Training Solution for Hourly Workers
Training Solution for Hourly Workers
Context
Location: Various locations in the United States
Problem Statement: How might we create a training solution that fits the needs of hourly workers in a logistics and/or manufacturing environment to enable more seamless onboarding?
Skills Utilized: Ethnographic Interviews | A/B Testing | Rapid Prototyping | Affinity Mapping
Results: Proof-of-concept projects with two clients to validate feasibility and viability
Context and Challenge
The light industrial sector faces a persistent challenge in recruiting and retaining skilled workers. Through customer development research, I identified three interconnected gaps contributing to this issue, each experienced differently by the Company, its clients, and associates. These gaps create a cycle that perpetuates the problem:
Worker Skill Gap: Workers are often placed in roles that don’t align with their skills.
Expectation Gap: Workers require site-specific training, leading to significant time and financial investments for the Company and its clients.
Data Gap: Limited visibility into client needs and associate skills intensifies the Worker and Expectation Gaps.
My Role
I conducted and synthesized insights from ethnographic interviewing of prototypes and unstructured interviews focusing on hourly worker training.
Solution
TrainR plans to bridge gaps in worker training and data transparency, helping address key challenges in recruiting and retention. By delivering bite-sized, role-specific training and site-specific orientation content before assignments begin, TrainR could resolve these underlying issues:
Closing the Worker Skill Gap: Workers are matched to roles aligned with their skills.
Setting Clear Expectations: Workers gain site-specific skills and insights, while clients receive greater transparency into their workers’ capabilities.
Leveraging Data: Accessible client and worker data ensures both clients and the Company can accurately match workers to the right roles.
Results
This solution, which reached the Proof-of-Concept phase, aimed to transform uninformed decisions into data-driven strategies, delivering measurable outcomes:
50% Reduction in Onboarding Time: Interactive digital content accelerates worker readiness and productivity.
Improved Retention: Better-matched assignments lead to reduced turnover.
Fewer Workplace Incidents: Longer worker tenure correlates with a lower likelihood of incidents.
Increased Revenue & Brand Differentiation: Higher worker quality enhances client satisfaction, elevating the brand and driving growth.
To validate feasibility and viability, the Company launched Proof-of-Concept projects with two clients, gathering key insights before completing the project. Additionally, Pilot discussions were initiated with five clients, representing an estimated $150,000 in annual revenue while projecting savings of thousands of hours for both the company and its clients.