Best Practices Manual For New Supervisors

We all know how frustrating it can be to be hired for a job we know little about and be thrown in it without a clue as to how or what we need to do. The orientation and training of new employees when done properly can really help keep the moral of the employees high. When an employee is given the proper training it will save an untold amount of hours correcting errors, calming down other employee’s frustrations, and re-training. When given an explanation from the beginning of the companies’ policies, procedures and work ethics makes a big difference in a new employee’s attitude about the job.

Our orientation and training program will be able to effectively orientate and train the new employee’s in three days. The program will also cover the proper ways to handles the three critical aspects of their job for the company. With this program you will receive an in-depth look into proper procedures and policies to operate our computer system. We will also show you the proper ways to interact with our customers, and a basic knowledge of the products in the department you will be working in. To offer a little extra customer service we will also give you the basic knowledge of the store’s most popular products. This program is designed to let you feel more comfortable on the sales floor and offer excellent customer service.

The orientation program will start with a welcome to the company and an overview of the objectives and philosophy of the organization. Then we will introduce the new employees to the members of management and other employees in their department. The next thing we will go over is the chain of command. This will let them know who they need to talk to if there is a problem. Familiarizing the new employees with their job functions and responsibilities is the next step. Next, we will explain the nature of the work and its relationship to the work of co-workers and that of the work unit as a whole.

Each store manager will review the policies on performance and conduct with the new salesclerks for their stores. Then they will cover the job performance criteria. Bringing in the store managers shows they will take the time to talk to the employees. This lets the employees see they care and if the employee is concerned about something or has questions the managers will take the time to address these items.

We will then discuss the companies’ safety and fire prevention policies and procedures. Then we will tour the stores and the warehouses to familiarize the employees with their physical surroundings. Then we have a question and answer session so that if the new employees have any questions we can get to them now before we go into the training part of the program.

On day two, we will start the training program. The training involves the acquisition of the skills, concepts, and rules they need to know in order to increase their performance. The training program will cover the proper procedures to operate the computerized cash register system, the proper way to interact with customers, cross-training, and the knowledge of the most popular products being sold.

Everyone knows that the retail industry has a rapid and continuous turnover in employees. I have developed this training program in the hopes of helping new employees understand the importance of providing exceptional customer service. With this program you will be able to overcome the most common barriers that keep employees from delivering exceptional customer service.

Every customer needs to be treated with respect, courtesy and sympathy. You will eventually run into customers who are upset, angry, or just plain misunderstanding. These types of customers expect an even higher need of exceptional customer service. A list of some quick, simple actions you can use to defuse a challenging situation is listed below:

Stay clam

Let the customer vent

Express empathy

Focus on a solution

The best ways for each new employee to go through the training program and be able to learn at there own pace is to use programmed instruction. Programmed instruction gives the trainee a visual on how to perform their job along with reading material followed by questions on each section. After, the trainee completes a section, the computer scores their answers and if the trainee passes they can move into the next section. All the training objectives listed below can be done with the computer- assisted instruction (CAI).

Core Training Objective

Describe exceptional customer service

Operating a computerized cash register system

Knowledge of popular products sold by the company

Proper interaction with customers

Identify benefits of great customer service

Recognizing the barriers to the delivery of exceptional customer service

Recognizing and adapt to specific customer behavior styles

Each new trainee will learn the core training objectives. They will cover the material needed to perform their job. Each department will have their own sections in the training program. This will also save us time cross-training the employees for other departments. We want to cross-train each employee in advance in case an employee calls in sick or one goes on vacation. Each department will still have someone that knows about it in the store. Another benefit of cross-training includes team building and individual skill development.

After the employee feels comfortable working in their departments, we will let them work on their own. Supervisors should then check in frequently to be sure the employee is following instructions. Once everyone is comfortable we will “taper off extra supervision and close follow-up until the trainee is qualified to work with normal supervision” (Rue & Byars, 2004).

With this well designed orientation and training program we should see a decline in turnover, absences, and an increase in customer, and employee satisfaction. This program has been designed to last three days. Using the program instruction and the CAI we will be able to work with a vast amount of information in a short amount of time. The trainee’s will be able to hold on to more of the information for longer periods of time and will not be as stressed once they are on their own. Each new trainee will be given the opportunity to work at their own pace with this program. They will be able to quickly go through the sections