From Bad Rap To Big Results; Raising the Bar on Compliance Training

We think compliance training gets a bad rap.

Yes, it’s mandated annually – whether or not the content has changed or been updated. So we understand that employees dread sitting through roughly the same training year in and year out. And we know that learning and development departments might rather focus on something flashier than compliance training.

Now, what if we told you that compliance training doesn’t have to be a slog. What if it is actually a missed opportunity to improve the performance and productivity of your workforce? And what if there was a way to turn this “boring” content into an engaging learning program that actually delivers a strategic advantage and real business impacts?

This is precisely what we’ve experienced with our client, Allegiant Air. For Allegiant’s Stations division (its ground crew), compliance training is mission critical. Stations employees are required to perform a variety of functions. To do so, they must have a solid grasp of the safety imperatives and relevant FAA regulations governing their role. Many companies might have viewed these regulations as “check-the-box” compliance training, something to hurry up and finish. But Allegiant understood that these compliance needs were really opportunities through which the company could improve the competency, performance and job satisfaction of its Stations employees, and in turn, its bottom line.

In fact, research shows that when companies invest in employee development, workers believe that their organizations value their contribution. This, in turn, improves employee morale and increases their willingness to work hard to increase the organization’s effectiveness. You can read more about this research here and here. Essentially, effective employee development enhances the well being of individual employees by providing benefits such as skill acquisition and career development. And it also may enhance the organization’s productivity. Employee development can create a relationship where employees work harder because they have a greater sense of job satisfaction and commitment.

Transitioning its compliance training into something that could accomplish these high ideals would require a shift in perceptions and a new completely new training approach. Another long seminar or dense training document simply wouldn’t cut it.

Allegiant Partnership

That’s why Allegiant partnered with Fulcrum. Together, we developed an adaptive, personalized online learning program that rapidly equips Allegiant’s Stations with the skills and qualifications necessary to comply with FAA regulations and strict safety practices. And ensures that these employees stay compliant through recurrent yearly training.

We not only made compliance content beautiful, but also more efficient and effective than anything Allegiant had seen previously.

Beautiful Content – Our content specialists crafted multimedia content leveraging techniques that promote deep learning. These techniques allow learners to more quickly and efficiently incorporate new knowledge into long-term memory.

Efficient Learning – Our adaptive algorithm analyzed the performance of each Allegiant learner, and adjusted the frequency, modality and difficulty of the content in real time for each individual. Learners, who had more experience or deeper expertise (existing Stations employees participating in the annual recurring training to remain compliant), could move rapidly through the system, demonstrating mastery quickly. Those learners with less expertise (new Stations employees) were free to progress at their own pace, moving on the next lesson when they were ready.

Additionally, we presented all lessons in a microlearning format, so they were easier to digest and master. As a result, Allegiant experienced a dramatic decrease in program completion times.  

Program times fell from an average of 50.3 days to an average of 23.6 days. That’s a 53% improvement.

Effective Compliance Training – Of the more than 7,000 Stations employees trained to date, the average mastery score is 96.2/100. This shows that employees know the information they need to perform their jobs well. It also indicates that employees will be able to correctly apply this information once back on the job. This point is being borne out in significant year-over-year reduction in employee on-the-job errors and mistakes. For example:

• Over the last 12 months, Allegiant has experienced a 8% decline in instances of damage to ground service equipment (GSE). This competency area is a critical priority for Allegiant. For the first time in recorded company history, it experienced three full months with zero incidents.

Allegiant’s use of an advanced learning platform to deliver it’s compliance training communicates that compliance is a priority. We don’t expect a new compliance training to be an overnight hit. But, as employees are able to more effectively do their jobs and experience Allegiant’s investment in their development, we anticipate a shift in the perception of “compliance training” to permeate throughout the organization and change the culture.

Contact us to see how we can help your company realize the hidden promise of compliance training.