Robkins

The problem we are solving is reducing disparities in the hiring, integration and retention of minorities in the workplace. Robkins uses simulation training to make hiring managers, team managers, and team members more understanding and receptive with persons who of are different than they..

If scaled globally, Robkins will create a foundation that will allow employers to recognize the value of diversity and facilitate the hiring and integration of minority employees into their company. As well as establishing a diverse workforce and providing employees with actionable tips and the confidence to maneuver in the workforce. This includes minority groups of all kinds, as well as people who dress, speak, or behave differently. 

While technology companies across the United States have expressed they need do better when it comes to employing people of color, African Americans and Hispanics still remain underrepresented in technology/ digital workforce jobs. For example, Hispanics and African Americans are the most under-represented in tech relative to their representation in the US. While Hispanics make up 18% of the US population, they only account for 8% of employees in tech in our data. African Americans make up 13% of the US population but only 5% of employees in tech. Whether its conscious or unconscious, biases impact people of color from being hired in the digital skills industry.

Furthermore, once hired, biases among co-workers make it difficult for African Americans and Hispanics to succeed in their work.  It is imperative that employers learn how to manage cultural differences and individual work attitudes. As the labor force becomes more diverse there are both opportunities and challenges to managing employees in a diverse work climate. Opportunities include gaining a competitive edge by embracing change in the marketplace and the labor force. Challenges include effectively managing employees with different attitudes, values, and beliefs, while avoiding liability when leadership handles various work situations improperly.

Robkins is a virtual simulation training program designed to close the workforce disparities gap.  Robkins educating those involved in hiring on the benefits of diversity and increases their receptivity to different appearances and behaviors.  It also trains managers to facilitate the transition of minority hires into the teams that they manage. The training takes hiring and management staff through tailored scenarios that provide a hands-on learning experience that highlights the pros and cons of different decisions they could make to foster an effective and diverse work environment. This realistic approach to training provides a foundation for lifelong learning that prepares participants for the complexities of creating a diverse workforce. It is focused on developing learning capacity, leadership abilities, and problem-solving skills. 

What makes Robkins unique is we realize people have biases whether its conscious or unconscious.  Accordingly, Robkins does not focus on a one-size-fits-all, right-versus-wrong training approach.  Instead, the training focuses on having participants consider the pros and cons of various approaches which can address the variety of real-world situations that they are likely to encounter. 

Our solution serves all companies helping them improve the diversity of their workforce. Workplace diversity results when companies make it a point to hire people who have different characteristics, such as ethnicity, religion, cultural backgrounds, sexual orientation, and gender in order to leverage the benefits of the broader range of ideas and solutions that such groups may bring to a problem. Additionally, a diverse workforce improves the visibility of a firm to the diverse groups that comprise its customer base. 

People of color are disproportionately impacted by current hiring practices in the United States compared to their white peers and they represent a small percentage of the workforce. Robkins is a virtual simulation training program designed to address these differences by providing solutions to reduce inequalities in the digital workforce for historically underserved groups through improved hiring and retention practices, skills assessments, training, and employer education and engagement.  

We are currently continuing to build and improve our prototype by including additional scenarios, surveys and training modules to fully create a realistic training platform and to meet the needs of the diversity.

We are qualified for the ServiceNow US Racial Equity Prize because we understand the barriers and represent the underserved community.  Members of our team have worked in corporate America and have experienced and witnessed discrimination. Because of these experiences we have developed scenarios to educate employers and employees. Our product is designed by and for communities of color and to help advance their integration into the digital workforce in the United Stated. The ServiceNow Digital Equity Prize enables us to further develop and expand simulation training modules by adding more diversity scenarios and digital skills training for the underserved community.

Robkins is innovative because it educates employers on how critical their decision impacts the diversity dynamics of their company and prepares the underserved community for the workforce. The training scenarios provide employers and employees a hands-on learning experience through complex topics providing them with the pros and cons of their decisions. This enhanced approach to training provides a foundation for lifelong learning that prepares employers for the complexities and subtleties of creating a diverse workforce and provide employees with actionable tips and the confidence to maneuver in the digital skills workforce. It is focused on developing employees’ learning capacity, leadership abilities, and problem-solving skills.  Also, before taking scenario training, there is a pretest and based on the pre-survey, the trainee will be matched with a scenario based on their outcome. So if you score high in an area, then you will not have to take an introductory level training module.

It relies on COTS simulation software and behavioral technology.  We are currently using two COTS products.  But we continue to review new tools that may further enhance the simulation scenarios, including the integration of video simulations.

Simulation-based training aims to reduce errors and cost and address knowledge and skill gaps, such training also can make training and assessment more consistent and skill-oriented as compared to traditional training sessions. In its assessment of the effectiveness of simulation-based training, trainees performed as well as or better than seasoned professionals. [Davoren, Julie:  How Effective Is Simulation Training in HR?]  This is because simulation-based exercises often allow learners to explore several outcomes and thus get a better understanding of the scenario and available solutions more immediately.

No, Robkins does not introduce any security risks to our users. It does not require the collection of personally identifiable information and does not interact with other applications/databases.

Since we are in the prototype stage, currently our product does not serve any people. However, once we launch our application, in the first year we are expected to serve 5,000 people. Because our solution is software, there is trivial cost to expand our ability to serve a broader audience.  Robkins will continue to expand and add new features and form new partnerships, so by year five we will have impacted millions of lives.

In the next year, we plan to begin deploying the application.  At the same time we will be expanding the application to attract, train and prepare more employees on the importance of hiring, attracting and integrating a diverse workforce. In the next five years, we plan to have attracted 2 million users/ followers utilizing all of our platforms.

We measure our impact goals through surveys and the number of clients using our application. We ask a series of diversity and inclusion questions at the start of the scenario training.  At the end of the scenarios, additional questions are asked to determine if there is a change perspective. In three to five months, we plan to revisit employers who uses Robkins to quantify the impact of the training.

During test marketing and in later marketing, we perform interviews immediately after taking courses and several weeks after deployment to see if people retained what they learned and if they think it makes a difference in their behavior.

One Full-time

Three contractors

One business advisor

My team has 8 years of experience with product development, implementation and research development. We have a very diverse leadership team with years of corporate diversity experiences. Our CEO served on a diversity council of a Fortune 500 company for three years. In additional to diversity experience, we also have experience with developing technology applications and games.

We have a diverse leadership team, where everyone’s opinion is valued and it is reflected in our work. Our leadership team is made of the following ethnicities: African American, Asian American, Caucasian and Hispanic.

We are applying because this is an important and sensitive topic to us and we have a solution for it.  We are interested in the prize money as bridge financing to advance the product to the stage at which we can begin test marketing it. 

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We are passionate about making a difference and would enjoy partnering with MIT, ServiceNow, and others to bring the product to a larger audience.

We would like to partner with ServiceNow and other companies with HR tools so that their sales people are already talking to prospective buyers.