WHY RETAIL TRAINING IS AN INVESTMENT FOR THE FUTURE

E-LEARNING IS THE SOLUTION

No matter how large or small a Retail Business is, - it is sometimes difficult to see past the dollar cost of training and developing yourself, your people and the team members.

Issues such as staff turnover are also involved -

"Why should I spend money on someone who might leave me next week?"

Finding time to send people to formal training courses is also difficult to justify - not just for the program cost but the down time away from work and the wages.

Another factor that contributes to the decision process on training value is the difficulty in being convinced that the training you are paying for is actually delivering the benefits it promised.

So where are the benefits of training?

  • Improved work performance. Less time spent redoing work and correcting mistakes.
  • More efficient operations and multi tasking of employees. A happy work place.
  • Growth for the business. Increased sales.
  • Delegation allowing owners and managers to work on the business instead of in the business.
  • Reducing staff turnover rates by providing challenges and learning for people.
  • Confidence in legislative compliance by everybody.

This covers a number of areas in today's business world.

  • Trade Practices Act
  • Retailing Laws such as tobacco retailing and responsible alcohol retailing
  • Food Safety Laws
  • Occ Health & Safety obligations

Proprietors and business owners can become very frustrated that training is expensive and that they can't see immediate results.

If training is a true investment a business should plan their training strategy and allocate appropriate funds in their operational budgets to cater for the chosen training methods and programs each year.

And as with any other investment the results should be measured and analysed frequently as part of normal business operational analysis.

Follow up after training and MEASURE the results of your investment in training.

Many smaller independent retailers and some of the majors face the tyranny of distance, in that they operate in regional centres and do not have local access to quality training.

One solution being developed and made available this year to retailers are self paced e-learning programs for retail staff induction, retail training programs such as food safety and Certificate III in Retail Operations training. All of these are designed for service station and /or C-Store Operations in Australia and New Zealand. atmp training & skills development in partnership with AACS and various clients are applying their years of experience in the industry to build these packages to meet the learning needs of the industry and provide greatly improved cost effectiveness.

New and existing employees complete stepped modules of training at their own pace while being mentored by their employers and coached by their nominated trainer/assessors. They provide evidence of the competencies and retail capabilities they have achieved via interactive activities on line, in workbooks or by demonstrating their skill s by actually doing the tasks at work.

This type of training provides flexibility of learning while ensuring consistency of the skills and knowledge is being maintained. All that is required is that the staff have access either to a PC to run the CD's and DVD's or access to the web to conduct the assessments on line.

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