How to Improve Employee Training and Performance

May 09, 2018

Owning or managing a retail store comes with tons of responsibility. Part of this responsibility is managing your retail employees. Your employees are there to make your job easier and help handle some of the daily workload, so you want to make sure they receive thorough training before putting them to work.

Make sure they're a good fit.

Hiring retail employees is not just about hiring someone with experience or a certain skill set, but it's also about hiring people with the right attitude and who will be a good fit for the company. Whether someone has years of experience or are looking for their first job, you always want to evaluate how they would interact with customers and if they have the soft skills that will make them a good fit. Skill and experience can be developed, but if your employee can't put a smile on their face in spite of a difficult customer situation, they might not be the right fit for your business.

Be upfront about expectations.

It's important to let your new hires know what you expect from them right off the bat. Let them know what they can expect the training to entail, how long the training will last, how many hours they will be scheduled per week, and how their work performance will be measured. Being upfront about your expectations will help you and your new hires to get on the same page and hold themselves accountable for their performance.

Assign job roles based on personality & skill assessment.

It is recommended to perform a personality and skills assessment when hiring new employees, and to assign job roles based on those results. While someone may seem like a good fit for a cashier during their interview process, you may find later that they struggle with upselling items. Retail stores require many different job functions to operate efficiently. Find out where your employees not only make the best fit, but are also the most comfortable.

Experiment with different training styles.

Everyone learns differently! For some, watching a few hours worth of training videos may do the trick, whereas others may need something more hands-on. Pay attention to which training methods your employees are more receptive to and adjust your training modules to fit their preferred style. It will make for a happier employee and better work performance in the long run.

Hold regular performance reviews.

Lastly, make sure that the employee training doesn't end after the first week. Hold regular performance reviews with all of your employees so you can let them know in which areas they need improvement, along with all the great things they are doing too. Offer additional training when it is needed, and also make sure to reward employees when they are going above and beyond.

Make sure to follow our Retail Bootcamp blog series for more tips on how to improve your retail store!

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