How long would it take you to teach someone new how to do your job if you decided to leave? A couple of days? A few months? Maybe years? Of course, the answer depends on the complexity of the work, the background the candidate brings to it, and the resources available to help teach them. However, in a stroke of good timing, an assortment of sophisticated teaching tools are now starting to come on stream. And in light of the current workforce churn, it may be a good time to start lining them up.
Heading for the Exits
For the past two years —roughly corresponding to the run of the pandemic — America’s workforce has seen what is being called “The Great Resignation.†Last November, 4.5 million Americans walked away from their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor StatisticsOpens a new window . The following month saw only slightly fewer, at 4.3 million. Washington State’s Employment Security Department’s reacted by acknowledging the turnover and explaining that the people who left their jobs did so in search of better pay, benefits, flexibility, and an improved lifestyle. Â
While those hitting the exits included some highly skilled employees, including teachers and registered nurses feeling burned out from COVID-19, many more are concentrated among the lower-paying tiers of the workforce. According to The Washington PostOpens a new window , the industries with the highest levels of workers quitting in December were accommodation and food services, with 6.1% of workers quitting. Retail saw 4.9% of workers quitting, and trade, transportation, and utilities experienced a 3.8% drop. Even professional and business services suffered a 3.7% labor decline. At the same time, workers who were laid off by their employers hit a record low of 0.8%. Â
Appeal and Adapt
The resulting gaps in the workforce have left trucks and streetscapes all across America draped with “We’re Hiring!†signs, particularly in consumer-facing businesses. Sign-up bonuses and higher entry-level pay, along with limited advances in flexibility, have all figured into company responses to the labor shortage. And some of it appears to be working.
However, onboarding a new employee, pretty much regardless of the job, requires at least some measure of training before they can undertake productive work. And the more time a seasoned employee has to spend getting the new hire up to speed — showing them the tasks, the tools, the procedures, and the policies that come with employment — the more productive time the veteran is obliged to lose. So, by finding ways to shorten the duration of initial training, an organization gains in several important ways: first, the new hire can become a productive employee more quickly, and second, the veteran employee training them can resume their normal work sooner. Â
Real-world Applications
Among the ways a growing number of employers are finding to achieve that goal involves advanced technologies, including wearables and augmented reality. Take the job of fulfilling orders with items stocked in a warehouse. Traditionally, the job begins with learning the locations of each item, and there are typically many thousands of them. Picking out the items for an order normally involves a sequence of steps, sometimes as many as 10 or 12. For example, it requires the use of multiple screens and juggling of hand-held devices to pick the item, then setting the scanner down, picking the appropriate box, putting the item inside it, picking up the scanner, scanning the next box, and so on. And that’s not even counting the additional steps involved in paper-based orders. Â
But some warehouse operators have found that using augmented reality has collapsed the learning time from three full days to as little as half an hour. In one case, an augmented reality system that responds to voice commands displays information concerning the customer’s order directly into the wearer’s field of vision using Google’s smart glasses. The display graphically depicts product shelf arrangements, guiding employees to each item in the order for picking. All the relevant information is projected onto the glasses in the wearer’s field of view. Â
And it didn’t stop there. The same system also helped the company redesign its shelf layout, simplifying the picking process, freeing worker’s’ hands, eliminating many of the previously required steps, and producing major efficiency improvements. As a result, its benefits can accrue to experienced employees and new ones. Beyond that, users say, AR can boost employee engagement, increase safety awareness, and accelerate learning.
See More: The Impact of Augmented Reality for Training
A New GenerationÂ
Many other applications of AR technology to job training are also available, ranging from airline pilots to manufacturing, medicine, the military, and even recycling pick lines. And the capital cost is actually quite modest. Google glasses, for example, cost less than $2,000, and much of the data that feeds into an AR system is already on your network. Â
As you think about the nature of the work performed at your organization, consider how its patterns can be captured and codified into an AR application. By preparing to upskill and reskill workers by adopting advanced technology, you will not only increase efficiency but also attract a new generation of employees and keep them once they’re hired into the company.
How are you leveraging AR to attract and retain talent during this tight talent market? Share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .