AVIS Europe has unveiled a project to slash training times by half, while also making it a more 'real' and memorable process. The flagship is a multimedia facility for training rental sales staff who will deal with customers on a day to day basis.

The programme combines digital video, audio, graphics, text and simple animations to create realistic scenarios in which the training reflects the real situations experienced by customer-facing employees. This is expected to reduce training times for new staff by 50% and increase learning retention rates by 75%, cutting the company's costs.

Ian Jarvis, director of training at Avis, said: 'This project has resulted in a quantum leap in the effectiveness of our employee training and also shows how digital technology really isn't beyond the reach of any businesses today. Not only this but we will have paid for this project within six months of its launch, which is a major attraction for anyone interested in installing this facility within their own business.'