The recent completion of 800 Fulton Market, a 326-foot-tall mixed-use office tower in Chicago’s Fulton Market District highlights how the Internet of Things is entering the workplace in a big way. While the smart building’s main points relate largely to tenant safety, health, and wellness, the applications of IoT go much further. One of the ways that it can transform the workplace is by enhancing the employee training experience, says freelance technology writer, Karoline Gore.
Keeping up with the times
According to Travelers, employers can keep pace with changing times by incorporating IoT initiatives in employee onboarding, employee training and development, and other aspects of their business. One way of incorporating IoT to enhance employee training is by leveraging data and insights gathered in real time from enabled equipment and machinery.
This not only allows managers to detect operational abnormalities, potential misuse, and maintenance needs, it also allows them to identify areas where employees require additional training – especially when it comes to trends or problem areas that were not particularly well understood previously. In addition to offering insights into training areas, this will help employers to identify potential risks, which can support workplace safety as well as productivity.
IoT and employee evaluation
Saviom reported that IoT-enabled resource management software can assist with employee evaluation by providing real-time data on employee performance status. Combined with data received from IoT-enabled devices that monitor the health of the workplace’s physical parameters, this will enable employers to recognise whether low employee performance is a result of inadequate training or if it is being affected by external factors such as humidity, luminosity, temperature, or employees’ physical health.
With such information at their fingertips, employees can create focused training programs, rather than wasting time on unnecessary training when the real problem is unrelated to knowledge or skills.
Employee evaluations can be taken a step further by merging IoT with telepresence technology. According to the Computer Society, doing so can be of great benefit to HR, as it will provide an overview of how employees spend their time at work. In addition to allowing HR to schedule in a way that promotes greater productivity, this will also offer insights into potential areas of training and development.
Employee training program evaluation
Giving employees the opportunity to evaluate training programs in the workplace can enhance ongoing training and development by providing data on the programs’ strengths and weaknesses. This can enable employers to refine their programs, making them more effective. According to LinkedIn, installing smart kiosks outside conference rooms allows employees to provide instant feedback on the quality of meetings and training sessions.
Individualised employee training and gamification
Employers can further enhance the employee training experience through gamification and rewards thanks to IoT-enabled tech such as vending machines and coffee brewers. By completing training-related tasks successfully or within a time limit, employees can earn rewards such as snacks and beverages. The collection of data unique to each employee could allow this to be taken a step further through bespoke gamification tailored to employees’ individual aptitudes and skill sets.
The IoT is revolutionising the realm of business. It’s time to take advantage of its potential to enhance the employee training experience.
The author is Karoline Gore, freelance technology writer.
Comment on this article below or via Twitter: @IoTNow_OR @jcIoTnow
