Photo: Walmart
Will Walmart reap dividends from training academies?
Walmart announced the grand opening of its 100th training academy, located in Edmond, OK. The opening of the facility puts Walmart halfway to its stated goal of 200 across the U.S. by the end of the summer. Launching the initiative last year, there are now training academies in operation in 40 states.
“Everything we do begins with our associates,” said Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Walmart Store, in a statement. “That’s why we have invested in training academies for associates to further develop the skills they need to better serve customers and succeed in today’s retail environment.”
Since launching the program, Walmart has expanded its curriculum to cover more than 65 positions including assistant store manager, customer service and online grocery pickup. Associates going through the program are trained in a variety of classroom and sales floor exercises. Associates use tablets and access training materials on the cloud.
Last October, Walmart announced improvements in reducing out-of-stocks and store cleanliness after it raised wages for associates and invested in training. Last October, 75 percent of Walmart locations met the company’s internal goals for customer service compared to just 16 percent a few years earlier. Better pay and training has also contributed to a reduction in employee turnover.
More than 52,000 associates have graduated from Walmart’s academies to date, with more than 225,000 expected to complete their training this year.
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Is Walmart setting itself apart from the competition by paying its workers better and investing in training academies? Are other retailers, generally speaking, making needed investments in associate pay and training?
Poll
BrainTrust
Mark Ryski
Founder, CEO & Author, HeadCount Corporation
Bob Phibbs
President/CEO, The Retail Doctor
Walmart has rightly realized that investing in employees is a good investment. I applaud Walmart’s commitment to educating and compensating employees and I’m not surprised that they are seeing meaningful, measurable improvements in their service/HR metrics. I believe that these investments will help make Walmart even more competitive on many fronts: customer service, recruitment, retention and more. In my experience, many retailers have cut or minimized staff training and instead focused investments on technology — algorithms can’t execute and technology without a trained and engaged workforce to use and apply the technology is pointless.
One of the biggest hidden costs of retail is employee turnover.
There is a very strong reason that Apple has one of the lowest turnover rates in retailing — they invest in their people. Employees train for a week or more before they ever get on the floor. The other success factor is that training leads to an upward career path to different positions in the store.
Yes there are a lot of jokes and stories about shopping at Walmart. When you are the world’s largest retailer there will be quality issues. So kudos to Walmart taking a proactive approach to leverage their great asset you can’t get online from Amazon … trained staff who can deliver quality service.
It’s smart for Walmart to invest in its employees. Happy, well-trained employees are more loyal to the company and make for happier customers. Walmart has seen positive results from these efforts. Other retailers should follow this example. Too often retailers bemoan employee attitudes and loyalty. Perhaps they should try paying more and investing in employee growth.
Retail has always been about being brilliant on the basics. Choosing to train the basics is always brilliant. The future is not all bots and bytes but people. This isn’t rocket science but it is a decision to control the experience within your four walls.
The investment in the training academies and increased pay are paying off for Walmart in customer service and reduced turnover. Do these things set Walmart apart from other retailers? That would depend on who Walmart is being compared to.
Other retailers have just as well-trained or compensated employees and have not had to make the investment in similar training facilities. However, no other retailer employs as many people making it harder for Walmart to ensure the level of customer service it wants is being met.
Investing in the human touch — your brand ambassadors, the people that connect emotionally with your shoppers — will always pay dividends. Employees want to be valued and respected. Proper training empowers the one touchpoint that your online channel will never be able to replicate — human interaction. It’s part of the shopping experience. Retailers have mistakenly been motivated to integrate technology to minimize their payroll. Technology should be used to streamline workflows and processes to allow and empower your employees to focus and interact with your shoppers.
Walmart is learning from the success of other retailers already investing in their employees. Paying employees a livable wage is important: The Container Store pays employees almost 14 dollars an hour and Costco’s average employee wage is 21 dollars an hour. If you’ve been to either store you’ll know this results in better service.
Agreed! The real question is, what took our industry so long to figure this out? Employee turnover, poor service, and general disengagement cost a company a whole lot more than better training and higher wages ever will.
One of the best ways to retain employees and keep them engaged at a high level is to invest in them. Not just with salary, but with training and education. The best organizations help their employees with career development programs, such as Walmart is doing.