Front of the house personnel

As the head store manager I have arranged for customer service training for our front of the house personnel (FHP). The training will be three days long and will be a paid training session held at our downtown store. A total of 45 employees will attend the training. Some of the aspects we wish to emphasize are orientation, on the job training, job rotation activities. Orientation will emphasize the key elements of our company.

Typically, employee orientation programs focus too much on the specifics of policies, rules, and benefit-related topics and too little on equally important topics such as learning the organization’s values and individual job skills”.

Our orientation will consist of a review of roles and policies but will actually emphasize the individual job skills our employees are in desperate need of.

In addition our three day orientation for our front of the house personnel will review policies clearly stated in our new employee handbook such as benefits, sexual harassment, and employee conduct.

On the job training is an essential part of our company’s philosophy. Our company has withheld a great reputation throughout the years and as the head company store manager I wish to build on our already solid foundation. The training that is planned is intense and work heavy.

Employees will watch presentation, participate in role plays, and make presentations, study new systems, show complete understanding of these systems, and finally employees will show their learned skills through a written test. Team work is a trendy concept that is very important in our store.

“Team building is the cooperative process that individuals in groups use to solve physical and mental challenges. While using this process and solving the challenges, group members learn how to share ideas, praise and encourage one another, and support one another physically and emotionally”(Glover and Midura, p. ).

Team building is an essential part of our company’s success and we will have a three hour team building session scheduled into the training. Our overall training will not only consist of these three structured days but will continue afterwards in each individual store. Job rotation is another important concept in our company. Although it is not necessary to have the knowledge and skills to complete a job in another section of the company it is vital that each employee understands the jobs that are done within the company.

“Job rotation, sometimes called cross training, is one of the many forms of on-the-job training and a formal effort at executive development Job rotation can be defined as lateral transfer of employees among a number of different positions and tasks within jobs where each requires different skills and responsibilities. Individuals learn several different skills and perform each task for a specified time period.

Rotating job tasks helps worker understand the different steps that go into creating a product and/or service delivery, how their own effort affects the quality and efficiency of production and customer service, and how each member of the team contributes to the process. Hence, job rotation permits individuals to gain experience in various phases of the business and, thus, broaden their perspective” (Hung p. 75). Broadening employees perspectives in part of our philosophy and will be always be incorporated in our training programs.

It is also essential for employees to be gracious and patient with people from other departments. If they do not understand the tasks that other employees complete on a daily basis then there is room for arguments, disagreements, and complaints. We will minimize this by educating all staff in all areas of operation. We will begin with the review of our company mission statement. Our mission is to offer customers the ultimate shopping experiences by having access to quality merchandise as well as experienced, knowledgeable, and friendly staff.

To facilitate this objective our program goals include: offering staff a highly intensive training course to become fully knowledgeable with our merchandise; providing staff the opportunity to experience real life situations and receive customer service support; staff also need to be fully equipped and ready to use our new computer and cash register systems. The course will be run on a very tight schedule as there is a lot of material to cover in a very short time. The first day of training will consist of an introduction to the training course. Each employee will receive a copy of the itinerary as well as the mission statement.

Of course we will begin with a welcome and review the mission statement. The next step will be to take a tour of our warehouse. It is necessary each-front of the house personnel have a fully functioning knowledge of all brands and the differences between the merchandise. The tour will begin as a virtual tour of each retailer, their products, and their personal statements about their lines of merchandising. The virtual tour has been done very well and at the of the tour there is a compare and contrast section which of course compares brands and allows the staff to clearly see the differences.

We will continue to a warehouse tour so each staff member becomes aware and understands what happens behind the scenes. This is an important step as the company moves forward we need to remember that we are a team. We will continue our training by having the staff watch our brand new The staff will review the The 3 C’s of the company which are emphasized in the video; caring, communicating, and completing the sale! Staff participate will then participate in prepared customer service role plays.

And moving right along the staff read the first 15 pages of the New Staff Manual, which was personally completed by yours truly just last week. This manual incorporates all the company’s thoughts and philosophies. It also incorporates the new computer system and covers scenarios for every possible customer service situation documented in the company over the last ten years. After the training session employees will review our standards for benefits, codes of conduct, and policies. Last but now least we will have a “quiz” to review the day’s training session. This will ensure each employee retains the information.

The second day of training will by far be the longest and most tedious work day. We will begin by introducing the new computer system via power point presentation. Staff will then work in pairs and go through the computer system tutorial to make sure they fully understand the program. Understanding this program is essential for the learning the next step which is to understand the computerized cash register set up. After working together staff takes a written test to test their knowledge and understanding of the system. If they receive an 85% or above they receive will be released from class early for an extended lunch break.

If the staff scores lower than 85% then they will continue the second part of the tutorial before being released for lunch. Staff will be instructed to take notes during the day’s second power point presentation which introduces the new computerized cash register system. After the presentation staff are put into assigned pairs to review the cash register system. It has been my experience that allowing staff to choose their own pairs prolongs the process and causes confusion and horse play. Each pair will have 45 minutes today to prepare a detailed presentation of the new system to the training class.

The presentation will include a staff/customer role play situation. The situation must include a potential problem and must somehow incorporate the new computer system in rectifying the problem. Staff will be referred to the handbook to help with this presentation. A staff handbook tour will start off day three. During this tour employees will read and understand the responsibilities of each and every department that works in coordination with front of the house personnel. After each description is clearly understood there will be a tour of each and every department.

Following this each pair of employees will have an additional 45 minutes to complete the work for their 10 minute presentation. To encourage staff to pay attention during the presentations of their peers they will be randomly called on to share their views, ideas, or concerns about the presentation. Once each group has completed their presentation all staff will be informed that after lunch they are to meet at the fountain at the park across the street for the rest of the day’s activities. Three hired team building facilitators will guide the staff through a three hours teambuilding workshop.

They will begin with 45 minutes of large group activities before being split into groups of 15 for a more personal interaction with one another. Team building is meant to emphasize the importance of working together as well as be fun activity for the staff to enjoy. Finally we will end with a surprise pizza party at the park to thank staff as well as boost morale after an intense training session. The training is sure to be a success as it covers all the necessities including complete and continued orientation with new materials, on the job training, and job rotation activities.

Our training has been meticulously planned and covers all aspects of front of the house employee needs. It is our belief that happy employees are hardworking and good employees. Keeping staff educated with our policies and techniques is an important part of being a manager. Another vital aspect is showing employees they can have fun and are appreciated for their hard work. The training program I have designed covers all of these points and will provide the company with long lasting, well trained, happy employees.