactive steps to protect yourself and your colleagues, ensuring a secure and productive work atmosphere.
Languages: English, Chinese, Bahasa, Tamil. Add your own language selection with SmartTranslate™️.
Produced with reference: https://www.tal.sg/wshc
This module is in the critical realm of Workplace Safety, focussing specifically on hazards. From physical dangers like machinery and environmental conditions, to other risks like ergonomic strain and chemical exposure. Understanding, identifying and mitigating these hazards are essential steps towards fostering a safe and secure work environment.
Languages: English, Chinese, Bahasa, Tamil. Add your own language selection with SmartTranslate™️.
Produced with reference: https://www.tal.sg/wshc
Delve into this crucial comprehensive module that unveils the secrets to maintaining a pest-free environment. Learn how to ensure that your ingredients remain untainted and your kitchen remains a haven of hygiene.
Languages: English, Chinese, Bahasa, Tamil. Add your own language selection with SmartTranslate™️.
Produced with reference: https://www.sfa.gov.sg
Unlock the mastery of safe culinary practice with this module that takes you on a transformative journey through the intricate art of safe food handling. Learn the important practices that stand between you and food-borne hazards as your team prepares customer meals.
Languages: English, Chinese, Bahasa, Tamil. Add your own language selection with SmartTranslate™️.
Produced with reference: https://www.sfa.gov.sg
Unveil the essence of culinary integrity with this concise yet vital module that illuminates the critical role safe ingredients selection plays in upholding the health and trust of your culinary creations. Learn how safe ingredient selection plays a critical role in ensuring the health and well-being of all who gather around the table.
Languages: English, Chinese, Bahasa, Tamil. Add your own language selection with SmartTranslate™️.
Produced with reference: https://www.sfa.gov.sg
Discover the essential guide to safeguarding your health. From effective handwashing techniques to understanding how personal hygiene and proper protective measures unite to create a safe and hygienic kitchen environment.
Languages: English, Chinese, Bahasa, Tamil. Add your own language selection with SmartTranslate™️.
Produced with reference: https://www.sfa.gov.sg
Toolbox Briefings – also known as Safety Briefings or Safety Toolbox Talks – are short safety talks that refresh knowledge on WSH and a great way to emphasise safety practices for workers before the start of a shift.
Use this ArcLab template to create your own Toolbox briefings, and use SmartTranslate™ to let your workers consume the briefing in their preferred language.
AI, or Artificial Intelligence, has exploded into our general consciousness ever since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to the world a few months ago.
However, AI is not a new concept. In fact, scientists have been discussing and studying AI since the mid-20th century, if not earlier.
But what is AI? Here are some definitions:
Artificial intelligence is intelligence demonstrated by computers, as opposed to human or animal intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is a machine’s ability to perform the cognitive functions we usually associate with human minds.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. This includes tasks such as speech recognition, decision-making, problem-solving, and learning.
Essentially, AI is getting computers to assist us with certain tasks that require “cognition” or “thinking”.
ChatGPT’s “Hello World” moment accelerated the permeation of AI in our day-to-day lives.
While we’re still some ways from the J.A.R.V.I.S. of Marvel’s Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), the adoption of AI is accelerating, and there are new AI-assisted products and apps being launched everyday.
Where previously Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and Hey Google AI assistants were more incidental to a how we go about our day-to-day (e.g. “play me this song“, “turn on the bedroom light“), we’re now interfacing more and more with AI directly for higher-order purposes.
AI is transforming the way that learners learn.
1. AI can help create a more personalised learning experiences and pathways for individual learners
2. AI can provide adaptive, personalised assessment – taking into account learners’ strengths and weaknesses based on previous assessment performance.
This also means AI is transforming the way that Learning & Development (“L&D”) Professionals develop training content.
How can AI help L&D professionals in our work?
Artificial Intelligence’s strongest suit is in helping us with the time-intensive and resource-intensive tasks that are involved in L&D work.
Some possibilities of AI in Learning & Development:
1. Machine Learning (an application of AI) can help trainers to translate training content into multiple languages. This increases inclusivity and opens up training to more learners with different language preferences (and abilities).
2. Generative AI can help L&D teams to free up content development time, by automatically generating training content based on defined parameters that the AI is instructed to follow.
3. AI (specifically Natural-Language Processing) can help transcribe or caption training videos automatically, so your hearing-impaired learners can also consume the video training.
4. AI, through studying Learner Analytics patterns, can help identify learning gaps in learners at both individual and cohort levels and make recommendations for follow-up or remedial training.
These are just a few ways that organisations can unlock the benefits of artificial intelligence in training. Generative AI will have an increasingly important role in Learning & Development.
What is the role of AI in employee training?
AI cannot replace an experienced and well-trained L&D professional. But AI helps us with completing the time-intensive and resource-intensive L&D tasks, such as research and content creation, very quickly.
As the L&D professional and subject-matter expert, we still retain the final the most important role – which is to curate and ensure the quality of the training content, before rolling out to your learners. So using AI in our L&D work will augment our effectiveness, and give us an edge over not using it.
ArcLab believes that AI has a key role in your workforce training, and AI should be incorporated into your organisation’s learning & development (L&D) process. Because doing so helps you to create training content more efficiently and more effectively. The less time you spent on “grunt” work, the more time you can spend on what matters – Creating Effective Training.
You will find some AI-assisted features in ArcLab’s learning platform. SmartTransform™ helps you create training for your workforce in seconds, and SmartTranslate™ empowers you to create multi-language training so your learners can learn in their native languages.
In a nutshell, you are now able to take 30-minute lectures, and use AI to condense into a series of 3-minute multi-lingual Nano Learning modules – which have been proven to increase the ROI of training.
Start using AI in your L&D. Someone else in another organisation (maybe a competitor) is already doing so.
“AI Brain” Photo by julien Tromeur on Unsplash
Singapore does not have a minimum wage system in the classical sense. Rather, Singapore’s has to-date adopted an industry-to-industry approach, termed the Progressive Wage Model (“PWM”).
From 1 March 2023, the PWM extends beyond identified industry sectors to cover specific occupations regardless of the employer’s industry classification.
This is termed as Occupational Progressive Wages (“OPW”) and is meant to uplift local workers who are in occupations that exist across many sectors.
The OPW’s core pillars are unchanged from the PWM:
(i) Clear pathways for workers to progress in their careers,
(ii) Minimum wage requirements for different rungs of the career pathway (Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents (“PRs”)),
(iii) Training to improve workers’ skills & productivity – to uplift the capacity to contribute more to employers’ bottom line and justify the wage increases.
The first 2 occupations covered under the OPW are Administrators and Drivers. OPW is compulsory and applies to ALL firms who employ full-time or part-time employees in administrative or driving roles on a contract of service and hire foreign workers. This is irrespective of the industry sector that the firm operates in.
OPW Wage Requirements from 1 March 2023 have been set. Wage levels for March 2024 and later will be reviewed by Singapore’s National Wages Council sometime in 2023.
The OPW for drivers is a two-level career progression model:
The first rung of the career level is for General Drivers who operate vehicles requiring a Singapore Class 3 driving license or lower. Examples of jobs include motorcycle delivery drivers, van drivers and tram drivers etc. These jobs are often found in the Logistics industry.
General Drivers progress to become Specialised Drivers, who operate vehicles requiring a Singapore Class 4 driving license and higher. Examples of jobs include trailer truck drivers, bus drivers, chauffeurs, and concrete mix truck drivers etc. Such jobs can be in various sectors including Logistics & Supply Chain, Construction etc.
OPW gross monthly wage requirements for Full-time General Drivers start at SGD $1,750 ($9.17 per hour for part-timers) from 1 March 2023, while those for Specialised Drivers are $1,850.
(Click table to enlarge)
The OPW for administrators is a three-level career progression model.
Level 1 is for Administrative Assistants who perform basic admin tasks like data entry, receiving & registering documents, sort & store files, run errands etc. Examples of Admin Assistant jobs are: data entry clerk, library clerk, office attendant.
