6 Engaging Resources To Include In Your Company Policy Online Training

6 Engaging Resources To Include In Your Company Policy Online Training
SFIO CRACHO/Shutterstock.com
Summary: Organizations run on all kinds of policies, from ethics to equal opportunity practices. How can you familiarize your team with these policies in a fun, engaging and effective way? In this article, I share 6 engaging resources to include in your company policy online training.

Company Policy Online Training: How To Boost It With Engaging Resources

For most people, their company policy document is at the bottom of their drawer gathering dust. They probably received it on their first day at work. It may have come in a packet with the job description, salary details, and hiring contract. These policies make dull reading, which is why nobody ever does. They may revisit relevant sections, like the leave policy, or organizational chart (for career progression). But office policies are rarely recognized and barely practiced. How can you train your team to be not just familiar, but cognizant and active in policy implementation? Here are 6 engaging resources that you may want to add to your company policy online training course.

6 Resources To Add To Your Compliance Online Training Course

1. Dress Code Videos

Many sectors have established uniforms – medical personnel, police officers, firefighters, housekeeping, or even public transport. Other industries have a less standardized pattern of dress, but it’s still recognizable. If designated clothing is important to your organization, use entertaining videos in company policy online training to guide them on what they should and shouldn’t wear. It can be simple and humorous, with samples of inappropriate outfits couched in funny contexts. Of course on Halloween, anything goes, but the rest of the time, guide their wardrobe choices. You can also add a dose of entertainment by developing a uniform matching game. Employees have to pick out suitable pieces of attire for the virtual character based on their job role and department.

2. Anti-Harassment Simulations

Within your organization, ensure there are no grey areas when it comes to harassment, sexual or otherwise. Simulated activities can help victims ward off harassers and identify improper workplace behavior. Your simulations can also teach other employees to intervene when harassment is taking place. This is the most crucial part of company policy online training because it creates a safe, supportive atmosphere that embraces victims and deters perpetrators. It can also show seemingly ignorant colleagues that their behavior is unwelcome, unprofessional, and just plain wrong. For example, the virtual persona is being bullied by a co-worker and the corporate learner must intervene according to company protocols.

3. Character-Driven Compliance Stories

Sometimes, policies are boring. There are very few ways to dress up three pages of notes about office infringements, fines, and penalties. Work a little harder to make these dull passages of company policy online training immersive. You could, for example, tell a story about an office ‘clutz’ that does everything wrong. Or an unlucky work day when Murphy’s Law applied overtime. In the course of the story, you can mention this corporate faux pas and elucidate the resulting dominoes. Your staff may not remember the act, cap, or subsection. But they’re unlikely to forget the character of that hapless marketing manager, his brand new sports car was towed and scrapped for parking in the wrong spot.

4. Interactive Infographics

On that policy document, there are pages that often get thumbed. They’re looked at frequently because they arouse interest. They might include pay grades and job categories, or bonus structure guidelines. There might also be a section on transferring to overseas branches. Pick out these intriguing topics and break them into a more palatable format. For example, interactive infographics that highlight health and safety protocols. Embed links to immersive resources and moment of need training tools. Employees can simply click on the link in the hazardous waste clean-up section to learn more about OSHA guidelines. Or get all the information they need regarding proper safety gear. Analytics will show you which resources are accessed the most, and you can adjust your company policy online training course content accordingly.

5. Fantastical Serious Games Based In Reality

Would you rather answer essay questions to review your course material or play a video game? Even non-gamers would pick the latter option. Incorporate this into your company policy online training course. Instead of a tense Q&A session with the keyboard, build a role-playing game. It could be direct – someone walking through a digitized 3D model of your workspace. Or it could be more abstract, with a fantasy world filled with non-terrestrial characters. Let each corporate learner pick or design a character and take them through a series of quests based on your workplace policies. For example, they have to cross the River of Clutter by telling the Bridge Troll how to get rid of office trash. Or overcome the evil boss by applying their COI compliance training and upholding the company image.

6. Ethical Branching Scenarios

Employees need to be able to immerse themselves in company policies, not simply read about them. A branching scenario allows them to learn about your ethics policies so that they can accurately reflect your brand. But they also have the opportunity to see how these policies apply in the real world and how breaking them leads to repercussions. For example, the scenario features a client who is offering a subtle bribe. Employees must have the ability to not only identify that it is, in fact, a bribe. They also need to determine the best way to politely decline the offer so that they don’t lose a valuable customer. They learn from mistakes and explore real-world scenarios without the risk.

Conclusion

You could develop all the policies in the world. But if your staff doesn’t know or care about them, they’ll never be implemented. Create an engaging company policy online training course that helps them understand and apply corporate regulations. Do-and-don’t videos literally show what to wear to work. Simulations can prevent harassment in the workplace and arm employees to combat it both in themselves and others. Finally, use gaming scenarios to test knowledge retention and inject some fun into your company policy online training.

You need an LMS that can help you create a connection with employees and boost training engagement. Peruse our online directory to find the right compliance online training system for your organization’s objectives, budget, and employee preferences.