ATOS Origin benefit from Compliance Driven Learning. The Business Challenge

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1 ATOS Origin benefit from Compliance Driven Learning Compliance training at ATOS Origin with the support of Praxis42 makes a difference in the workplace. One-third of managers observed improvements in productivity, 60% of learners made differences to the way in which they worked and not only did ATOS Origin meet the legal requirements of Health and Safety they noticed a reduction in the number of employees complaining of health problems associated with workstation usage. The Business Challenge The Background to the Business Need ATOS Origin employs 6,000 people in the UK on 49 sites with the majority (90%) using workstations for more than 80% of the time. It is a statutory requirement to comply with the UK Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) regulations 1992 (as amended in 2002) and the European Directive 90/270EEC. Every one of these employees must complete an assessment of their workstation and immediate work environment. Compliance is not the only issue; across the UK workforce as a whole 2.5 million working days are lost because of physical, visual and mental problems as a result of using workstations which are uncomfortable, badly organised or poorly situated. Typically for ATOS Origin this means 500 lost working days at a cost of 270K. Organisations which do not: train employees in best use of workstations, or do not assess their workplace, nor remedy any deficiencies, run the risk of paying compensation to employees, typically up to 100,000K. Page 1 of 8

2 So compliance has a direct business benefit as well as a legislative requirement. However this is an area where organisations wish to minimise the cost of compliance so very simple and efficient methods of training, testing, assessment and remedial action are required. ATOS Origin identified Praxis42 as a supplier of just such an integrated, easy to implement and low-cost solution. Praxis42 are a Health and Safety consultancy with practitioners who understand how to deploy compliance systems across complex organisations. They are a well-regarded provider of quality e-learning and on-line user workplace assessment tools which are easy to use and customised to customer requirements. The Training Need There are four groups of learners who are required to use and operate the compliance framework. a) All employees who are regular computer users. They must learn how to complete a workstation assessment and use the Praxis42 system to log issues requiring action. They must carry out remedial action, such as reorganising their desks or adjusting their screens and record the action they take through the system. b) The line managers. They must ensure their own teams complete the learning and assessment successfully and then complete any action allocated to them recording this through the compliance system. c) The managers of support facilities. They must use the Praxis42 system to react to issues raised, for example installing window blinds or providing foot supports and then log their response. d) Display Screen Equipment assessors. They must be able to carry out workplace assessments correctly, providing feedback to users when they disagree with an employee s findings, log issues identified or confirm those raised by users. The Praxis42 Compliance Framework The full implementation of the compliance system contains five components 1. The e-learning course on workstation assessment. The complete framework also offers courses in other aspects of health and safety such as office and fire safety. 2. An on-line test on the knowledge acquired when completing the DSE training. 3. A user workstation assessment. This consists of asking users a series of questions about their immediate working environment. Questions include those on posture, chair suitability, lighting, keyboard, mouse and screen placement. Page 2 of 8

3 Users enter the results of this assessment into the Praxis42 computer log. A couple of examples of typical issues are a chair that cannot be adjusted appropriately or lighting which causes a glare on the screen. 4. Issue, login and resolution. The compliance framework records the details of issues raised. These will be confirmed by a DSE assessor and then must be dealt with by a number of other individuals. The three main groups are: the users themselves, line managers and facilities managers. Each of these will receive an from the system listing the issues that need to be resolved. As they resolve these they will log the resolution on to the system. 5. Health and safety managers in ATOS Origin can thus look at reports by department or location to see how many individuals have completed the e- learning, the e-learning test, the user workstation assessment and progress being made on resolving issues raised. The Learning Solution The Implementation Praxis42 and the ATOS Origin team embarked on a project to improve the uptake of training, compliance with workplace assessments and resolution of issues raised by creating a new training and User Workplace Assessment tool specific to ATOS Origins needs. This project used as a basis the Praxis42 suite of Health and Safety Learning Solutions and their UWA tool. This had to be implemented in a phased project across all 49 sites. Learning Development The course is produced with an authoring tool called PageBuilder developed by REALSENSE using a.net framework and making use of Macromedia Flash for both authoring and course delivery. PageBuilder enables the Praxis42 team to author quickly and easily with proven and successful e-learning templates built up over a number of years. The authoring software makes use of xml and schemas that drive the text-based content ensuring that content can be localised easily. The software has a narration feature enabling visual and text content to be delivered with audio voice-over although this is not used in the ATOS Origin implementation. The use of pre-approved templates means that production is rapid (total production from design to completion is four months), efficient and effective. PageBuilder Page 3 of 8

4 software ensures the course is SCORM compliant enabling progress records to be added to the Learning Management System record of each learner. Course Content The full implementation contains courses on display screen equipment, environment awareness, fire safety, office safety and (for managers only) managing safety. The DSE course itself includes four main sections covering the basic concepts of employee s legal obligation, how your body s limbs function, task organisation, workstation configuration and desk layout, depending on whether the use is a touch-typist or not, correct working posture and position, useful exercises, approved chair types and their adjustment, lighting and office organisation. The solution provides a comprehensive suite of health and safety training appropriate for an office environment. In particular the DSE test results are linked to the UWA, a pass in the test is required to access the on-line UWA and the UWA is linked to the raising of DSE issues and the management of issue resolution. Learner Interactions Courses are highly interactive either through selection of different elements or interaction with screen graphics. Figure 1 shows an example of an interactive element; in this case learners can adjust various parts of the chair to see the effect this has on posture. Once they have experimented with the various adjustments e- learning provides appropriate feedback. Various different design techniques like these keep the course engaging for learners. Figure 1: Demonstrating Seating Adjustment Page 4 of 8

