Walmart asks, “Have you Axonified today?”

We’ve all heard of brand names turning into verbs. These days, we Google, we Skype and we Facebook.

Today, on the third year anniversary of Axonify becoming an official company name, we’re excited to say that it’s happened to us too.

In fact, if you walk through the busy distribution center at Walmart, you’ll likely hear employees ask, “Have you Axonified today?” That’s because Walmart workers coined the verb, “Axonified” after the Axonify learning solution became part of their daily routine.

Axonify helps 75,000 hard-working Walmart employees increase their knowledge of corporate safety and compliance procedures as well as improve performance behaviors using a fun, fast and personalized approach to learning that incorporates game mechanics (such as competition, leaderboards, game play and more) along with proven scientific methods of information retention.

Ken Woodlin, Vice President of Compliance, Safety and Asset Protection for Walmart Logistics, began a partnership with Axonify in 2012 when the company ran a 6-month safety training pilot program with 5,000 logistics workers in eight Walmart distribution centers. The goal was to take the retailer’s existing safety program, that had strong behavioral components, cultural connectivity and compliance policies and procedures in place already, and make it the world’s best.

The results proved to be directly in line with this vision. During the pilot, recordable incidents at Walmart decreased by 54% in the retailer’s eight subject distribution centers, morale was elevated and injury expenses were mitigated. This prompted the retailer to expand implementation to its remaining 150-plus centers across the United States and more than 75,000 associates. This early success also initiated Walmart’s plans to bring Axonify to its entire transportation department of more than 6,000 drivers.

“We have seen tremendous improvement as a result of our associates’ ownership and engagement in our safety programs, as well as leadership commitment to the program,” says Woodlin. “Metrics like Lost Times have been reduced by more than 50% in the past three years, and Incident Rates and DART rates [Days Away from work, job Restrictions, and/or job Transfers] are well below industry average. Feedback about the Axonify system has been phenomenal, and we believe the process has been a significant contributing factor to our improved performance and engaged associate base.”

The Axonify learning solution is straightforward and efficient. Walmart associates log into the system daily and spend a couple of minutes receiving safety culture content, often in the form of questions. The system provides instant feedback, so associates know which questions they get right and where they need improvement. The system also shows associates how they measure up against their peers. The next time, associates log in, the system remembers their responses and will ask questions to reinforce information they know, as well as follow up on information they don’t know, to ensure learning progresses, behaviors improve and associates don’t forget what they learned previously.

The reason Axonify is so successful in environments like Walmart is that it is based on proven learning principles designed to work the way people actually learn and retain information. This unique approach to learning allows Walmart to simplify training through a bite-size approach, make learning fun, adapt it to employees’ individual learning needs and increase knowledge and retention by applying proven cognitive approaches, such as repeated retrieval and spacing, that are proven to enhance learning and recall.

Since Walmart implemented Axonify more than three years ago, associates have become more able to spot potential safety opportunities, see the connectivity of safety in the workplace with safety out of the workplace and have also become more comfortable raising safety concerns. One of the best parts, according to Woodlin, is that safety training has become a continuous loop driven by good behaviors and fed by the corporate culture, rather than a one-way top down approach.

“Feedback about the Axonify platform has been phenomenal and we believe the process has been a significant contributing factor to our improved performance and engaged associate base,” says Woodlin.

Head on over to the Walmart case study to get the full story.