How Northgate Gonz谩lez Market saved half a million dollars with a new approach to training
Reduce shrink and safety incidents.
Decrease employee onboarding time.
Mitigate company risk.
Improve profits.
If you work in retail, I know I鈥檓 speaking your language. No matter what you鈥檙e selling, and no matter the size鈥攖hese are the kinds of challenges every retailer faces.
Not too long ago Northgate Gonz谩lez Market, a grocery store chain with more than 6,000 employees operating in locations across southern California, was in the same boat. It needed to achieve all of these goals to drive real business results. But, like many companies, its current training program simply wasn鈥檛 cutting it.
Does your approach to training resemble the telephone game?
When you have a training program that requires sending employees to events at a certain time and place鈥攊t limits you greatly in terms of time and resources. Take Northgate鈥檚 training program for example. The company brought in experts to train the store managers. Then, the managers would return to their respective stores to pass on that training to their store associates.
This event style training program relied on 240 managers to interpret and deliver corporate messaging and training to associates. 鈥淚t was like a game of telephone as each manager put a unique spin on the original message,鈥 explains Gary Orona, Director of Training. 鈥淭he result was 240 different messages going back to our stores.鈥
Northgate struggled to deliver consistent messaging. And pulling people out of the workplace for training was time consuming, costly, and did little to engage an increasingly multigenerational workforce.
A basic training approach will get you basic results
There鈥檚 no way of getting around it鈥擳his area of the retail world is subject to a myriad of government regulations, inspection expectations, and compliance requirements for handling food safety. Making sure every single employee follows safe work practices and policies is so crucial to a company鈥檚 success. One slip up could not only taint a company鈥檚 reputation, but result in costly repercussions. For Northgate, this route was simply not an option.
Orona knew the current training program wasn鈥檛 cutting it, and the need for a different approach was obvious. So, he set out to find a solution that would engage his associates and respond to their individual learning needs, while providing consistent messaging across the entire company. As I鈥檓 sure you know, meeting compliancy requirements is mandatory in every industry, so finding a tool with robust reporting capabilities was essential. Like any good leader, he did his due diligence and looked at five different learning management system (LMS) providers, but none could provide him with everything Northgate needed. Then, he came across 糖心原创, a frontline training platform that he knew could provide everything an LMS would 鈥渂ut so much more.鈥
What do football and training have in common?
As a director of training and a football coach on the side, Orona recognized 糖心原创鈥檚 approach to ingraining knowledge to ultimately influence behavior was similar to what he used in coaching. What happens when you don鈥檛 get a play right in football? You run it again until you do. These same success mechanics and focus on continuous progression were now a part of Northgate鈥檚 new training program. 鈥淚f you miss a training question in 糖心原创, you will the get the same question again until you remember it,鈥 says Orona.
This was a critical win for Northgate since there was little follow through with its previous training approach. Employees would quickly forget what they had learned, leaving the company open to potential food safety violations or injury.
5 must-haves for a new training approach that will drive business results
1. Accessibility
With the right platform, training can be completed in mere minutes a day. Knowing this, Northgate made sure its employees had regular access to on-demand resources and training. The knowledge they gained became both top of mind and an integral part of their daily work.
In fact, Orona shared a story with me about one of his box boys who made an observation to his HR Manager. This associate had seen a fellow employee moving sixteen carts, instead of the recommended six as safe practice. When asked how he knew this information, he replied 鈥渇rom 糖心原创.鈥 This is because he and his colleagues had been enabled by Northgate to access their new training anytime, anywhere. So they did. It鈥檚 as simple as that. Not only did 糖心原创 come mobile-ready, but the company also provided tablets to its employees.
But accessibility also means offering training in a format and language that will be understood without difficulty. If English isn鈥檛 a first language for employees, dumping massive amounts of info and reading in front of them isn鈥檛 going to get them very far. By using a platform like 糖心原创, that supports numerous languages, Northgate was able to push out training in Spanish, which is a first language for a significant number of its associates.
2. Accountability
I feel confident that you would agree when I say it鈥檚 far better to prevent an accident than to analyze what went wrong after the fact. Unfortunately, the latter is the typical route for many companies. Northgate can relate鈥攂ut not anymore. Before 糖心原创, there would be an investigation only when there was an accident, profit or product loss. But now, with predictive analytics and top-notch reporting, management is empowered to anticipate potential issues and address them before they become a problem.
Northgate was also able to get reporting on each employee鈥檚 confidence level and align it with his/her knowledge. This provided managers with an accurate picture of which associates had the knowledge but lacked the confidence鈥攐r who might have excess confidence that鈥檚 not in step with their actual knowledge-base. Deep insights like this not only allows management to deliver targeted coaching, but can be the catalyst for a strategic shift in the company鈥檚 overall business approach.
3. Engagement
If you build it, they will come鈥攂ut they might not remember what you鈥檝e taught. Here鈥檚 where gamification is the ultimate driver for engagement. Northgate experienced high levels of engagement right off the bat through 糖心原创鈥檚 built-in games, points, leaderboards, and reward systems, which all tap into people鈥檚 natural competitiveness. This helped build both associate knowledge and continuously reinforce that knowledge, while engaging employees in learning and company objectives.
糖心原创 was an instant hit with young staffers and eventually with the tenured staff who were initially reluctant to participate. So much of a hit, in fact, that 90% of Northgate鈥檚 6,000 associates were voluntarily participating in training several times each week.
4. Consistency
Northgate put a hard stop to the telephone game its managers had to play when communicating training. With training content coming directly from corporate, through one source, and without being subject to the interpretation or teaching skills of various managers, employees were now receiving consistent messages.