5 Management and Expert Support A key element of successful implementation is to make sure that employees receive appropriate support locally. Successful implementation requires two things to be in place before an employee accesses the system: 1. Trained DSE assessors who could use the new on-line system as well as assess the workstation issues raised by employees. 2. Supportive and knowledgeable management. During roll-out DSE assessors received an inviting them to face-to-face training. All bookings were managed electronically with automated responses. Those who could not attend were followed up to maximise the number of trained DSE assessors. Line managers and facilities managers resolve issues and log their resolution through the Praxis42 system. Health and Safety management have a continuous overview of the organisation s degree of compliance in this area and can very simply provide appropriate reports. Marketing Three levels of communication were used: 1. communication to (a) inform and then (b) launch the training and assessment. 2. Management briefing via Face-to-face training for DSE assessors to support workstation user assessments. s Prior to the pilot the whole organisation had been told what was going on. ATOS Origin uses regular bulletin s to employees with news and employment changes. On a site-by-site basis the HR communication , a regular bulletin, was used to communicate and advise about the new e-learning and UWA. This was rolled out on a site-by-site basis ensuring that the learning would be available at the time employees received the communication. Page 5 of 8

6 Business Impact The views of Managers and Experts Learners, managers and DSE assessors were asked to comment on the course and the difference it had made to their working productivity. Over 400 learners answered the questionnaire and a comparable number of managers and DSE assessors. Learners were asked if they felt more productive as a result of completing the course and 24% agreed they did, backed up by 15% of managers who felt their teams were more productive. This translates into a real improvement of productivity in the workplace. Managers were very confident that individuals in their teams could adopt safe working practices with their workstations, with 77% of managers expressing confidence in this aspect of staff performance. Over a third of managers said that their teams had changed the way they worked as a result of completing the learning and assessment. Well over a third stated that there was a reduction in complaints from employees attributable to using DSE equipment. Thirty one percent agreed there was a reduction in the probability of employees being absent. With WRULD absences typically resulting in 500 working days lost, we can assume that this is reduced perhaps by 80 days resulting in a saving of 43,000 based on industry averages. DSE assessors are even more convinced that a difference has been made, with nine out of ten confident employees knowing how to adopt safe working practices. Nine out of ten also felt that the UWA was beneficial to the business, with 67% observing changes in working practices and a third observing an improvement in work effectiveness. Comments Typical comments from assessors about issues dealt with included: Strained neck, raised the monitor and all sorted, Facilities Technical Assistant; Having the correct lighting at their workstation, Team Leader; After doing the UWA we noticed that one agent required a wrist rest and keyboard rest due to their carpal tunnel syndrome. They no longer get tingles at the top of their wrist, Team Leader; Following comments by members of staff new adjustable monitors were provided and other minor changes to the lighting etc. 10 Security Guards all share the same PCs and they have remarked on the improvement, Service Delivery Manager; The system is much easier to use and more user friendly than the (previous) system that we used to use, Support Team Leader; Page 6 of 8

7 Assessments have identified the need for such things as monitor raisers, larger screens, etc. Team Lleader. Undoubtedly it is the implementation of e-learning and assessment in workstation compliance that has translated to a difference to the business. Comments Staff Impact Just as important have been the changes reported by individuals on the difference the training and assessment has made to them. Typical of comments from learners on the types of problems they had were: Wrist pain, eye strain and tiredness, Project Manager. Learning resulted in changes to working practices and improvements in health. Typical changes were: Mouse mat and keyboard padded wrist supports ; Looking away from the screen on a regular basis and taking proper breaks, which I hadn t done. Learners commented that the course really made me think about how I was working and taking breaks is a necessity not a luxury. Of those learners that commented on the course 47% changed the way they work, 42% asked for changes to be made to the work environment and 6 out of 10 did one or the other, or both. Survey Results The link from e-learning, on-line test, workplace assessment, confirmation by a professional DSE assessor through to delivery of changes has ensured that things get done for individuals. Predominantly learners found the courses interesting and useful. 41% said the DSE course was interesting and 57% said it was useful. There was overwhelming support for colleagues to do the course, with 68% recommending the course to a colleague. 38% of learners felt that the changes they made were beneficial to them. Page 7 of 8

8 10 Top Tips for implementing Compliance Training from ATOS Origin and Praxis42 1. Deliver learning through the same system that monitors and reports compliance. 2. Brief and involve managers in the delivery of the learning. 3. Ensure learning is interactive and tested and assessed. 4. Obtain and report feedback from managers and learners. 5. Use multiple channels to market and communicate. 6. Brief managers on the business benefit of learning and assessment. 7. Ensure the reporting system tracks progress of learning delivery by management units; the success of individual managers in encouraging their team to complete learning can be tracked and reported on. 8. Use pre-approved templates to speed up production of learning. 9. Provide local experts who can visit individual employees to assist them in identifying compliance issues requiring a resolution. 10. Ensure the learning assessment is the closest possible match to workplace performance. Page 8 of 8