Addressing Sustainability with eLearning

Why is eLearning a good vehicle to bring about individual mindset change around climate issues?

When a new client, MYBLUEPLANET, approached us to develop some eLearning modules to positively enable employees to contribute towards sustainability within the hotel industry in Switzerland, we were delighted to pitch for the work, as it was a new sector for us to work in, and on a topic that we cared deeply about.

MYBLUEPLANET were keen to focus on the employee engagement levels of  generations Y and Z. Generations Y and Z account for 47% of the workforce in Switzerland (BFS 2022) and 43 % of these generations find job fulfilment when their employers prioritise sustainability (Deloitte, 2022). To stay competitive, employers must have a meaningful sustainability strategy.

But communicating that strategy to a high turn over workforce (mostly Gen Y and Z) within the hospitality sector is a challenge. Attention spans are short, employees have different levels of engagement coming into the learning so there is a danger that you are either simplifying the content or finding people switch off because the content is too ‘preachy’. Most of the hotels we talked to start each season with an almost entirely new workforce, so the learning also needed to be easy to deliver for it to be effective. They all loved the idea of a digitally delivered short course that employees could be tasked with completing on whatever platform was easiest for them (phone, iPad, laptop) before starting their placement.

So what was our response? Flushed with excitement that we didn’t have to worry about repeatedly testing the learner’s knowledge, (we’ve been doing a LOT of compliance work!) we set about creating a pilot module which had a more playful, relaxed tone. We wanted to reward engagement, invite the employee’s input and participation and give them opportunities to get more involved.

Why is eLearning so good for addressing sustainability?

• It’s interactive, so immediately the user is actively engaged.
• It’s easy to establish different pathways, tailored to an individual’s level of interest
• Fun bite-sized chunks of information are more easily absorbed – before a change of mindset there needs to be an understanding of the issues.
• You can invite individual responses that show the user their input is valued.
• It shows an organisation to have a meaningful, easily accessible sustainability strategy to help with employee retention.

What did this look like in our pilot elearning module?

• We established two paths through the learning, and used a fun opening quiz to identify users as either an Everyday Ambassador or Planet Ambassador.
• We used different interactive tools such as hotspots, sliders, drag and drops, multiple choice quizzes to keep the interaction varied and fun.
• We created a ‘Suggestions Box’, which users could add ideas to at any point during the learning. These suggestions were collated together and reviewed at the end of the learning, where they were then encouraged to download and share their suggestions with their managers.

Our pilot module on Waste Management was presented to the Swiss Hotel Industry by MYBLUEPLANET at their Erfa Day Event in June. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive and we have now been commissioned to make the next module in the series.

Here is some feedback on working with Splash Interactive from Daniel Lüscher, President of MYBLUEPLANET.

Tackling climate change is complex. It requires straightforward action and smooth cooperation.

We found both with Splash.

We didn’t know each other, we come from different countries, and within two zoom calls we had built up a wonderful level of trust. And we were not fooled! Working with Splash is uncomplicated, transparent, goal-oriented and there has always been active communication. When everyone involved works together as well as Splash does, we get to net-zero in a timely manner.

To take a closer look at how we developed the pilot module, and see some examples of how the interactivity worked, go to our Case Studies page Sustainability Case Study

Sophie Key is the co-founder of Splash Interactive. She has successfully run Key Productions (keyproductions.tv) with her husband Sam Key for the last 10 years, which continues to produce high-end corporate videos. Email her at sophie@splash-interactive.com.