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Despite the rise of digital technology, companies are still facing the challenge of reaching frontline workers with information and training. Podcasts have emerged as a powerful tool to onboard, train and inform frontline workers as they provide context and emotion while being easily accessible and working on the go. In this blog post, we will explore how companies can leverage internal podcasts for onboarding, training, sales enablement, and internal communications in order to enhance organizational productivity. We will also discuss how text-to-speech features can facilitate the creation of internal podcasts.
Podcasts for Frontline Workers Training:
The deskless workforce encompasses a wide range of industries, including Agriculture, Education, Healthcare, Retail & Wholesale, Hospitality, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Construction, employing an astounding 2.7 billion individuals. Despite being the backbone of the global workforce, these workers are often overlooked by technology providers, leaving them without the necessary tools to enhance their daily tasks and streamline their work processes. Moreover, training deskless employees pose unique challenges due to their geographical dispersion and limited access to traditional training methods.
According to a study conducted by Harvard Business Review, deskless workers spend a significant amount of time commuting or performing routine tasks, making podcasts an ideal medium for delivering training content.
In addition, managers frequently struggle to find the time and resources needed to train frontline workers effectively. The decentralized nature of their work makes it difficult to gather everyone in one location for training sessions. However, by leveraging an internal podcasting platform, companies can create compelling audio content tailored to the specific needs of their frontline workers. Podcasts offer a versatile platform that can cover a wide range of topics, including product knowledge, safety procedures, customer service skills, and industry-specific insights. This enables managers to provide consistent training materials to their frontline workforce, regardless of their physical location.
To create an immersive and relatable training experience, companies can incorporate storytelling elements into their podcasts. The podcasts establish a conversational tone that adds a personal touch by sharing real-life examples and success stories of frontline workers. This allows deskless workers to connect with the content on a deeper level.
Enhancing Internal Communications:
Effective internal communication is crucial for ensuring that frontline workers are well-informed, aligned with company goals, and feel connected to the organization.
It's crucial to recognize that while your deskless employees may not be physically present in the headquarters office and may not be as directly involved in daily business operations as your office workers, they still possess a vested interest in strategic decisions, goal accomplishments, customer segments, and organizational and cultural changes. Therefore, it's essential to keep them informed and regularly share updates to ensure they feel valued and connected to the organization as a whole.
Podcasts offer a unique medium for delivering important messages and fostering a sense of community within the workforce. With the ability to listen to podcasts at any time and from any location, managers can overcome the limitations of physical proximity and ensure consistent communication with their frontline workers. In addition, companies can leverage the popularity and engagement of podcasts to create compelling internal communication episodes.
By incorporating interviews with top executives, departmental leaders, and frontline employees, companies can share news, updates, and success stories in a more relatable and authentic format. Additionally, statistics from Nielsen reveal that podcasts have a higher level of listener engagement compared to other forms of media. This means that managers can capture and retain the attention of their frontline workers more effectively through podcasting. Finally, the convenience of accessing podcasts on mobile devices allows employees to stay connected and updated, even during their busy work schedules.
Streamlining Onboarding Processes:
According to this year's "The State of Training in the On-Demand Industry" report, industry leaders have identified a significant drop-off in engagement among deskless employees between the initial activation phase and completing their first job, trip, or task. So the question arises: why do individuals who successfully complete the onboarding process suddenly decide to quit? The answer lies in their perception of lacking essential knowledge required for successful performance. In fact, a staggering 90% of deskless workers expressed the belief that the overall onboarding experience could be enhanced, while 84% of leaders and 75% of workers expressed the desire for quicker onboarding processes. Remarkably, 23% of employees who left within the first three months noted that a clearer understanding of their roles and responsibilities would have motivated them to remain on the job.
74% listen to podcasts to learn something new 60% listen to stay up to date
Efficient onboarding processes are crucial for setting new employees up for success, but managers often face challenges in delivering consistent and comprehensive onboarding materials, and podcasts can play a valuable role in streamlining the onboarding process for frontline workers. By providing easily digestible audio episodes, companies can ensure that new hires receive essential information about the company's history, culture, values, policies, procedures, and role expectations. In addition, research from Training Industry indicates that multimedia formats, including audio-based training, increase information retention and engagement. This suggests that leveraging podcasts for onboarding can result in more effective knowledge transfer and improved engagement among new frontline workers.