Level 2 is for Administrative Executives who perform more advanced admin tasks like accounting & bookkeeping, customer facing tasks (e.g. answering & directing phone calls, providing client information & services), manage records (e.g. maintaining & updating filing and inventory), handle money, prepare production schedules, secretarial tasks (e.g. arrange appointments, organise meetings.
Examples of Admin Exec jobs are: Office cashier, bank cashier, receptionist, telephone operator, secretary, verbatim reporter, typist & word processing operator, concierge, clerks (e.g. general office clerk, customer service clerk, stock clerk, transport clerk, statistical clerk, legal clerk, accounting and bookkeeping clerk, production clerk, computer operations clerk, postal service counter clerk, finance and insurance clerk, travel agency clerk, proofreading clerk)
Level 3 are Administrative Supervisors – essentially Office Supervisors who supervise staff in admin or clerical roles, and manage personnel, resolve work problems & coordinate work between an organisation’s units.
Administrators are found in virtually every industry and organisation.
OPW gross monthly wage requirements for Administrative Assistants start at SGD $1,500 ($9.00 per hour for part-timers) from 1 March 2023, rising to $2,000 for Administrative Executives and $2,800 for Administrative Supervisors.
(Click table to enlarge)
It’s important to recognise that workers’ wages are also employers’ costs, so raising wages cannot be done sustainably without a corresponding rise in workforce productivity. Otherwise, margins are eroded for the business and product pricing cannot be competitive, which hurts consumers.
The only way to square the circle is to improve productivity. This can be done via 2 ways:
1. Adopting digital technologies that streamline business processes
2. Investing in workers’ training so they can improve skillsets and productivity. Ultimately, a well-trained, skilled employee produces more for the organisation.
Employers must ensure that your Singapore citizen & PR Drivers and Administrators meet the OPW training requirements. These are:
1. At least 1 Workforce Skills Qualification (“WSQ”) Statement of Attainment (no restrictions on any WSQ course currently); or
2. An In-House Training programme.
To meet the training requirements – the in-house training programme will have to be guided by Training Objectives, Training Modality, Key Training Tasks and Training Duration.
Singapore’s Ministry for Manpower (“MOM”) expects employers to show supporting documentation on their in-house training programme and records of workers who attended the trainings – where required.
On-the-job Training (“OJT”) can be counted towards the In-House Training if the OJT fulfils these requirements.
The ArcLab platform is a simple and effective way for organisations to put in place an in-house training programme:
1. An entire training programme can be developed online and is suitable both for the office setting (Workers in Administrator roles can consume training via their desktops / laptops), as well as for workers who do not work in an office environment – Drivers who can consume training via their mobile phones.
2. ArcLab’s Learner Analytics Dashboard keeps detailed records of every single workers’ training, including time spent on individual modules and as a whole, scores for Knowledge Assessment quizzes etc. These can be easily exported and presented to MOM as required.
Here’s an example of a Training Module for Motorcycle Drivers.
If you found this way of learning engaging and effective, try building a training programme for your workforce now on ArcLab. Here are a few sample training templates from ArcLab Discover, our free library:
1. Safe Riding Training – suitable for General Driver roles (motorcycle delivery drivers) in Logistics firms etc.
2. Safe Manual Handling Training – suitable for General Driver & Specialist Driver roles in Construction, Logistics firms etc.
3. Customer Service (Serving Difficult Customers) Training – suitable for Administrative Executive roles (e.g. receptionist, customer service clerk, receptionist, telephone operator etc.) working in any industry.
From 1 March 2023, firms who hire at least 1 Singaporean or PR workers covered by the PWM / Occupational PW are eligible for a newly-launched PW Mark. This enables consumers and corporate buyers to easily identify and support these PW Mark-accredited firms.
Important note for firms who provide goods & services to the Singapore Government: PW Mark accreditation will be a new procurement requirement for Government tenders called from 1 March 2023.
The Singapore Government has committed to providing assistance for employers:
1. Progressive Wage Credit Scheme: From 2022 to 2026, the Government is co-funding eligible wage increases given to lower-wage workers. To reduce administrative burden for employers, any co-funding payouts are automatically disbursed to eligible employers.
2. Workfare Skills Support Scheme: Employers’ training costs for workers above 35 years old and earning less than $2,300 per month are significantly offset.
These would help businesses to ease into the PWM and OPW in the initial period. However, the true benefits accrue over the medium-to-long term for the businesses, as a more productive workforce produces much more and higher-quality products and services that satisfy customer needs, and ultimately adds to the bottom line. Everyone wins – Businesses, Workers, Consumers.
It is time to break the practice of only wanting our own salaries to go up, while our costs (other people’s salaries) stay low. No longer should Singapore’s domestic economy be built on the model of a low-wage, foreign-only workforce.
ArcLab’s vision has a strong impact focus on uplifting deskless worker lives and livelihoods. To achieve this, we know that ultimately – workers win only when businesses win.
We are hopeful that the PWM and OPW help break the vicious cycle of Deskless Workers being viewed as low-productivity and hence not worthy of skills investment and higher wages. In such a scenario, everyone loses – businesses, and workers especially, in today’s high-inflation world.
Instead, an upskilled workforce means higher productivity and profitability. Businesses can then justifiably pay higher worker salaries. This means better livelihoods and stronger loyalty to employers (lowering costly staff turnover for businesses). This turns the previous vicious cycle into a new virtuous one, helping all of us – government, businesses and consumers to all do well and do good in our new higher-inflation world.
Top Photo by Muhamad Iqbal Akbar on Unsplash
Singapore does not have a minimum wage in the classical sense. Rather, she has adopted an industry-by-industry approach to setting what is termed as the Progressive Wage Model (“PWM”).
PWM started in September 2014 for the Cleaning sector in Singapore, and gradually extended to more and more industry sectors in the years since – Security and Landscape sectors in 2016, Lift & escalator sector in 2019, Retail sector in 2022, and the Food Services and Waste Management sectors in 2023.
The core pillars of PWM are:
(i) Clear pathways for workers to progress in their careers,
(ii) Minimum wage requirements for different rungs of the career pathway (applicable to Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents (“PR”)),
(iii) Training to improve workers’ skills & productivity – so they have the capability to contribute more to employers’ bottomline, justifying the wage increases.
To hire foreign workers, Singapore firms must comply with their respective industry’s PWM requirements for their local employees covered by the respective PWMs, and the Local Qualifying Salary (“LQS”) requirements for all other local employees.
From 1 March 2023, firms who hire at least 1 Singaporean or PR workers covered by the PWM / Occupational PW are eligible for a newly-launched PW Mark. This enables consumers and corporate buyers to easily identify and support these PW Mark-accredited firms.
Important note for firms who provide goods & services to the Singapore Government: PW Mark accreditation will be a new procurement requirement, for Government tenders called from 1 March 2023.
ArcLab had previously hosted a webinar where we discussed the PWM with industry leaders from Fei Siong Group, Kiosks Collective (operator of CRAVE Nasi Lemak, Pezzo etc.), IHRP and StaffAny – the motivations behind the PWM’s raising of wages for workers – many of whom are Deskless / blue-collar / frontline workers that have to-date commanded relatively low pay, and are disproportionately hurt in today’s higher-inflation world.
Now let us now look at the PWM requirements for Singapore’s Food Services sector.
Under the PWM for Food Services, F&B businesses are split into 2 categories:
Category A is comprised of food establishments without wait staff. These include Quick Service (“QS”) F&B establishments like fast-food outlets, food courts etc. Essentially, self-service F&B eateries.
For PWM purposes, one career track is mapped out – stipulating a gross monthly wage requirement of SGD $1,750 from 1 March 2023 for Full-time entry level Food / Drink Stall Assistant ($9.18 per hour for part-timers), with progressive increments as (s)he moves up the career ladder.
This PWM wage minimum rises to $1,915 per month on 1 March 2024, then $2,080 on 1 March 2025.
(Click table to enlarge)
Category B is made up by food establishments WITH wait staff, as well as Caterers and Central Kitchens.
Two career tracks apply for Category B food businesses.
