19 Jun
Employee training greatly impacts the onboarding process of your restaurant and service quality. Here are 3 specific ways an eLearning platform can increase efficiency, consistency, and reduce your employee training costs.
How eLearning Benefits Restaurant Training
Lately, I have been contemplating the ways in which eLearning improves restaurant training. I began investigating this topic after being asked to help a company launch an employee training portal for their 450+ restaurant locations.
A year ago, this particular chain decided to select our cloud-based Learning Management System (LMS) to launch their custom employee training program. Given that our Learning Management System previously catered towards the education sector, it was an honor to partner with their IT team and be entrusted with the task of getting their system up and running. The journey has proven itself to be an incredible experience and I’ve learned a lot along the way.
While you might be more familiar with the general benefits of an eLearning platform -such as increased learner collaboration, higher learning retention, and easy on-the-go access-, I would like to highlight 3 other ways eLearning platforms specifically benefit the restaurant sector.
1. It Provides Training Consistency Across Locations
If your restaurant is planning to expand across your state or the nation, the right learning platform will help you scale accordingly. Cloud-based platforms are worth noting because they are web-based, not platform-dependable, and can handle a high amount of traffic. The cloud also allows you to clone your infrastructure so that you can bypass the hassles setting up new servers, moving applications to servers and configuring the application. That’s a pretty huge plus because it makes it easier and faster to streamline your training materials across company locations.
However, keep in mind that some applications are compatible with only specific web browsers and mobile devices. If you pick a cloud-based Learning Management System, check to make sure it is compatible across multiple browsers and mobile devices.
Overall, an eLearning platform eases the workload on your training personnel, IT staff, and administrative support. If it integrates your employee database, your employees will also save time by using their same login credentials for the training portal.
2. It Reduces Training Costs
Learning Management Systems help reduce the labor costs associated with in-person training, such as travel expenses for trainers and the cost of employee’s time. Because training can be conducted remotely, actual face-to-face learning is greatly reduced.
It’s helpful to know details about the platform’s content development. Find out if they include web-based administrative tools for updates and maintenance, as this will reduce the overhead. The eLearning company I work for makes sure that updates are made automatically for customers so they don’t have to factor in more budgeting or time to make the upgrades themselves.
It’s also advantageous if the platform integrates existing training materials, and provides services that convert content into bite-sized learning.
Keep in mind that your paper costs won’t be completely reduced unless you also digitize your training materials and courses. You may also need to factor in costs for multimedia features such as video production, digital material updates, and learning-progress tracking.
3. It Streamlines Employee Onboarding
Restaurants have a characteristically high turnover rate. Employees often take breaks and return, move from one location to another, or leave the company altogether. Franchises also open and close on a regular basis.
Fluctuations like these can lead to higher operating costs, a decrease in customer loyalty, and loss in revenue. To ensure you can handle these scenarios, it is crucial to have a technology solution in place that can input standard curriculum and learning plans across locations.
For a smooth onboarding process, the Learning Management System should be equipped with the tools to tailor learning plans according to positions and roles. Additionally, employees should have quick access to the appropriate digitized documents they need to be trained effectively—whether it’s orientation documents or operations manuals—as well as the rich content formatting and delivery of such.
Final Thoughts
If your Learning Management System has made a measurable impact on these three areas related to your employee training, you have found a fantastic Learning Management System. If you’re still in the market for one, I would encourage you to keep shopping until you’ve found one that addresses these three areas I’ve highlighted. With effective training, I believe your employees’ confidence will grow, performance will excel and the quality of your services will flourish.
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