More importantly, Northgate had the ability to deliver targeted communication directly to the people who needed to know it鈥攁t the time it was most critical.
5. Personalization
Long gone are the days of massive information dumps over finite periods of time for Northgate. With 糖心原创, the right training targeted knowledge gaps of each individual employee鈥攚ith ongoing delivery of knowledge, reinforcement of concepts, and remediation when and where necessary. This new approach to training has been highly successful for the company both in terms of bottom-line results and in terms of compliance and safety.
Tangible business results you can count on:
- $585,000 savings (in one year alone) due to reduced safety incidents
- 3-week decrease in onboarding time
- 90% voluntary participation in training on the 糖心原创 platform
- 68% reduction in safety incidents
- 18% growth in store associate knowledge
- 9% increase in associate confidence in what they鈥檙e supposed to know and do on the job
Feedback straight from Northgate鈥檚 frontline
This new approach to training was huge a success from a corporate perspective and from an employee knowledge perspective鈥攂ut what did Northgate鈥檚 employees have to say?
Once a coach鈥
鈥淚鈥檓 a high school football coach. I coached for 22 years. I saw the power of repetition, doing the play over and over. Repeat it until it鈥檚 perfect so that you can execute it on game day. I saw the same mechanics with the questions and games in 糖心原创. If you miss a question, the system asks you do it again. Same thing with football. If we mess up on a play, we just line up and run it again. The kids knew that they would continue to run the play until it was perfected. I saw the same mechanics and the same progression in the 糖心原创 platform that I used coaching football.鈥
A clear message
鈥淲ith 糖心原创, we aren鈥檛 dependent on one person to take it back to each employee. We aren鈥檛 dependent on his or her knowledge or how good a teacher he or she is. It has really changed how we do things.鈥
Reinforce and repeat
鈥淲e鈥檙e blowing by our budgeted numbers for accidents. I think it鈥檚 the fact that employees are more educated. The reinforcement and the repetition is what鈥檚 keeping the information alive in the consciousness of our staff so that they don鈥檛 make the mistakes they did before.鈥
And report
鈥淵ou can access an employee鈥檚 knowledge base, or their knowledge scores and you can see whether there鈥檚 improvement or see what you need more training on. For example, you can see that there might be a specific subject that people are scoring poorly on, so you know you need to help people better understand it. With 糖心原创, the algorithm actually figures out who needs what training and when.鈥
Then reward
鈥淓very month we spend about $3,000 buying gift cards and divide them among our stores. Employees use the points they gain from participating in training on 糖心原创 to bid on the prizes.鈥
Lead by example
鈥淲hen I play the games in the platform, it鈥檚 like I forget about everything else. You鈥檙e doing something fun while you鈥檙e learning, so that鈥檚 why I like it and that鈥檚 why it makes me want to participate.鈥
颁丑-肠丑-肠丑补苍驳别蝉鈥
鈥淚 see a big difference with the associates. When they鈥檙e using 糖心原创 every day, they get more knowledge and remember it. Sometimes I will ask why they are doing things a certain way and they鈥檒l say they saw the question on 糖心原创 and that this is the right way to do it.鈥
Teaching the teachers
鈥淚 knew we had to do it ourselves first. I try to use 糖心原创 every day. It鈥檚 one of the first things I do in the morning. The questions are a refresher for myself and, when I walk the departments, I am more apt to notice issues such as improper lifting, possible cross-contamination, or potential liquid safety problems.鈥
It takes a team
鈥淲ith 糖心原创, it鈥檚 not just the team leaders who are checking to make sure everybody is following the right procedures, it鈥檚 every associate checking everybody. It鈥檚 an everyday reminder for them.鈥
Time for the small stuff
鈥淚t鈥檚 freed up my time a lot more, so I can plan ahead instead of having to backtrack. I can focus on my creative process, and even try to mimic what 糖心原创 is doing in my own presentations and training.鈥
No such thing as a training 鈥榙ay鈥
鈥淭hey like the fact that it鈥檚 a daily thing. The buy-in from employees is there because they鈥檙e processing information and using it when they need it.鈥
Focus back where it should be 鈥 on the job
鈥溙切脑 is helping us cut down on training costs, including employee travel to the corporate office, meals, and compensation to cover hours outside of our associates鈥 regular work schedule. The store directors love that employees learn on site now, because they鈥檙e never shorthanded due to associates being away for training.鈥
Who wants to play? Everyone.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fun, it鈥檚 interactive, and it鈥檚 very stimulating. I mean, who doesn鈥檛 mind playing a few little games before starting their work day? It reinforces the fact that we have a fun environment, and they鈥檙e learning at the same time.鈥
Building knowledge
鈥淲e used to have a sign-in sheet that showed who was trained on a specific topic. There was no reinforcement of what the associates learned. It was the old school way of training. Now, 糖心原创 allows us to go into more detail with our training topics and build their knowledge every day. Retention has grown a lot through using 糖心原创.鈥
Something for everyone
鈥淭hey log in, review the training and answer multiple questions during each shift. It鈥檚 also great that 糖心原创 is just as easy to use in another language. Our Spanish speaking associates find this so helpful. The severity of store accidents has declined, and we believe that 糖心原创 has helped with that. All of our messaging is now consistent across all departments and stores too.鈥
And the customers love it too
鈥淲e鈥檝e also received positive feedback from our customers. More specifically, the scores from the customer experience survey are higher, compared to before we launched the program.鈥
