Training your convenience store staff is an ongoing process, not a single event. Take a look at these five training strategies that will help you retain quality staff members.
Orientation Training
After a new employee is recruited, interviewed, and hired, they must be trained through an effective orientation process. New employee orientation should be a combination of setting expectations, helping employees understand their role in the team, and getting them acquainted with important processes and guidelines. Many convenience stores use online training to set the stage for success, ensuring that every new employee receives a consistent message.
On-the-Job Training
Online training provides a solid training foundation for your employees, but it can’t work in a vacuum. Effective convenience store training blends a variety of learning methods. Adult learners remember what they see two times more effectively than what they read. To successfully implement a concept, your employees need to learn about it, see it done, then do it for themselves. For on-the-job training to be effective, provide employees with productive feedback so they can continually improve.
Online Career Progression Training
Once employees get the swing of things through orientation and on-the-job training, it’s time to focus on their long-term goals. Career progression training shifts the focus from mastering specific skills to developing broader competencies. Instead of learning how to clean the drink fountain, for example, an employee might tackle topics such as effective communication, decision-making, and time management. If you use a learning management system to set training goals, you can create custom learning paths for each employee based on their long-term goals.
Refresher Training
In a convenience store, employees complete tasks every day that are regulated by federal, state, and local guidelines. For your store to stay open – and your staff employed – compliance training that is refreshed and updated regularly is a must-have in your overall training program. Refresher training can be easily managed and scheduled online through an LMS.
Training Through Leadership
As a convenience store manager, you are the most important of all training strategies. Communicate effectively, be a coach instead of a boss, and solve conflict productively. Creating a productive work environment and setting a good example is the best training you can provide.
Training Strategies for Convenience Stores
Our convenience store curriculum is a sure way to increase retention and keep employees engaged in your organization. Browse our comprehensive learning library just for convenience stores.
