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Geofencing for corporate training

Let's find out how geofencing can revolutionise employee training and improve safety in the workplace.

 

The increasing digitisation of training has enabled companies to move training beyond the classroom, directly to the places where it is needed. With this in mind, geofencing technology (originally used in the retail sector) provides increasingly cutting-edge opportunities.

In this article, we will look at:

What is geofencing?

Geofencing is a technology that creates a virtual perimeter around a mobile device and allows, among other things, specific messages to be sent to people passing through a given location.

This technology is mainly used in the marketing sector, because it allows information or advertising messages to be sent to users within a specific area, such as a shop. Geofencing also makes it possible to monitor customers' activities, for instance by collecting information on how long a potential customer stays in a shop, how often they visit it or at what times.

But that's not all: geofencing technology is also used in social networks (to promote content based on the location of users) or in home automation, so that a household appliance automatically switches on when you enter your home or switches off when you leave.

Geofencing and recruitment

In 2017, to make up for staff shortages, the Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, set up a geofence and searched online for qualified nurses. How? It purchased lists of potential candidates selected from online profiles or educational documents and used technology to create a virtual fence around key areas where potential nurses lived or worked. In this way, when one of these possible candidates entered one of the geofenced areas, they would receive an invitation to apply for one of the open positions at All Children's Hospital.

But the possible applications of geofencing for recruiting do not end there. For example, geofencing could be used for university recruitment (sending recruitment announcements to smartphones in and around desired campuses), or for targeting competitors (creating a geofence around a competing company's headquarters and sending job advertisements to potentially targeted candidates).

Proximity-based learning environment

Geofencing technology also enables the development of a proximity-based learning environment, providing users with relevant learning content directly at the time and place of need (on the production line, in the cockpit, at reception, etc.).

When an individual enters a particular area of the workplace, geofencing is automatically activated and can send employees videos, hint sheets, microlearning pills, checklists, etc. 

In addition to providing situated learning experiences, geofencing technology helps to improve safety in the workplace. How? By placing a geofence in the vicinity of a specific machine, you can send employees who are about to use it a checklist for its safe use. Or, you can arrange for workers on their first day of work to receive a test on their knowledge of safety regulations (particularly useful in sectors that are more exposed to risks, such as construction).

Geofencing and privacy

With respect to privacy, there are, of course, several issues related to the localisation of people, with different regulations from country to country. In Europe, geofencing technology is opt-in only, meaning that users must provide explicit consent for its use: if the service is not activated on the devices they use, it will not produce any results.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

 


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