Efficiently maintain high hygiene standards

They are the saviors after a long drive or a weekend where shopping has once again fallen short: Petrol station stores. Customers can find almost everything a hungry, tired heart desires there – above all a variety of fresh and packaged foods. Strict hygiene standards must be observed to ensure that these are of the best possible quality at all times. For companies and their employees, this means Hygiene training as e-learning is an integral part of everyday working life. This poses two challenges: firstly, anything that comes across as standard is only internalized to a limited extent. Secondly, the content is complex and often dry. We at skillbest have developed a solution to both problems: Our best practice of a digital hygiene training course shows how content can be conveyed accurately using storytelling and gamification elements.

Initial situation digitization

The problem

Employees at petrol stations usually work in small teams, but have to complete numerous tasks with these limited time and personnel resources. One of the most important tasks is compliance with hygiene standards. However, complex legal principles and abstract teaching concepts make it difficult to impart the necessary knowledge efficiently. The content comes in the form of unadorned PDFs or presentation slides and does not encourage repetition. However, hygiene training in the form of e-learning must be repeated at regular intervals to ensure that food safety and ultimately customer satisfaction remain high.

Skillpractice

The solution

In our hygiene training e-learning course, learners slip into the role of petrol station employees and experience a simulated working day in the petrol station store. The HACCP (“Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points”), the critical control points, form the central stations of this working day: from delivery to storage to the preparation of individual dishes, employees are familiarized with these critical control points of food safety. While goods are being delivered or put away, they have to make decisions and solve gamification tasks. With the help of storytelling and playful elements, it is possible to prepare dry knowledge from regulations in such a way that it is actually internalized.

The Hygien-o-Meter

Have I done everything? Have all the relevant hygiene standards been met? This is shown by the Hygiene-o-Meter. With this success overview, learners always have an overview of their progress. They know where they stand throughout the entire hygiene training course and what still needs to be learned.

Critical control point #1

Manage delivery

Petrol station employees need to pay attention to a number of things when delivering goods: Were the goods stored correctly during transportation? Are they in perfect condition? Is the best-before date not yet exceeded? In an interactive scenario, learners can check all these points themselves and then answer them. If the delivery has been completed correctly, the log still needs to be filled in. This can also be practiced in a fun way and gives learners confidence.

Critical control point #2

Check storage

Just put it on the shelf and that’s it? Not if you want to guarantee maximum food safety. Some goods require special storage to keep them fresh and tasty. With the help of drag-and-drop elements, learners can decide for themselves how goods should be stored. Once they have made the right choice, they receive important information (e.g. shelf life, storage temperature, etc.) about the corresponding storage method. Each correct assignment increases the hygiene-o-meter.

Critical control point #3

Handling service and preparation

Someone ordered a croissant and a cappuccino? No problem! Or maybe it is? There are also hygiene standards that must be observed when in contact with customers. Does the coffee machine have to be cleaned after every use? Are employees allowed to wear jewelry during preparation? What is the right temperature to bake a croissant? By deciding for themselves how to proceed in the service process, learners acquire important hygiene know-how in a playful way.

Storytelling and interactive elements ensure that learning is not only efficient and effective, but also enjoyable. As a result, content is better internalized.

Interview with Günther Veit

How do you come up with the idea of digitizing hygiene training as e-learning for petrol station stores?

Petrol stations have a lot of touchpoints in terms of the necessary hygiene standards. We deliberately chose the petrol station to bring our way of digitizing learning content as close as possible to our potential customers. Everyone knows the processes at a petrol station and their setup from their private environment.

This idea started with the legal requirement to comply with appropriate hygiene standards. This is particularly crucial in petrol station stores, where many goods are stored in a confined space. The legal framework exists, but it is often difficult to understand and does not encourage people to engage with it. We tackled these problems with digital hygiene training and turned it into an interactive learning experience.

You have already mentioned interactivity. What are the other major advantages for learners?

We rely on storytelling and gamification. Learners take an active role in the entire learning process, make their own decisions and are thus motivated to repeat content and fill the hygiene meter. It is particularly important to us that people not only learn efficiently and effectively, but also enjoy learning. There is no point in employees struggling through a jungle of paragraphs and not remembering anything in the end. Our goal is sustainable knowledge transfer. Our e-didactic approach ensures this, in contrast to standard training courses, which often deliver little learning success apart from a tick in the learning management system.

And what do companies gain from digitizing hygiene training?

Of course, it is essential for petrol station operators to understand and apply hygiene knowledge. This ensures safety for employees and customers and ultimately contributes to the success of the business. The digital solution also leads to cost savings in the long term: content can be made available to a large number of people quickly. Employees can learn digitally at any time and any place. Fees for trainers or costs for printouts are largely a thing of the past. If hygiene know-how is better internalized, fewer mistakes are also made. This also saves costs in the long term.