The medium's popularity speaks for itself: the number of podcast listeners has increased by 69% since 2019 and now has 465 million users.
Empowering Sales Training:
Sales training is vital for equipping frontline workers with the skills and knowledge necessary to drive revenue growth. According to a study by CSO Insights, organizations that provide ongoing sales training achieve 10% higher win rates compared to those that do not prioritize continuous training. This highlights the significant impact of effective sales training on overall sales performance. In today's fast-paced business environment, delivering training content quickly and efficiently is crucial. This is where podcasts shine. Podcasts offer a versatile and accessible platform for delivering sales training content, allowing companies to produce and share it quickly and easily compared to video content. Unlike videos, which often require editing and post-production work, podcasts can be recorded and published rapidly with minimal technical requirements.
Furthermore, podcasts deliver more context and depth than text-based training materials. Through audio conversations, sales trainers can elaborate on complex concepts, share real-world examples, and provide nuanced explanations. The conversational nature of podcasts allows for a more dynamic and engaging learning experience, capturing sales teams' attention and fostering better information retention.
A sales enablement podcast series can cover a wide range of topics, including effective sales techniques, objection handling, product knowledge, and customer relationship management. These podcasts can be hosted by experienced sales professionals or industry experts, bringing their expertise and insights directly to the listeners. Sales teams can conveniently listen to these podcasts while traveling to client meetings or during their downtime, maximizing their productivity and continuous learning. Additionally, podcasts have the advantage of being easily shareable and accessible. As a result, sales professionals can access them at their convenience, even offline. This flexibility allows for continuous training integration within companies, as employees can establish regular listening habits and stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and best practices. Moreover, podcasts can feature success stories from top-performing sales professionals, inspiring and motivating frontline workers to excel. Hearing about real-life achievements and strategies to overcome challenges can boost morale and drive a sense of aspiration among the sales teams.
Easily Create Podcasts With Text to Speech
Creating captivating audio content for podcasts is often seen as a daunting and resource-intensive task. However, with the advent of text-to-speech (TTS) technology and the audvice recording function, companies can now streamline the content creation process and improve the accessibility of their podcasts. Text-to-speech technology offers a powerful solution by converting written text into natural-sounding speech, allowing companies to effortlessly transform existing training materials, internal communications, and sales scripts into audio format. By simply inputting the text into the TTS software, high-quality audio content can be generated in a matter of seconds.
One notable advantage of TTS technology is its multilingual capabilities, enabling companies to create podcasts in multiple languages to cater to diverse workforces. This is especially beneficial for organizations operating internationally or having multicultural teams, as they can provide consistent training and communication across various regions and languages.
The integration of text-to-speech technology in podcast production empowers companies to create engaging audio content while enhancing accessibility and maintaining a consistent brand image. Frontline workers can conveniently access valuable training materials, internal communications, and sales scripts through podcasts, resulting in increased engagement, improved knowledge retention, and enhanced overall performance.
Companies can efficiently create high-quality podcasts by leveraging the capabilities of text-to-speech technology and the audvice recording function. This saves time and resources and ensures a consistent and professional listening experience for the audience.
Conclusion
In today's digital age, podcasts have emerged as a powerful tool for training frontline workers, improving internal communications, streamlining onboarding processes, and empowering sales training. The statistics speak for themselves: 80% of the global workforce consists of frontline workers, and the number of podcast listeners has increased by 69% since 2019 and now stands at 465 million users. These numbers highlight the vast potential of podcasts in reaching and engaging deskless employees effectively.
Incorporating podcasts into frontline worker training, internal communications, onboarding processes, and sales training can significantly impact organizational productivity and employee engagement. With the ability to reach a large audience and deliver engaging content, podcasts offer a convenient and accessible medium for training and communication. By leveraging the power of podcasts, companies can overcome challenges such as geographical dispersion, limited resources, and time constraints. Through storytelling, relatable examples, and multilingual capabilities, podcasts empower frontline workers to access valuable information, enhance their skills, and drive overall performance. Furthermore, the integration of text-to-speech technology streamlines content creation, making podcast production more efficient and accessible. By embracing podcasts as a training and communication tool, companies can create a culture of continuous learning and effectively engage their frontline workforce.