Article

Selling the boss: self-service's value for HR

Bio Lab training supervisor John Norregard told his peers in management that HR kiosks could solve their training woes - then he proved it.

April 30, 2006

John Norregard had a problem.

As the training supervisor at Bio Lab, a division of Chemtura manufacturing pool chemicals and cleaners, Norregard needed a way to train employees and track their training effectively. He'd used a kiosk system at his previous employer, General Mills, for similar goals.

"(General Mills was) a skill-based company, where people had to do a lot of training," Norregard said. "I had a lot of tests that I managed myself to be able to track it. It was a custom-built program to deliver a lot of the assessments and all."

While many potential deployments crumble under the scrutiny of upper management, especially when the ROI isn't as obvious and tangible as a sales- or fee-based kiosk, Norregard's HR kiosk got the green light.

"It wasn't that hard (convincing management) at all, when I started explaining how out of control we were in tracking our safety performance," he said. "If you asked how many people were trained on the fork lift, nobody could come up with that. The idea was to have something out there that the employees could have access to. That was a key selling point, along with the fact that we can do a lot of communications training that way."

While some executives asked about computers as a lower-priced alternative, Norregard said they wouldn't hold up in an industrial application, nor would they be practical for Bio Lab's workforce.

"The other selling point was that we can use the touchscreen," Norregard said. "We have people who have never touched a mouse before."

Bio Lab finally bought 10 units from Kiosk Information Systems, now known simply as KIOSK.

"I use Coastal as the database program," Norregard said. "They have videos, they have test assessments, they do all the tracking and everything, so it's a lot easier way to deliver the monthly training requirements we have. It's more of a management system, same way with the ethics training."

On the hardware side, the units include thermal printers, so employees can print personalized training certificates when they complete an online skills check. The touchscreens allow deployers to avoid keyboards, which can rapidly malfunction in an industrial environment.

"It's a complete Web-based system that now comes packaged in a self-service terminal for deployment through companies," KIOSK channel manager Craig Keefner said. "It's a natural extension/channel addition for the application. I think the fact that a mainstream dominant business solution such as ADP Odyssey now has a kiosk iteration for a delivery vehicle speaks to momentum in the market for self service as a whole."

The platform also is made to be customized. In its down-time, the system broadcasts messages across the screen. In a high foot-traffic or public area, it can be used to attract job applicants.

At Bio Lab, it's about to be used to run constant safety videos and company-wide communications.

Bio Lab paid $50,000 for 10 units, and to Norregard it was money well-spent. He's already asked for 10 more.