1. “Back-of-house” roles, with these minimum monthly gross wage requirements:
(Click table to enlarge)
2. “Front-of-house” job roles, with the following monthly gross wage requirements:
(Click table to enlarge)
It’s important to recognise that workers’ wages are also employers’ costs, so raising wages cannot be done sustainably without a corresponding rise in workforce productivity. Otherwise, margins are eroded for the business and product pricing cannot be competitive, which hurts consumers.
F&B establishments can adopt a variety of process innovations and digital technologies that make the business more productive.
It is also imperative that F&B businesses invest in upgrading workers’ skills so they can increase their productivity and skillsets, offering great food service experiences to customers and helping F&B employers to achieve more.
Hence, training is a key pillar of the PWM.
For the Food Services PWM – employers must ensure that their Singapore citizen and PR workers attain at least 2 Workforce Skills Qualification (“WSQ”) Statement of Attainment, from the list of approved WSQ training modules. Alternatively, employers that have in-house WSQ training modules with prefix “FSS” in accompanying Technical Skills & Competencies (“TSC”) code can use these modules to meet the training requirements.
PWM training requirement must be done within 6 months of a new hire’s employment start date, or by 29 February 2024 for existing workers.
F&B employers can consider various Approved Training Organisations (“ATOs”) offering WSQ courses that meet the PWM’s requirements.
One of these is FSI, an ATO backed by Fei Siong Group – one of Singapore’s largest F&B groups with 173 (& growing) outlets across 20 brands (e.g. Malaysia Boleh, Encik Tan, Nam Kee Pau etc.) employing over 1,600 staff. They are a proven market practitioner – amalgamating decades of practical real-world F&B experience into a sound training curriculum at FSI.
FSI is a public WSQ ATO accredited by SkillsFuture Singapore, supported by Enterprise Singapore and Institute of Adult Learning. They offer WSQ courses that meet the PWM requirements.
FSI offers structured training via in-person classes at their centrally-located venue right above Tanjong Pagar MRT station.
FSI’s courses are short and concise, helping F&B operators to upskill and reskill workers with minimum fuss and time commitment.
FSI has also created bite-sized learning modules, readily available 24/7 on mobile devices, shortening the time needed to induct new F&B hires and impart knowledge.
So if you are an F&B business, consider FSI for your training needs –
(i) to meet PWM requirements, and
(ii) more importantly, continuously skill up your workforce to achieve more for your business.
For starters, check out FSI’s mobile learning module explaining the Food Services PWM ->
The Singapore Government has committed to providing assistance for employers:
1. Progressive Wage Credit Scheme: From 2022 to 2026, the Government is co-funding eligible wage increases given to lower-wage workers. To reduce administrative burden for employers, any co-funding payouts are automatically disbursed.
2. Workfare Skills Support Scheme: Employers’ training costs for workers above 35 years old and earning less than $2,300 per month are significantly offset.
These would help F&B businesses to ease into the PWM in the initial period. However, the true benefits accrue over the medium-to-long term for the businesses, as a more productive workforce produces much more and higher-quality offerings for the business, and ultimately adds to the bottom line. Everyone wins – Businesses, Workers, Consumers.
It is time to break the practice of only wanting our own salaries to go up, while our costs (other people’s salaries) stay low. No longer should Singapore’s domestic economy be built on the model of a low-wage, foreign-only workforce.
ArcLab’s vision has a strong impact focus on uplifting deskless worker lives and livelihoods. To achieve this, we know that ultimately – workers win only when businesses win.
We are hopeful that the PWM helps break the vicious cycle of deskless blue-collar workers being viewed as low-productivity and hence not worthy of skills investment and higher wages. In such a scenario, everyone loses – businesses, and workers especially, in today’s high-inflation world.
Instead, an upskilled workforce means higher productivity and profitability. Businesses can then justifiably pay higher worker salaries. This means better livelihoods and stronger loyalty to employers (lowering costly staff turnover for businesses). This turns the previous vicious cycle into a new virtuous one, helping all of us – government, businesses and consumers to all do well and do good in our new higher-inflation world.
Top Photo by Nauris Pūķis on Unsplash
As we enter the final stretch of 2022, we recap our top articles from this year:
1. How to Train F&B Staff, co-authored with Passioneat Hospitality – shares how a trained workforce is the biggest contributor to the success of any F&B organisation, and how you can achieve this for your business.
2. Body Language for Customer Service shares how effective body language is key to creating your well-trained sales force and customer service team. We also share free templates from ArcLab Discover.
3. Melabur Untuk Perkembangan Perniagaan shares in Bahasa Melayu – all the ArcLab Use Cases that our customers use us for, including digital Standard Operating Procedures (“DSOPs”). Also read the English version Investing in Intangibles for Growth & Productivity
Rounding off, we have:
4. Nano Learning – Simple, Effective, Scalable Training for New & Replacement Workers
5. How can F&B outlets attract new hires & retain existing staff – discussing the importance of a comprehensive L&D programme in making jobs in the food & beverage industries attractive for would-be and existing workers to build their careers, and increase employer loyalty.
6. Streamline Business Processes with Digital SOPs – where we share how documenting procedures is an important way to get staff up-to-speed quickly, and also share various digital SOP templates such as Operating a Point-of-Sale System (“POS”).
7. Construction is NOT Dangerous – which shares about how to effectively conduct Workplace Safety & Health Training (“WSH”) for construction workers.
8. How to Onboard & Orientate your Deskless Workforce – A Fast & Easy Way to conduct staff onboarding, orientation, induction programmes
As ArcLab continues to serve our existing customers, extend into new markets like Malaysia & Vietnam, and grow into new sectors (e.g. Logistics and Supply Chain), we’ll keep sharing what we learn in our work serving organisations’ skilling of workers.
At the same time, we keep investing resources into building out the ArcLab platform, while staying true to our vision to always be the simplest and most fuss-free way to digitally skill the most important part of your organisation – your people.
We hope you continue to find our sharing useful as you upskill your workforce to be more productive for your organisation, this year and next.
Best wishes for 2023!
ArcLab is building the world’s simplest training platform for organisations to upskill your deskless workforces.
Our regular User Clinics gather ArcLab customers and users to connect, learn and share all the benefits that Nano Learning and Just-in-Time Training has brought to their workforce and organisation. The ArcLab team also shares new features that we developed since the previous User Clinic, and explore how these can be used to create even better and more engaging training for organisations’ workforces.
In our second User Clinic of 2022, we welcomed ArcLab customers from several countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
We also announced new features to help organisations create more effective, engaging and secure training modules.
For those who weren’t able to attend, this blog post details everything we debuted. And here’s the video too:
Now for everything new we announced to help you with your workforce training:
“Reorder” is ArcLab’s newest Assessment screen, which can be used to assess learners’ knowledge of procedures, steps or sequences.
An example might be:
“Arrange in order: the sequence of the 7 steps of proper handwashing”,
or
“Reorder: What are the 5 steps in marinating this chicken dish?“
“Reorder” can be used for assessments as described above, or toggle the “Quiz” setting to “Poll”, and you can use it to survey your staff or any audience’s preferences ranked against the other options.
Full details are in the Reorder section of our Knowledge Base.
Geofencing is a new security measure that you can add to your modules, especially if they contain sensitive or proprietary content.
Geofencing allows you to restrict learners’ module access to specific geographical locations such as your outlets, worksites or offices. Geofencing uses the Global Positioning System (“GPS”) information from your learner’s mobile device to detect if they are within or outside the virtual boundary set up by you. Learners will then only be able to gain access your geofenced modules when their devices’ GPS detects that they are within the pre-defined geographical location.
Other innovative ways of using Geofencing is for onboarding or team-building exercises, where your staffs’ access to specific modules are unlocked at specific locations as part of a series of tasks or “missions”.
For example, one of ArcLab’s customers used geofenced modules as part of an “Amazing Race” in their new staff onboarding activity. As this organisation had locations all across the country, this was a great way for new staff to visit each location and get to meet the people who work in each location. A great way to conduction an onboarding and induction programme, if you ask us!
What other ways do you think Geofencing can be used for your onboarding, training or HR programmes? Let us know!
Geofencing is currently an Opt-In feature, so drop us a note if you’d like to get onboard.
