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The next step in our tech evolution process was to take the tablet out of the classroom and into the field for increased hands on training and giving our teams a more realistic job preview process. The solution was our partnership with Roundtable Learning.
Notwithstanding the incredible technology, the relationship that was built prior to drafting out our final product launch is why our training programs continue to improve.
Onboarding 40,000 seasonal employees
Every year, Six Flags prepares for a summer season of thrilling rides, concessions, entertainment, and hundreds of thousands of customers. The amusement park prepares for those demands by onboarding 30 to 40,000 seasonal employees every year. Many of those employees need to be trained on how to use the Six Flags’ point-of-sale (POS) systems to provide customers with a seamless purchasing experience park-wide.
Six Flags’ in-person training program had reached a limit. The program used real registers to train new employees. Each register individually cost $3,000, making the training extremely expensive and difficult to scale. The in-person program could not simulate real transactions with customers. New employees could learn what buttons to push on the register, but could not experience the stress of a line stretching around the corner or a customer who needed to change his order at the last second.
Six Flags needed a scalable, interactive training program to effectively and efficiently onboard its seasonal team.
An augmented reality POS scenario training
Partnering with Roundtable Learning, Six Flags developed an AR experience that allowed new employees to interact with virtual customers and test their cash-handling acumen under simulated stress. The immersive training helped new employees understand typical scenarios they could experience while on the job. Trainees were given a better way to retain and recall common transaction processes, reducing the long-term cost of retraining over time.
The AR program also cut training costs for the park, as learners could take the training on tablets rather than expensive cash registers. Roundtable designed the training to be an exact replica of the park’s POS system, which allowed the park to disperse training more easily and portably.
Expanding the reach of training
The park deployed the AR training for its 2019 season and it made an immediate impact.
“The implementation of our new system has already made a positive impact for our team members, our guests, and [the company] as a whole. By providing realistic transaction scenarios, our team receives an opportunity to develop their guest interaction skills. This efficiency carries over first-hand to our training team, who are more able to demonstrate the transaction process, as well as our guests, who receive a second-to-none service experience.”
Thanks to training administered on tablets rather than registers, the park has been able to decrease training costs. Employers and trainees have enjoyed the portability of training outside of the classroom and have seen measurable success with improved retention and recall strategies.
The next step in our tech evolution process was to take the tablet out of the classroom and into the field for increased hands on training and giving our teams a more realistic job preview process. The solution was our partnership with Roundtable Learning.
Notwithstanding the incredible technology, the relationship that was built prior to drafting out our final product launch is why our training programs continue to improve.
