FMJ.CO.UK INTERVIEW FOCUS
APRIL 2020 29
Workplace DNA.”
The idea bubbled up again in 2013 when,
as Secretary of the (then) BIFM People
Management Special Interest Group, Sharp
led a seminar to examine what made up
the DNA of a facilities manager(3). “We’d
intended it as a light-hearted evening,
in part to celebrate past winners of the
BIFM Manager of the Year Awards, but the
event actually produced some interesting
outputs,” he says. “Those outputs also
influenced the thinking that went into
Workplace DNA.”
KEEPING SCORE
The DNA ecosystem works in a similar
way to gaming apps where – via a phone
or iPad – people can learn in bite-sized
chunks and track their individual progress.
Gradually they will build up a ‘DNA score’
based on their individual progress and
against preset learning pathways, and in
that way they boost their skills and define
themselves. Taking this personalised
approach to learning means users only
access information that is of relevance to
them, helping them to keep abreast of their
compliance requirements.
Says Sharp: “The really di icult thing
for people to get their minds around is
that we’re not teaching something so
much as nudging people, helping to keep
them aware and alert. For instance, if a
warehouse has an accident with a forkli
it’s not necessarily because people aren’t
trained in using it correctly. It might be
because they’re tired, not concentrating
or are cutting corners. This issue might
not be solved by putting them back on
another training course, but instead by
prodding them very gently to remind
them to work safely.”
The technique, known as spaced
learning, divides information into very
small segments of five minutes or less (an
approach referred to as microlearning),
which people work through by themselves
to easily digest the learning content.
Research suggests that spaced learning is
much more e ective in helping learners
acquire and retain knowledge for later
retrieval(4) – frequently not the case with
rigidly structured courses delivered at
fixed periods.
The Workplace DNA library is updated
continually to include the latest changes
in law and practice, health and
safety guidance and other
compliance issues, as well
as personal development
materials. It’s
also designed to
supply users with
credentialled
content(5), taken
from trusted sources
and curated by
the International
Workplace team.
The app makes use
of artificial intelligence
(AI) to allow employers
to keep abreast of their
employees’ knowledge and skills
training progress. It also reduces the
administrative load on managers
through pattern recognition and the use
of algorithms to personalise the user
experience for learners.
“The element that came up which I
wasn’t so aware of in the beginning was
the AI side,” explains Sharp. “It simply
wasn’t in our thinking even in 2014, when
we changed our name to International
Workplace. But the field of AI – and
specifically machine learning (ML) – really
lends itself to digital learning, and we were
keen for it to drive the way Workplace DNA
operates. Some of the valid criticisms of
e-learning are that it’s clunky to manage,
boring to use, and diverts brain power from
learning to understanding how the system
works. Thanks to the power of AI, none of
this is true with DNA.”
MEETING THE SHORTFALL?
While some sections of the FM
community have argued that a ban
on recruiting low-paid EU workers
following Brexit is the impetus
the sector needs to upskill
the incumbent workforce,
realistically is the FM industry
prepared for the shortfall?
Says Sharp: “I don’t think the
FM sector is ready at all. No
one is. It’s a huge challenge
as well as a huge opportunity.
It’s like the whole of Brexit
encapsulated into one market. It’s
system means that anyone
with high-end qualifi cations such
as engineering or analytics can come
in and FM will potentially benefi t
a massive risk that the majority of
The government’s new pointsbased
people decided to pursue, so now we just
have to do it.
“The government’s new pointsbased
system means that anyone
with high-end qualifications such as
engineering or analytics can come in
and FM will potentially benefit from a
wider international talent pool. But the
government’s own data suggests that 70
per cent of the migrants entering the UK
from the EU in the early 2000s would not
have met the test for the new points-based
criteria. So there are settled EU migrants
from a wider international
talent pool.”