The challenge

Fast and effective training enables employees to deliver excellent customer support from day one. A retailer with a nationwide footprint was aware that its training curriculum was inefficient and in need of an upgrade. It sought an experienced partner to help it redesign, modernize, and improve its new hire and upskill training curriculum to ensure employees were prepared to meet customer expectations for superior support and drive customer loyalty.

Our solution

Based on our reputation and track record for delivering innovative and effective training solutions, the client selected us to redesign its training curriculum. During the discovery phase, we identified numerous inconsistencies and opportunities for improvement within the existing training content across multiple curriculums. Training was delivered using traditional lecture-based styles and there were limited interactive and engaging activities. In addition, there were no consistent opportunities for agents to receive direct feedback from the central quality team.

We proposed breaking down the overarching curriculum into segmented “learning blocks” that would result in less time spent in training and increased speed to proficiency. Another element we sought to enhance was the method in which the training was delivered, to take on a blended delivery approach versus the traditional lecture-based training.

By modularizing the training, the redundancies and gaps were identified and removed from training. Learners were now able to complete their Core curriculum in only 6 days (compared to 8 days). Following successful completion of the core curriculum, learners were assigned an up-skill curriculum (Classic or Digital) relative to their role.

Upon completion of Classic training (a one-day class that covers the client’s traditional lines of business), some students may go through the Digital training. The modular curriculum design also allowed for new hires to skill into Digital directly from the Core curriculum path. Each curriculum can also be taken as refresher training by agents during ramp periods or if there is a business need to support another line of business.

To transform the curriculum from instructor-led training to a blended learning curriculum we combined instructor-led with other delivery methods such as RealPlay AI-simulated training and micro-drills. The blended learning style incorporated self-paced learning which gave the facilitators additional time to reinforce specific topics, provide quality-focused feedback, and identify individual learner gaps. Self-paced modules also provided immediate feedback to the instructors, as well as reporting to monitor training gaps, assessment scores, and learner completion.

The results

The new training program has proven to be a great success. Overall the client was extremely satisfied with our end-product and partnership throughout the process. We were able to reduce time spent in training, increase quality scores (QA), and decrease average handling time (AHT).

In a 90-day period, QA scores for three classes that were conducted with the new methods increased 5%, reaching 94%. AHT decreased by about 50 seconds to 350 seconds during the same period. What’s more, the ability to combine and condense the existing training resulted in a 50% reduction in training time.

In addition to the above metrics, the following benefits were achieved:

• Employees received the flexibility to train virtually, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Outdated or inaccurate training information was removed
• The client’s senior leaders now have a heightened awareness of internal knowledge and training practices
• We helped the client establish a cadence for maintenance updates to training

An unforeseen benefit of digitizing a majority of the training material presented itself due to the unfortunate pandemic. The redesigned curriculum was heavily weighted with self-paced digital modules, which allowed for a fast transition to at-home or virtual training. During subsequent maintenance periods, the instructor-led training was amended with TTEC at-home training instructions. This allowed the retailer to continue training new agents and provide upskill and refresher training for current agents.

The curriculum redesign was instrumental in the retailer’s ability to train new agents, upskill current agents, provide refresher training, and remain resilient against uncertain times ahead.