The Retailer Autumn Edition_2020

A training report for the new High Street

LIAM O'MEARA VP OF EUROPE Axonify

RETAILERS WHO TRAIN THEIR FRONTLINE WORKERS WITH A MORE BALANCED UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEEDS OF BOTH PARTIES ARE BETTER PREPARED TO MEET THE CONTINUING CHANGES ON THE HIGH STREET, SAYS LIAM O’MEARA, VP OF EUROPE AT AXONIFY . There is no question that UK retail stepped up to the plate when the pandemic first saw all but essential stores close. Staff were dealing with situations without precedent in environments that suddenly shifted from friendly and open to orderly, sanitised and restricted. And retailers too had their challenges, having to ensure that the safety of their staff and customers was put before everything, even before worrying about getting precious stocks into store and onto shelves. And all this was taking place in an industry that has been adjusting over the last five or more years to changing expectations among both customers and staff. Customers, now more skilled than ever around how and where to shop, demand even better service; while staff expect their employers to provide even greater support for their roles, schedules, working conditions, rewards and recognition. Staff expectations and what this means for employers can be understood by looking at the research that Axonify undertook with Arlington to see how retailers responded and communicated to their frontline retail workers during the pandemic. It explores how staff felt about retailers’ responses and what kind of processes and support are likely to be required post-pandemic, providing valuable insights into how employers can meet their own needs as well as the expectations of their staff and customers once retail adjusts to its new normal. For instance, in the research of 667 frontline workers in the UK, 70% felt their employer had taken action to keep them safe during the pandemic and 71% also agreed that the retail business they work for took action to ensure the safety of customers. However, almost a quarter (22%) of retail store staff felt they received too little communications from their employer, while 16% said that the communications they did receive were confusing. The context for these findings is that during the current crisis, the advice that staff have had to follow has changed dramatically and often, so it won’t have been easy for retailers to keep pace, but our own advice is that it is important to keep everyone on the same page. For instance, retailers should not rely on bulletin boards or manager huddles; better to use digital communications to send consistent information directly to the entire frontline in real-time, on their work or personal devices. However, delivering too much information all at once and expecting it to stick does not work because it won’t change long-standing behaviours. Better to reinforce often and in bite-size chunks, targeting messages based on an employee’s role, team or geography. This will be of particular importance as staff take on new roles, a conspicuous factor during the pandemic.

And delivering digitally also makes it easy for managers to see who has and hasn’t read messages for further reinforcement. The research showed that 40% of UK supermarket staff want access to training via their own personal device and a further quarter (24%) said they would be more engaged with training if it was delivered via this method. Making the training more personal will be key to preparing staff for what is to come and aid in motivating them as their expectations change. The Arlington research supports this view; despite 58% of UK supermarket workers saying they have received the training needed to perform effectively, nearly two thirds (61%) felt the training they had received had not been personalised to their skills, and 15% felt the training lacked personalisation and didn’t cater towards their experience. Future preparation will also require a strategy for cross-training as staff move more frequently between roles as they have during the pandemic, be it managing queues, delivering into the boots of customers’ cars or simply helping colleagues during peak trading times. Cross-training is highly motivational for staff, particularly if the pay rates are better for a particular role but gives employers confidence they can deal with any situation. We recommend five stages for training – Communications, Onboarding and compliance, Reinforcement, Cross-training, Access points and BYOD – as laid out in our report, ‘Building A Resilient Frontline Workforce’. The payoff for this investment is the fact that well-trained, well-equipped and happy staff deliver a better experience to customers. In the same report it was found that almost two thirds (64%) of UK consumers say highly skilled store staff make them more likely to visit a retail store, while three quarters (75%) of consumers say good customer service encourages them to spend more with a retailer. This goes to show that empowering the frontline is good for employees, good for customers and good for business. Download the report at: https://explore.axonify.com/20-brd-1236- state-of-frontline-training-uk

LIAM O'MEARA // lomeara@axonify.com // https://www.linkedin.com/in/liamomeara/ // www.axonify.com

46 | Autumn 2020 | the retailer