Turnover has plagued corrections for two decades. Nearly half of U.S. corrections agencies report annual turnover between 20% and 30%, and some facilities exceed 40%. High attrition starts early, with an estimated 38% of staff leaving within their first year and nearly half departing within five years.
There’s no silver bullet for solving staff turnover. But when you look closely at some of its causes, such as low organizational performance and a lack of career development, these factors contribute heavily to low morale.
Why GUARDIAN RFID Built Academy Unlimited
In March 2019, company leaders at GUARDIAN RFID noticed an emerging but unsurprising trend: jails using GUARDIAN RFID technology with the highest turnover also had some of the lowest compliance rates across their national user community. Two measures stood out in particular: rounds compliance and the company's internal adoption metrics, breadth and intensity. Breadth refers to the number of software modules used regularly, while intensity measures the number of records created within those modules.
The root cause of low compliance and limited system use wasn't a lack of training. It was knowledge loss. The staff members who had received initial and ongoing training had left, taking their expertise with them. And like a multi-generational photocopy, where each scan further degrades the quality, only so much tribal knowledge can be passed along before near-total knowledge loss occurs and software use flatlines.
So the team repurposed an asset it already had in abundance: video.
In less than two months, Academy Unlimited launched with video lessons covering the foundational aspects of GUARDIAN RFID technology. Within the first six months, Certified Learning Paths (CLPs) were added. A CLP is a curated series of videos focused on a core topic, such as mobile inmate tracking.
Each lesson must be viewed in full (no fast-forwarding allowed) and is followed by a quiz. When learners complete a CLP, they receive a digital certificate recognizing their achievement for that specific learning path.
What Makes Academy Unlimited Different?
Every lesson is led by product experts from our Academy team. Every member of that team has worked in jails and prisons, and nearly all of them came from facilities that used GUARDIAN RFID firsthand. The content is produced by GUARDIAN RFID's in-house video production team. And the user experience couldn't be simpler: you log in with the same credentials you already use for GUARDIAN RFID software. No extra accounts, no additional passwords.
Academy Unlimited goes far beyond traditional virtual training. Every lesson is step-by-step and organized by product or use case, so users can quickly find training that matches their needs. Users can start, pause, and resume lessons anytime.
The platform is accessible anywhere: on a smartphone, tablet, home computer, or at your facility. Many lessons are under two minutes, while others, like the one on medication administration, may run 15 minutes or more.
The catalog spans:
- SPARTAN Orientation and foundations for Command Cloud, GUARDIAN RFID's officer experience platform (OXP)
- Mobile Command XR lessons on observations, supply, movements, meals, recreation, headcounts, special status, inmate profiles, and task management
- Mission Command’s dashboards training
- Practical how-tos, like changing a password or deactivating an inactive user
Supervisors and administrators also get reporting tools that track staff progress, validate skill development, and show exactly who is progressing.
Does Academy Unlimited Replace On-Site Training?
Absolutely not. Virtual learning is an extension of the in-person classroom training and Go-Live shadowing experience GUARDIAN RFID provides at every deployment, not a substitute for it.
But as we saw in 2019, when facilities experience high turnover, they're essentially playing Russian roulette with knowledge loss. In fact, such facilities are 50% more likely to fall into the lowest compliance tier within our national user community. Academy Unlimited is what keeps the training you already paid for from walking out the door.
When Fairfax County, VA rolled out Academy Unlimited, Captain Daniel Wilson pointed to onboarding first:
“Academy Unlimited will help make onboarding effortless. It gives our new hires a seamless familiarization process, simplifies training tracking, and makes staying proficient remarkably easy for our entire team.”
- Captain Daniel Wilson, Fairfax County, VA
What Does Academy Unlimited Cost?
Unlike traditional learning management systems that charge per user, which can get expensive, restrict access to certain staff, or waste money on unused licenses, Academy Unlimited is priced with an agency license that gives you unlimited user access. Whether you have five users or 5,000, it's entirely up to you.
That makes it an affordable investment that boosts morale, helps you get the most from your investment, and positions your team among the top performers nationally.
What's New in Academy Unlimited?
Guardians Greg "OG" Piper, Tyler Baird, and Chris Riedmueller, Director of Academy, recently wrapped a studio shoot that produced over two dozen new lessons for Command Cloud. Those lessons are now live in Academy Unlimited. If your agency is on Command Cloud, your team can start them today with the same credentials they already use.
"It's pure excitement," said Riedmueller. "We know virtual learning in our user community is a valuable extension of in-person classroom training and the Go-Live shadowing experience we provide at every deployment."
What's Coming Next?
Riedmueller is just as direct about where it goes from here:
"Academy Unlimited is entering its most transformative chapter yet. We're building a learning ecosystem that doesn't just keep pace with the future of corrections, it helps define it. Our mission is to empower every officer and agency with training that is smarter, more adaptive, and always accessible. The next evolution of Academy Unlimited will deliver deeper insights, richer content, and a seamless experience that elevates professional development across the industry."
Whether you need refresher training, ongoing professional development, or a resource for new recruits who missed on-site training, Academy Unlimited safeguards your team against knowledge loss and protects your agency's investment in GUARDIAN RFID technology.
Ready to put Academy Unlimited to work in your facility? Reach out to your GUARDIAN RFID Jail Operations Specialist to see what's already available to your team and what's coming next.
