When I started my first real job as a counter waitress at Howard Johnson's a few years (decades?) back, the only training I received was a 2 minute show and tell around the counter. I knew where the ice cream and soda fountain were and where the bowls and glasses were but that's about it. The first customer that asked me for an ice cream float got a big surprise. The ice cream was floating but I'm not sure what it was floating in to this day. I am sure however, that the customer never came back to HoJo's looking for a float. Today, companies concerned about ramping up new employees faster are turning to online games rather than relying on other employees to do informal training.
Coldstone Creamery, Cisco and Canon are using video games to get more employees engaged in training programs. Business Week reports that the 'serious games' market makes up about 15% of the online gaming market and will grow to roughly $100 million in revenue in the next five years. A manager at Coldstone claimed that over 8,000 employees downloaded their ice cream scooping game in the first week it was available.
I'm a big fan of both ice cream and games so I decided to check this out. My neice joined Coldstone Creamery at about the same time in October when the game was made available so I asked her to show me the game, but she never heard of it. Instead, she was given CDs that provide slide shows with audio overviews about the product and how to handle various customer situations. Like most teens, she lost interest after about 1 minute, preferring to learn on the job. (Hopefully her first customer didn't have the same experience that my first customer had.) She thought the idea of an online game was pretty cool. But clearly, the word-of-mouth buzz about the game hasn't yet reached ol' Cape Cod.
Tip to employee relations people and corporate marketers: don't forget to tell all your employees about your great new game or contest! If your employees are teens, you'll need to remind them often.
Comments