We introduced Monthly Learner Access reports so you receive periodic email updates on how many learners have accessed your ArcLab modules. Look out for these on the first day of every month.
We also added a dedicated dashboard where admins & managers can check on these Learner Access metrics at any time. This gives you an idea of the level of engagement from your learners on a month-to-month basis, and give you better control on how you would deploy and manage learner access across your organisation.
Learner Access Metrics can be accessed easily via the top right of your ArcLab Dashboard:
Learn more about your Learner Access Metrics Dashboard in our Knowledge Base.
Massive thanks to everyone who took time out of your busy schedules to join our 2nd User Clinic of 2022. We hope to host an in-person User Clinic very soon – stay in touch via our mailers & social channels.
Meanwhile, we keep working to help you create continuous upskilling programmes for your workforce, and build better and more productive organisations.
Thank you for Creating Effective Training with ArcLab!
In August, ArcLab had the opportunity to be back in Malaysia – following from our previous trip in March. On both our trips, we had the chance to meet with leaders of F&B businesses – some of whom ArcLab is already serving, and others who were keen to find out how to enhance their workforce productivity.
Building ArcLab, we adopted a beyond-Singapore mindset from the get-go. Firstly, Singapore is small as a market, and the workforce is also largely white-collar office workers. ArcLab is built to be the go-to training tool for the Deskless Workforce, so it was only natural for us to think regional and global from our earliest days.
Starting with the problem, we looked at some training pain points that market solutions weren’t solving well:
1. Off-the-shelf Training content wasn’t suited to individual businesses
2. Deskless workers weren’t necessarily proficient in English, which is what most training content was created in.
3. Businesses often do not have the time nor resources to conduct these training sessions, which took employees off the shopfloor, resulting in lost production time.
4. Consistent, uniform training was difficult to do across multiple locations – as much training is person-dependent.
Since most companies possessed deep knowledge of the work that they needed their workers to be able to perform, companies themselves should be the best at upskilling their own workers, be it training F&B staff, or training construction workers.
We were also laser-focussed at ensuring simplicity and ease of use as we built ArcLab. And this became the platform:
The platform is infinitely scalable, as training is created by individual companies for their respective workforces.
ArcLab makes it easy for a HR / L&D / Operations / Workplace Safety & Health professional to create a set of bite-sized training modules for the organisation, designate learners to receive the training, distribute via SMS or email, and track learning & performance via the ArcLab Learner Analytics dashboard. Follow-ups & interventions can then be planned as needed, for workers who need it most. And if inspiration is needed for training content, ArcLab Discover’s library of 70+ (and growing) training templates is a great resource.
Conducting training this way ensures conveying a uniform training experience to every worker – in the flow of work. This helps businesses to reduce time and cost needed for training – effectively, it funds free headcount for the business, through the resource savings and productivity gains.
Having served many Singapore companies since we launched in late-2019, we’re glad to now also serve Malaysian businesses and help you create a more productive & profitable organisation.
Interested to find out more? Join our LinkedIn community and download your free e-book!
Stay on top of COVID-19 prevention at your workplace! Monitor your staffs’ well-being and enable them to decide on their next steps with this COVID-19 Symptom Checker template.
Prolonged exposure to heat can result in serious health damages and even death. Here are 5 simple precautions that your workers can take to protect them against heat related injuries.
As our economy advances, businesses need to continuously innovate to better serve customers and stay relevant. Digitalisation is often a key enabler to improve business processes – even if the business continues to be labour-intensive and high-high, like in Food Services.
Yet even as businesses digitally transform, a trained workforce is still the pre-requisite – so staff know how to better make use of the new technology and processes – to increase the productivity (and profitability) of the business. That’s where an efficient training system is necessary – to continuously upskill workers in the flow of work, especially as knowledge cycles shorten.
While there are many Learning Management Systems (“LMS”) in the market like Canvas, Blackboard, D2L and Moodle, most of these are built for schools and Institutes of Higher Learning (“IHLs”) – designed to serve thousands of students studying together in an academic campus.
Are there digital training platforms that are more suited for companies, especially Small & Medium Businesses (“SMB / SME”)?
Let’s look at a few (in alphabetical order):
ArcLab is designed for Deskless Workforces who are usually not seated in an office or have a workstation / computer.
ArcLab is a mobile learning platform that empowers organisations’ HR and L&D managers to easily create, distribute and track training – delivered via email or SMS direct to employees’ mobile phones (and computer browsers) – all without an app. Anytime, anywhere, any language.
Some important aspects of ArcLab:
1. Fuss-free authoring – ArcLab’s module builder has a WYSIWYG (“What you see is what you get”) user interface that Microsoft PowerPoint & Google Slides users will be familiar with, making the learning curve pretty flat. L&D managers can directly embed rich media and add assessment screens as needed, without coding or complicated UX.
2. Multi-lingual modules – ArcLab’s SmartTranslate is an AI-assisted translation feature that empowers creation of modules in multiple languages with just 1 button click. It’s built directly into the ArcLab builder so you don’t need to toggle back-and-forth with your translation app. Learners choose in their first screen which language they are most comfortable with to consume your training. This is an important feature if your learners’ education level or command or language is not high.
Here’s what ArcLab’s customers have to say.
ArcLab is based out of Singapore, featured in Holon IQ’s Southeast Ed Tech 50 for 3 years in a row, and in the GSV Elite 200 – GSV Ventures’ global list of the top early-stage edtech startups.
EdApp is a mobile LMS that aims to change how the world learns at work.
EdApp’s thesis is that younger employees’ increasing share of the workforce means establishing agile learning & development. EdApp believes their platform can help companies establish a constantly-improving work culture.
EdApp’s platform includes:
1. Learner Platform – where learners are welcome by a modern learning experience with gamification & real rewards.
2. Administration Tools – giving organisations full control and flexibility to manage and deliver content.
3. Editable Course Library – EdApp’s free library of (editable) courseware designed by global thought leaders and leading industry experts.
4. Authoring Tool – where course managers can design microlessons for learners – no coding required.
EdApp has offices in Australia, the US and the UK.
eduMe is a mobile training platform that helps companies to onboard and train deskless workforces, within organisations’ existing technology stacks.
eduMe’s advertised value proposition is to empower organisations’ new joiners to become productive in less time, increase the quality of work and set a base for future performance improvements.
eduMe’s features include:
1. Assessments – for L&D teams to monitor, test and ensure workforce quality
2. Engagement – to give organisations’ workforces a voice and to gather insight
3. Integrations – Embedding training into existing workflows for seamless learning
eduMe encourages businesses to include L&D into organisational initiatives because 84% of workers feel disconnected from their companies (the cost of disengaged workers can be $3.4k for every $10k of salary). Thus, equipping frontline workers with technology is the key to organisations’ success.
eduMe has offices in the UK and the US.
Gnowbe is a microlearning platform, created to empower content creators, thought leaders and trainers from organisations to build experiential, participatory learning on mobile.
Gnowbe’s platform enables curators to:
1. Create – either using one of their editable templates, or to create a program from scratch
2. Share – preview, publish and share programmes with groups of learners
3. Analyze – gain insight into learners’ performance and progress through the Gnowbe Dashboard.
Gnowbe’s speciality is in mobile-first, group-based experiences, to make it easy for users to learn on-the-go on any device. Gnowbe also has a Learning Library of courses that individual learners can purchase for individual upskilling.
Gnowbe is based in Singapore and the US.
Kahoot! is a digital quiz engine. The platform has engaging visual interface, and is presented as a “game” where learners answer on their own, or compete by answering questions within a shared session. It is accessible via smartphones as an app, or on computer browsers.
Kahoot! is not designed for the workplace specifically and not particularly as a learning app since knowledge cannot usually be conveyed via the modules. (n/b see this Kahoot! vs ArcLab comparison that one of our users built).
However, Kahoot! is useful to test knowledge that had been taught through other means and its free version has seen widespread adoption in schools (especially for young students) and in-person events – primarily for audience engagement and its gamified experience (countdown timers, scoring etc.). Kahoot!’s recognisable earworm “soundtrack” also helps in its popularity. Kahoot! has also been expanding their family of learning apps through acquisitions.
