We live in an increasingly digital world, and hospitality is no exception. From how you interact with customers to how you manage your teams, technology has become an important part of day-to-day operations. This digital transformation has also had a major impact on employee training in the hospitality industry, creating new ways for operators to deliver learning that is more flexible, accessible and suited to the realities of hospitality work.
Digital learning now plays an important role in how you train and develop your teams, from onboarding new starters to building skills and supporting ongoing development.
So, let’s take a closer look at how to adapt hotel, bar and restaurant staff training to the digital era.
How can digital learning improve onboarding?
With platforms such as Flow Learning, you can manage onboarding centrally and ensure new starters have access to the information and training they need from day one. They can understand what their role entails, what is expected of them and what learning they need to complete.
For multi-site hospitality businesses, digital onboarding also helps ensure new starters receive the same essential information and training, wherever they work. This can be particularly valuable when bringing in seasonal teams quickly across multiple sites. Managers can also use reporting tools to track learning progress and completion across their teams, making it easier to see who is up to date and where additional training may be needed.
Administrative tasks and essential learning can also be completed before an employee’s first day, helping to speed up the onboarding process and prepare them for their role. Constellation, Levy Restaurant’s HR section experienced this first-hand when they implemented Flow Learning across their organisation.
Over 5,000 new starters are currently assigned induction training on Flow, and Constellation has managed to reduce the time taken from application to onboarding from an average of twenty days to five.
An excellent example of how digital learning can make onboarding faster and more consistent, while providing employees with the information and training they need from day one.
Why is ongoing digital learning so important?
Digital learning isn’t only valuable during onboarding. It gives operators a way to provide continuous learning opportunities that keep employees up to date as roles, requirements and ways of working change.
Employees can access the knowledge they need based on their skills and learning needs. Digital learning also makes it easier to keep teams up to date with service standards, new procedures and compliance requirements, helping employees apply the latest information consistently in their roles.
Learning can also extend beyond the skills employees need today. Providing ongoing development opportunities can help people build new skills, prepare for greater responsibility and see clearer opportunities for career progression within the business.
Talya Bauer explains this with the 5 Cs of successful onboarding:
- Compliance: the obligatory tasks new starters must carry out when they start working. These usually involve paperwork, introductory training, login and ID setup, checking that the employee has the equipment they need (uniform, shoes…), etc.
- Clarification: so that new starters clearly understand what is expected of them and what their role is within the team.
- Confidence: the new employee’s state of mind towards the work and the challenges they may encounter.
- Connection: the sense of belonging and the confidence new employees get knowing their colleagues value and accept them.
- Culture: it’s fundamental that newbies understand the organisation’s rules, values, history and symbols.
A successful onboarding process based on these 5 C’s is key to building a team that really lives and “sells” the company’s vision.
By making learning an ongoing part of the employee experience, rather than something that ends after onboarding, operators can continue developing the knowledge, skills and confidence their teams need throughout their careers.
How can Flow Learning by Mapal help?
Flow Learning by Mapal is built specifically for hospitality, giving operators one place to deliver and manage learning across their teams, with content that can be regularly updated as requirements change.
Learning can be tailored to the needs of different teams, roles and sites, helping you provide relevant training across areas such as:
- Compliance, helping teams stay up to date with essential requirements
- Service, developing the skills employees need to deliver consistently
- Management, giving managers the knowledge and skills to lead their teams effectively
- Role-specific learning, tailored to different areas of your business
- Ongoing development, helping employees build skills and progress throughout their careers
Employees can access learning on mobile and in multiple languages, making training more accessible for diverse hospitality teams wherever they work. For multi-site operators, learning can also be deployed consistently across sites while still being tailored to different roles and teams.
Digitising training also gives operators greater visibility across their learning and development. With Flow, you can track progress and performance across teams and sites, helping you understand what’s working, identify areas for improvement and measure the impact of your training over time.
With an easy-to-use and intuitive design and continues to evolve alongside the needs of hospitality teams. It’s also designed to make learning more accessible, including support for screen readers, helping more employees access the learning they need.
Final thoughts
Digital learning gives hospitality operators a more flexible and consistent way to train and develop their teams, from onboarding new starters to building skills and supporting long-term development.
With Flow Learning, you can bring learning together in one place, giving employees access to relevant training while gaining greater visibility across teams and sites.
Discover how Flow Learning by Mapal can help you digitise training across your hospitality teams.
What is digital hospitality training?
Digital hospitality training uses online learning platforms to deliver and manage employee training, making learning easier to access across different roles, teams and sites.
What are the benefits of digitising hospitality training?
Digitising training can make learning more flexible and consistent, simplify onboarding, reduce administration and give managers greater visibility of employee progress.
How can an LMS support hospitality training?
A hospitality LMS allows you to manage learning in one place, tailor training to different roles and sites, track progress and give employees access to learning wherever they work.