Kahoot! was founded in Norway in 2012.
TalentCards is a mobile learning product from TalentLMS’s suite of e-learning solutions. It’s a standalone mobile training platform hived off from their LMS solution to work towards addressing deskless workers’ training needs.
TalentCards helps organisations to bring training to frontline workers instead of pulling them away from their jobs for training. Their digital learning format is known as “cards”, which can be implemented in 3 steps:
1. Create card sets with training material
2. Add users to the platform and invite them to download the TalentCards app
3. Share card sets to be accessed from learners’ smartphones.
Any user can also type in a code to join the company portal and access training, available in over 13 languages.
TalentCards is based in Greece and the US.
There’s no one single best Digital Training platform that fits every business, since no two organisations are the same. We’ve listed the key features of the platforms above so you can consider which could meet your organisation’s needs.
If you employ a Deskless Workforce, e.g. in Food Services, Construction or Retail – it may be ideal to consider a mobile learning system like ArcLab.
This ensures that you work with your staffs’ already-existing devices (their phones), helps you deliver training in the flow of work – and equip them with the skills to help you build a productive and profitable business.
Let’s start investing in our people today!
The fight against Covid-19 is not over yet! Let us all continue to play our part to keep our workforce and workplaces safe by following these 7 safe management measures. Stay Safe.
[Template created in 2021. May no longer be current – please check official regulations]
Here are the COVID-19 Safe Management Measures that F&B Establishments in Singapore are required to comply with. Let’s work together to keep our diners & staff safe.
Template created in collaboration with 4Fingers Singapore, with information from Enterprise Singapore.
[Template created in 2021. May no longer be current – please check official regulations]
餐饮业者所需知的安全管理措施。请用来检查并向员工传达。让我们继续并肩对抗冠状病毒！
向肥雄餐饮集团致谢，合作编写。
[模板创建于2021年。可能不再是当前需要 – 请检查官方规定]
Here are COVID-19 Safe Management Measures that F&B Establishments in Singapore need to put in place for Phase 3 (Heightened Alert). Let’s work together to keep our diners & staff safe. Template created in collaboration with Fei Siong Group, with information from Enterprise Singapore.
[Template created in 2021. May no longer be current – please check official regulations]
Education and awareness is the best defense against cyber scams! Share this module with your employees and help them stay on their toes against rising cases of SMS Phishing (“Smishing”) frauds.
Here’s a fast & fuss-free way to provide multilingual training and onboarding for your new workers! Simply adapt this template, transform your content into ANY languages using our AI-powered auto-translation feature, and deliver the module straight to their mobile devices.
Here’s a quick and easy way for you to collect your employees’ emergency contact information in case of a workplace emergency. You may embed the form on your company’s website or email/SMS the form directly to their mobile devices.
Say goodbye to tedious and logistically challenging onboardings for your volunteers. With ArcLab, volunteer onboarding can take place anytime and anywhere! Adapt and customize this template to your own needs and set your volunteers up for success right on their first day of engagement!
Learning to spot the signs of emotional or mental distress in a person can prove valuable. Not only will it enable you to offer early help and care, you may even potentially save a life and make a positive impact on them! In this module, you’ll learn to recognize the 7 common symptoms of distress and how you can go about providing your help and support.
Empathic listening is a powerful tool that we can apply to both our professional and personal lives! In this module, you’ll learn how to use empathic listening skills to develop meaningful relationships, engage in constructive discussions, and win people’s trust and confidence.
This Social Assistance Application Form template enables you to collect applicants’ personal, contact details, and all other necessary information that your organisation may require. Adapt and customize this template, embed it in your website or share it with a link, and review all applications securely on your ArcLab account.
Expand your volunteer pool by collecting volunteer applications online with this Volunteer Application Form template. Collect candidates’ contact details, availability, areas of interests, and much more. Simply adapt and customize this template to your own needs, embed it in your website or share it with a link, and review applications securely on your ArcLab account!
Hazard symbols or pictograms alert workers to the dangers associated with the substance or chemical that they’re working with. Use this module as part of your safety or refresher training to help your employees learn what each one means!
“If they breed, you will bleed!“. Construction & renovation sites are prime locations for mosquito breeding. Keep your workplace safe & dengue-free by helping all workers and stakeholders learn to identify and eradicate potential mosquito breeding grounds with this interactive module!
Do you know that manual handling activities such as lifting, pushing, & carrying account for over a third of all workplace injuries? Protect the health and safety of your employees by sharing this module with them can be aware and informed of the safe lifting and handling practices!
It has probably happened to all of us before! Slips, Trips, and Falls (STFs) are the most common causes of injuries at the workplace. Help to ensure a safer work environment by sharing these 6 simple, yet essential STFs prevention tips with your employees!
Play your part in educating your delivery riders on the safe riding practices that will help keep themselves and the other road users safe!
Fire extinguishers are life-saving appliances that are common to all workplace settings, but few know the basics of how to use them properly. Use this module as part of your fire safety training to educate employees on the different types of fire extinguishers & how to operate them safely using the PASS technique.
There is a lot of information that you may want to share with your new employees on their big first day. This onboarding template keeps it all organized for you so that you can focus on connecting with your new hires and helping them hit the ground running!
Onboard your new hires fast & efficiently with this template built for all logistics and warehouse companies.
Safely and confidentially collect information on your employees vaccination status for business purposes e.g. business continuity planning.
As part of the national enhanced measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19, all employees working in high-risk settings are required to undergo mandatory Fast-and-Easy Testing (FET), using tests such as Antigen Rapid Test (ART), regardless of their vaccination status. Familiarize your staff to the ART testing procedures with this step-by-step instructional module!
As part of the national enhanced measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19, all employees working in high-risk settings are required to undergo mandatory Fast-and-Easy Testing (FET), using tests such as Antigen Rapid Test (ART), regardless of their vaccination status. Familiarize your staff to the ART testing procedures with this step-by-step instructional module!
As part of the national enhanced measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19, all employees working in high-risk settings are required to undergo mandatory Fast-and-Easy Testing (FET), using tests such as Antigen Rapid Test (ART), regardless of their vaccination status. Familiarize your staff to the ART testing procedures with this step-by-step instructional module!
Does your workplace have anyone trained in First Aid? Prepare for the unexpected to equip staff with life-saving skills. Our First Aid 101 series introduces some life-saving techniques, beginning with CPR (or Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation)
*Note: You should always attend / send your staff for an accredited course. Use this module only as a knowledge refresher and reference.
Editor’s note: ArcLab works alongside HR Tech platforms to help businesses better manage workforces, improve staff performance to achieve more for the business, and digitally transform for the future.
We’re glad to co-author this article with Jolene Tan of StaffAny, a fast-growing software platform that enables shift-work teams (F&B, Retail, etc) to handle Operations and HR more easily — to share how F&B Businesses can avoid costly communication issues between HR, Ops and staff, and instead focus on growing the business.
Food & Beverage Services (“F&B”) is an operations-intensive business.
We want things to run as clockwork as much as possible. So imagine a restaurant where things DON’T run like clockwork…e.g.
Instead of staying on top of things, you’re fighting fires every single day, just barely surviving!
Fighting fires daily means less time to grow your F&B Business.
The downstream effects of haphazard operations are poor customer experience and inefficiency, as more time is spent rectifying errors. Staff will ultimately also end up discontented.
This is hardly the way to run your F&B business — or any business for that matter!
Too much time is spent fire-fighting and doing last-minute coordination tasks. Time that should be better spent on more productive areas, like developing a new item for the menu, and attracting new sources of customers for the business.
We want to avoid such disaster scenarios, which can happen if we have a less-than-effective communication and coordination framework for our F&B business.
There is a better way.
First up — getting your schedules together! A schedule seem like a very simple and minor thing. But it actually forms the backbone of your daily operations. If schedules aren’t planned well, you can expect mess on the ground.
But we know, F&B schedules aren’t that simple. Besides the multiple shifts every single day, but the communication with your staff.
Get part-timer availability on WhatsApp. Plan weekly schedules on Excel. Send the schedules back on WhatsApp. Then begin the back-and-forth dance because a staff can’t make it last minute, or you need to edit your schedule… sounds familiar?
Actually, you can avoid all the time and communication issues of this flow by doing all things scheduling-related on one platform. This not only reduces communication errors but also saves managers and owners a Ton of time! (specifically up to 70% time for some of our users).
After schedules, the next most crucial part is your timesheets. HR spends so much time on this because they want to pay their staff accurately. But did you know? Most communication issues are solved as long as the pay staff expect to receive is equal to the hours HR trusts and processes. This can only happen if the finalised time records HR processes for payroll is also seen by your staff.
That’s exactly what StaffAny was created for. Built for the F&B industry, StaffAny supports your complex operational needs from scheduling to timesheets, so you can save time and labour costs. Focus on what really matters.
With proper scheduling, staff now know way ahead of time when their shift is. They also need a clear idea of their roles and responsibilities, and be trained in the tasks that they need to perform onsite, at each and every shift.
Traditionally, the task of teaching Standard Operating Procedures (“SOP”) to staff tends to fall on managers, who are already busy running operations and managing a myriad of other tasks. The training needs to be repeated for new staff, and sometimes staff forget what they need to do and require training again.
That’s where a good SOP system, built on ArcLab, can assist the manager. ArcLab empowers F&B businesses everywhere to easily author & distribute Digital SOPs, sent directly to staffs’ phones.
Unlike greasy SOP ring-binders that sit unused in the kitchen and available only to the manager, Digital SOPs are on-the-cloud and readily accessible by staff as-and-when they need to refer to specific steps and procedures that they may have forgotten, or want a second look.
Digital SOPs can also be updated each time circumstances and procedures change, and can be provided in multiple languages to suit staffs’ needs and abilities. Now every staff member knows his/her responsibility, what to do, and how to do them.
This means less work for the manager, who can spend more time on planning and executing growth plans. This means a more productive, and a more profitable business.
Use ArcLab’s template for mobile-ready newsletters, delivered direct to your customers. Advertise sales, events and promotions!
ArcLab’s flexibility allows for organisations to use Nano Learning modules for Public-facing Communication.
E.g. dispelling myths about Down Syndrome
Rejuvenate boring email newsletters! Use ArcLab’s template for mobile-ready newsletters, delivered direct to staff phones. Announce company updates, and milestones. Foster community by sharing employee stories.
Use this template to see the extent learners apply what they learnt in the job, and gather insights into workplace factors that could support or impede learning transfer. Best applied a period of time after training-end.
Nobody will commit to training that does not produce results. This post-training survey template is used by trainers to gather learners’ feedback and identify areas in the training programme that may require adjustments.
Check in with your staff on how they’re doing, and feeling about supervisors, teams, and your organisation. Use the template as-is, or add/edit/delete screens to help answer the questions that are important to your business.
Use our employee appraisal template to properly appraise your workforce with ArcLab. Digitally.
Use this template as an audit / inspection checklist for your F&B outlets’ hygiene. Can be used by food safety officers and outlet managers. Adapt it to fit company specifics and regulatory requirements
As we place more emphasis on sustainability and rethink the impact of our globalised world and supply chains, here is a simple module that can get your teams started on growing a small portion of their food right in their homes.
Use Nano Learning for the entire learning journey, from Pre-Course Reading, In-Course Content all the way to Post-Course Assessment & Feedback
Do you run a courier or delivery service business? Train your Couriers & Delivery riders with this simple module. Adapt it to fit your company SOPs
Has your business started accepting digital payments? Go digital today! There’s a variety of digital POS in the market. Qashier is one. Here’s a module you can use to train your staff.
Has your business started accepting digital payments? Go digital today! There’s a variety of digital POS in the market. GrabPay is one. Here’s a module you can use to train your staff – in English and Chinese 中文 – 培训员工如何使用GrabPay商家应用程序.
Use this ArcLab template to create training modules to train and assess your staff’s knowledge of Singapore’s PDPA.
This is the first module in a four part series on PDPA.
How good are your staffs’ Cyber Security habits? With staff splitting their time in the office & WFH, use this module to convey the 101s of Cyber Security to keep your staff (and organisation) safe online
Cyber scam cases continue to rise in our increasingly digitalised society. Train your employees how to spot the signs of scams and take the necessary precautions to protect themselves! #LETSFIGHTSCAMS
Maintaining good teamwork and positive working relationships is the cornerstone of organisational success. But just how skilled are you at doing so? Find out here and discover how the key to managing relationships with others begins with the ability to first manage your own emotions.
Please contact Ms Alina Rusu at businessacademia.co | alina.rusu@businessacademia.co for your full training package.
Successful management begins with you! Learn to take control of your own thoughts and emotions by equipping yourself with these self-management techniques.
Please contact Ms Alina Rusu at businessacademia.co | alina.rusu@businessacademia.co for your full training package.
Do you act on your emotions in a way you later regret? Do you listen to reply or to understand? Learn the art of self-awareness and find out how it can facilitate effective decision making and inter-communication.
Please contact Ms Alina Rusu at businessacademia.co | alina.rusu@businessacademia.co for your full training package.
It is EQ, not IQ, that is essential in the modern workplace! Hear it first-hand from the renowned psychologist and leading scholar on emotional intelligence, Dr. Daniel Goleman, and discover the 5 key domains of EQ that determine professional success.
Please contact Ms Alina Rusu at businessacademia.co | alina.rusu@businessacademia.co for your full training package.
Emotional competence is the key to building a positive and happier workplace. Begin your journey to learning about how emotional competence can work for you and your organisation.
Please contact Ms Alina Rusu at businessacademia.co | alina.rusu@businessacademia.co for your full training package
Building a good customer experience does not happen by accident. It happens by design. Discover how you can foster a lifetime loyalty from your customers by bringing design thinking to your business & customer experience strategies.
Please contact Ms Alina Rusu at businessacademia.co | alina.rusu@businessacademia.co for your full training package
F&B establishments and hotels use Nano Learning to introduce to Food Hygiene Training to their employees, crucial training for every organisation.
Organisations use Nano Learning to keep staff informed of important Workplace Safety Policies & Procedures, helping them keep safe and healthy in the workplace.
Financial Institutions use Nano Learning in various training use cases. Examples are primers in Blockchain & Business Chinese
Concept based learning involves understanding of abstract ideas and requires a much deeper level of information processing—e.g. training on leadership, communication, critical thinking, or conflict resolution skills. Use this template to start.
Use this template to focus learning on the ‘what’ of things. Adapt it to introduce or reacquaint your team to the 101s of company products and offerings, or provide information on a specific topic or policy. A more effective way to help staff retain knowledge
Description: SOPs, operating instructions, or any other ‘how-tos’ guide for your employees do not always be on a dry, boring document or manual. Create yours here with this procedure-based learning template and find out tips on how you can keep their learning more effective and engaging!
Build Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and other Performance Support Materials that your workforce needs for their work tasks. All readily available on their smartphones.
When your staff understand the characteristics of different difficult customer profiles, they are better-equipped to serve them & turn them into advocates of your brand. Try this template!
We want to serve our customers well. How would you like your staff to act when facing customers who are ‘difficult’? Here’s an ArcLab template. Feel free to adapt it according to your company policy & practices!
Did you know that a big part of our communication happens through NON-VERBAL means? Understanding Body Language is an extremely important skill for your customer service reps to better serve your customers. Adapt this module to suit your company policies & practices, and train your staff accordingly.
First Impressions last! Use & adapt this template to train your staff in properly greeting your customers and how to take orders and recommend what’s suitable for them.
Organisations in Hospitality, F&B and Retail industries use Nano Learning to introduce Customer Service Training to front-line staff.
This onboarding template is built specifically for retail businesses. Use it to welcome and orientate new hires to their new job and deliver awesome experiences to your customers
ArcLab supports multiple languages. Here is a Chinese-language template you can use to onboard service crew to their new job.
餐厅服务员入职须知: 岗位职责与任务
Carving out time to train and orient your new service crew can be challenging. Help your new recruits get up to speed with their roles & responsibilities right on their first day at work with this template!
Still using pen & paper to collect visitor COVID-19 health declarations? Add this module to your dashboard & print the QR code for visitors to scan and respond digitally
Organisations use Nano Learning to introduce New Employees to the firm, mission, job roles, reporting supervisors & team-mates etc.
The move to remote work has been a long and winding path for workers worldwide.
Fortunately, I had been working remotely for three years before the pandemic, and in this post, I’d like to share some of the best practices I’ve seen in the remote onboarding phase.
Onboarding and induction of new staff is tough enough, but remote onboarding has made it much more difficult. For their first day, no one will greet them personally, and they will not have a coworker seated next to them in the workplace. They won’t be around to meet their supervisor in person and will have to handle IT processes and other business apps on their own, albeit in the comfort of their own home and possibly comfy clothes.
HR departments worldwide are also figuring out how to better onboard new hires when they can’t be there to answer questions and calm their nerves. During the onboarding process, it’s important to make new employees feel at ease right away. According to studies, if an employee has a positive onboarding experience, they are more likely to stick with the company long term.
Remote hires will find it difficult to adapt to the company culture and gain a comprehensive understanding of the mission, values, and product knowledge they’ll need to do their jobs well. Team building is already challenging due to the lack of opportunities to meet in person, but there are ways to prevent new hire isolation.
This post will go through some tips for managers & HR to use during the remote onboarding period to ensure that new employees have a seamless transition into their new positions.
Consider putting together a welcome packet sent to new remote workers. New workers should receive the welcome packet before their first onboarding session.
The welcome packet aims to provide new workers with the general knowledge that will be useful in their first few days and months at the company. Making a video that welcomes new hires to the company can be a perfect way to give them a feeling of instant belonging.
Incorporate the welcome video into one of the onboarding process’s early stages. Make most of your training videos through training webinars, where you can deliver pre-recorded or live training to your remote employees.
ArcLab’s proprietary platform is ideal for remote onboarding, particularly for workers who are deskless or using a mobile. You can leverage nano learning modules to provide bite-size learning content, which is 5–7 minutes long and include videos and short quizzes to reinforce understanding.
You give new employee the best chance of success by spelling out their expectations before their first day. They won’t be left in the dark and won’t have to ask too many questions if they have a good picture of their roles and what’s expected of them.
The most effective way to do this is to create a schedule for and new employee that includes time for training, assessments, and check-ins. Openly discuss business principles, new tasks they’ll be working on, team priorities, and personal ambitions.
Your top priority is to ensure that new hires know their roles and the tools/software/applications they’ll need to complete their tasks. Allow time for the IT team to set up their technology and answer any questions. Finally, provide them with the complete documentation of their onboarding process to relate to it during their first few weeks on the job.
A typical first day for a recruit will include a workplace tour, introductions to coworkers, and a series of in-person orientation sessions. Since all of this is temporary, it’s important to focus on establishing connections between new hires and their virtual teams.
Consider assigning a buddy to each new hire to chat as they adapt to their new job. They can ask them any questions they don’t want to ask the Slack community. This buddy can be a mentor, a team member, or a volunteer who has already been through the onboarding process. The aim is to connect new workers with someone who can help them get a head start in their new role.
Making early connections is an important part of a person’s first few weeks at a new company. Encourage team members to schedule introductory meetings with new hires so that everyone can establish a good relationship right away and feel less lonely.
Ensure that the remote workers have plenty of chances to learn from one another. This is particularly important during the onboarding phase because it provides another way to promote a positive team-oriented culture, even if workers do not work in the same place.
If you manage a team, specifically, ask each team member to set up a video call with the new remote employee. They should take advantage of this opportunity to welcome the new employee to the team and clarify their duties. Another way to foster a remote-friendly community is to treat all workers equally and fairly, regardless of whether they work on-site or remotely.
A good mindset and strong relationships open the doors to promotion in the workplace. Working remotely has the downside of making it more difficult to highlight professional accomplishments. Employees will need to put in extra effort in 2021 to increase their virtual participation to access new opportunities. Employee engagement is much more difficult to convey and describe in a remote setting where employees interact primarily via email. Employees who work from home will stand out as leaders by attending virtual gatherings, engaging in online meetings, and maintaining a high enthusiasm level.
Make sure they have access to the same benefits as on-site workers. For example, if the organization provides subsidized gym memberships to employees, offer that to remote employees.
Although both on-site and off-site staff can be members of the same team, they do not all have the same level of experience working for the same company.
Build a remote-friendly environment that makes everyone feel included, regardless of where they work, for the company to be effective in onboarding permanently remote employees.
ArcLab Mobile learning solves training needs, offering remote training via our proprietary SaaS platform or a blended approach integrated with your current L&D framework. You can further learn more about how Nano Learning can improve your organisation’s work performance. Try our learning module and receive a copy of our Nano Learning playbook.
Ephraim, the author, has over ten years of experience in B2B consultative and solution sales. He is a technology enthusiast for SaaS solutions and cloud-based software. His personal motto is to embrace technology, challenge himself, learn new things, and step outside of his comfort zone to try new things. Here’s where you can learn more about him.
Investing in your employees always yields high returns, after all, they are the main driving force of the organization. One form of investment can be via digital microlearning. This method benefits the employees as they learn something new while saving their leisure time. They also have knowledge at their fingertips hence opening growth opportunities for themselves. As for the firms themselves, this new advent in technology can help boost return on investment (ROI).
Investments are a risky venture especially when you are not sure of the outcome, but upskilling is not a risk but a necessity. One of the best ways to look into upgrading your staff is through digitalization, which is not just cost-effective but also efficient. According to psychology, human beings are disinterested in content that is not tailored to them, with microlearning (or nanolearning) this has been made possible. Statistics show there is 20% more information retention when nano learning is used, and there is a 17% boost in learner’s performance. Thus, showing proven benefits of this method of training. Apart from this as a business, if you take time constraints into consideration, training may become secondary. It is always perceived that the employees need to stop daily activities to do on the job training. With nanolearning this may not be needed, due to the mobile nature of nanolearning, it can be done at one’s own convenient time.
An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.
— Jack Welch
Interactive Nano learning is becoming the norm in several industries such as F&B, Hospitality, and Retail. In fact, the projected growth rate for nanolearning is 2.7 billion by 2024. The growth represents the success rate of implementing this technology as it makes it easier for employees to perform daily tasks without an information overload. Furthermore, businesses can teach their workers about standard operating procedures, and information about their products which the staff can relay to prospective customers, therefore, increasing sales. The content can also be designed in a goal-driven manner which provides a clear learning objective to the learner. This can be further reinstated via inbuilt quizzes and tests which allow the organisation to test the understanding of the user. Test results paired with key performance indicators (KPI), can help companies track progress and gauge ROI.
Nano learning can be considered as a solution for frontline workers which not only benefits the employees themselves but the management as well. With a plethora of advantages being offered by this technology at low prices, it is quick and easy for a business to adopt this change.
ArcLab Mobile learning solves training needs; offering remote training via our proprietary SaaS platform or a blended approach integrated with your current L&D framework. You can further learn more today about how Nano Learning can improve work performance in your organisation. Try our learning module and receive a copy of our Nano Learning playbook.
In our new COVID-normal world, companies are working to adapt and pivot their businesses.
Significant changes can be observed in Human Resource practices in organisations across the world, including the application of more technology in the workplace, which ArcLab was glad to contribute our thoughts to this Tech Collective Asia exposition.
What are some key themes?
First — the way we hire affects who we end up hiring. From getting your prospective interviewees take gamified online assessments to identify thinking patterns, to virtual recorded interviews which are run through an AI algorithm instead of a human recruiter. Such technology helps assess and filter candidates with attributes which accurately match with what the company wants for subsequent rounds of interviews.
For example, Hilton hotels, a renowned chain of hotels around the world has turned to digitising their HR. Hilton’s HR team gathers data from high-performing employees and apply it towards filter new applicants.
Second — digitalisation can be used to enhance employee experience. To manage the introduction of these new processes in the HR department, skills of current staff need to be upgraded. This means we need to familiarise the staff with technology before they can further hire tech-savvy employees.
Internal HR processes that can be digitised include payroll and leave applications. Digitising these free up HR Department’s time for higher-value activities like strategy and planning. Employee feedback systems can also be digitised, and analytics applied to provide important insights for the organisation.
Pivoting training (traditionally done through face-to-face lessons and by sending staff to external courses to upskill them) to online training services also allows organisations to tailor specific training content for their workforce.
There will undeniably be aspects of HR that will require a human touch. For example, complaints about harassment and bullying will almost always require a closer look from HR, management, and line managers. Empathy is an (the) important trait for HR professionals. Technology is ultimate just a tool.
In conclusion, we need to take the right steps for our our workforce. Happy employees form the working culture for the entire organisation, which translates into the experience of the customers the firm serves.
With the right framework, we then need to apply the proper training. ArcLab empowers companies set up digital training for your workforce with your own Nano Learning modules.
To take the next step, go to ArcLab Discover today!
When every industry is reaping the benefits of digitalisation, why not the F&B industry? Adapting to technological advancements will not only help the industry grow but also help individuals develop their skills so they can do more for the F&B business.
But what does digitalisation mean for this industry? Customers can make reservations, place orders, view menus online, and so much more. Technology can also be adopted for internal processes such as marketing and sales management, logistics, and training. The data generated over the software can then be analysed to increase efficiency and manage costs. On top of these benefits, using technology to carry out business operations is especially advantageous during this pandemic where social distancing is encouraged.
However, as an F&B business it is not only necessary to switch to tech for internal processes but also to upskill their workforce. With new operating policies introduced by the government due to Covid-19 along with new competitions, current employees will need to keep up to stay relevant.
Thus, digitalisation allows the management to produce dynamic and interactive training material online. This makes it easier to grasp the attention of workers during training and produces more aware and confident employees. What’s more? Tech can help reduce manual hours needed to provide onsite training and lower inconveniences to managers and colleagues.
Arclab’s nano-learning platform helps F&B businesses do just that. Using ArcLab’s platform, managers can create online modules to train and provide SOP manuals to workers. These modules can then be accessed directly through a web link. The software can not only upskill current employees but also train new hires!
Despite tons of advantages, some companies might still find it hard to adopt tech like ArcLab, especially people who resist new technological changes. Such intolerance from employees could result in extra work and costs incurred by the management while introducing digitalisation.
The adoption of digital solutions can make life easier for not just the management and the workforce. Investment in digitalisation can give the businesses operating in the F&B industry an edge in the competitive arena.
Employees who are well versed with the standard operating procedures of the organisation will tend to make fewer errors; data collected during the online training could be collated and used to make a more effective learning experience for the future. So why wait when the government is supporting your decision as well?
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc globally in 2020 and it does not seem to be letting up in the New Year, with new strains of the virus now rearing its ugly head in Europe. As many countries go into lockdown for the umpteenth time, what is going to happen to good old customer service as we know it, be it at retail stores or our favourite restaurants?
As with anything, there are always two sides to a coin. The pandemic has created a new normal and in the area of customer service, some good has come out of it.
Due to the safe management measures put in place, the number of people allowed in restaurants has decreased. As such, there will be less people dining in a restaurant at any one time. With less diners, the service staff will be able to give more attention to the ones that are present. This would not have been possible in the past where you have a fully packed restaurant that was understaffed.
Another positive that has arisen due to the pandemic will be the level of hygiene standards and cleanliness of stores and food outlets. Check out our food hygiene page with sample modules.
Due to COVID-19, many shopping malls and food & beverage outlets now maintain extremely high levels of cleanliness to ensure the safety of their patrons and diners. High touchpoints are constantly disinfected to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and this indirectly prevents the spread of other infectious diseases like Hand Foot Mouth Disease (HFMD) and the common cold as well.
On the flip side though, some people may feel that customer service may be less personal nowadays. Reason being that staff have to wear masks so you cannot really see the smiles on their faces anymore. The social distancing practices also means that they cannot get too close to customers so that may feel a little distant, literally. The warmth and friendliness you used to feel from service staff will be a thing of the past and in its place, what you will find will be a human who is there to assist, but from a safe distance, and hiding behind a mask.
When it comes to flying though, it is no different. Even though air travel is still limited to certain groups of people and not opened to the masses yet, those who have been travelling this period have complained of a lack of service on board the aircraft.
Most airlines have stopped serving hot food and in its place instead are pre packed food like bread or biscuits. Food service is non-existent and passengers get bottled water instead for minimal interaction with the cabin crew.
Of course, all these measures are there to protect the passengers, as well as the cabin crew but it does seriously affect the high standards of service that people have come to expect on board an airplane.
From the warm smile of the flight attendant who greets you as you board the plane, to her attending to your request for a blanket after you are seated. These are the service touchpoints that we have come to enjoy and expect over the years pre-pandemic.
When you remove all these suddenly, it does leave a void and bad feeling, regardless of whether we are living in a new normal. It just does not feel like you are flying with style anymore.
So there you have it. Customer service is almost no longer recognizable in this new normal thanks to COVID-19 and no one really knows how long this virus is going to hang around. Fortunately at ArcLab our clients have created customer service modules to ensure we are still maintaining high standards. Feel free to give it a go here, maybe you are a service superstar!
Vaccines are now finally available but only time will tell if we can return to the good old days where we took good customer service for granted.
If it was not apparent before, it is now. The digital age is here to stay and for those that are not keeping up will eventually be left behind.
Bearing in mind the harsh lessons learnt at the expense of the former giants, what can an individual do to upskill himself or herself post COVID-19 to ensure that they do not too, become redundant and are left behind?
First of all, upskilling is not about learning a new device because that very same device can become obsolete tomorrow. Instead, upskilling is about gaining the knowledge, tools and technical expertise to harness the digital technologies that are available in their lives and workplace.
The main difference between upskilling in the pre-pandemic world and the new normal we now live in would be time. Previously, we had the luxury of time to plan, test and adjust new technologies. Nowadays, it is a constant race against time to constantly reframe and adapt to the COVID-19 situation, which is changing rapidly, even as we speak.
As a result, individuals have had to unlearn what they have learnt previously and adopt a new learning mode, which is to make decisions based on current information and data, rather than past data, which may no longer be relevant.
These changes can be seen in various businesses that have learnt to evolve and upskill their employees:
Hawkers: They had to switch to online delivery and payment during the Circuit Breaker period when their customers were not allowed to dine out.
Taxi Drivers: Nowadays, taxi drivers are also doubling up as delivery men, helping to send food and parcels during off peak hours.
Security guards: Security guards at condominiums and shopping malls have had to expand their job scope and serve as temperature screeners and safe entry enforcing officers on top of their previous duties.
As shown above in the various examples, the hawker can no longer claim that he is not familiar with online payment and delivery modes. Similarly, the security guard has to be familiar with the TraceTogether app and temperature screening equipment. All these would simply not be possible if the employers and staff did not embrace upskilling and equip themselves with the necessary expertise as mentioned earlier.
Constant learning and upskilling has always been necessary for us to keep abreast of technology and to make ourselves relevant to the workforce but COVID-19 has simply accelerated the process.
In the past, you would probably be able to hang on to your job if you resist the urge to upskill but in the current climate, you can easily find yourself out of a job if you do not embrace relearning and upskilling.
So, how do we help people to upskill in this ever-changing digital era amidst the pandemic?
The answer is simple. It is all about helping people to become effective and efficient learners. By that, it means to help change people’s mental models and reframe their thinking so they understand that upskilling is unavoidable, even if it means extra effort and time that needs to be invested.
But not to worry! ArcLab is here to help no matter what industry you are in! As you walk around the streets of Singapore, you’ll see everyone glued to the screens of their phones. ArcLab provides a platform for organisations to author short modules for employees to learn anywhere and anytime, even when you are commuting. This way, you can upskill and even improve your work performance easily. It is really that simple! You can try your hands at the modules that we already have on our showcase page, ArcLab Discover!
