>>training is a vital investment - Steven Bell, chief executive officer, Bells Stores
No one disagrees with me when I talk about the importance of training. Yet I so often hear managers and CEOs saying that they can’t justify the expense of properly training employees. I tell them that the cost to the business of not training is far more of an issue.
Lack of skills has a significant impact on our sector. A survey carried out last year by the Learning and Skills Council found that sales and customer service staff were ranked bottom when it came to doing their jobs competently - hardly a recipe for success for our industry which relies heavily on these professions.
But why should our staff be any good at customer service if they’re never taught how to do it? Why do we assume that being a good person will translate into confident, sales winning customer service when we don’t expect the same person to know how to operate EPoS technology first time around? Training isn’t just about building technical skills - it’s about building confidence as well.
Bells Stores has been involved in work-based training for more than 20 years. Having adopted the ethos ‘matching people to expansion’, we deliver Apprenticeships and many other work-based learning programmes. This commitment started in 1983 when we set up Bells Training Services as a training provider to both ourselves and other organisations. We have subsequently achieved local, regional and national recognition, including the highest rating held with the Adult Learning Inspectorate.
Last month Bells became a finalist in the large employer class of the Learning and Skills Council’s National Apprenticeship Awards - recognition we are hugely proud of. But while our reputation as a caring and committed employer is important to us, equally important is the real impact we continue to see training have on our bottom line. We believe passionately that Apprenticeship training supports our expansion plans, and improves profitability.
We continue to use Investors In People as our benchmark for people development. This month we became the first food retailer nationally to achieve the IIP standards for the fifth consecutive time.
Particularly pleasing as a part of this assessment was the independent feedback that our commitment and belief in the development of our people is stronger than
ever before. This was reinforced earlier this month when we won first place in the HIM CTP awards as Best Retailer as Voted For By Staff for the second year running.
But where has all this left our business overall against other companies, not just in the retail sector?
This is a question we put to the test by entering the 2004 Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For competition. It was a big step for us and we would have been delighted if we had reached the 100th spot. However, we achieved 58th place, with Asda at number 31 as the only other food retailer hitting the top 100. This gives us clear signals that our training and development is having strong paybacks right across our business.
The purchase of our company by Sainsbury in February has brought us into a much larger family and we are enjoying the swapping of experiences and skills.
Undoubtedly our training approach will be one that is further reinforced as we expand with them in the future.
But what about our customers? We work on the ‘little and often’ principle with 68% of our customers living only 440 yards from their nearest store. On average, they visit us 4.7 times a week and spend, typically, £5 or more each trip. By nature, we cannot afford to lose repeat business through poor service.
With choice - from supermarkets to farmers’ markets to local stores - it’s the people consumers meet behind the counter who will win their shopping loyalty. Left behind will be the retailers who agree with me that training is important, but who still think they cannot justify the investment.
No one disagrees with me when I talk about the importance of training. Yet I so often hear managers and CEOs saying that they can’t justify the expense of properly training employees. I tell them that the cost to the business of not training is far more of an issue.
Lack of skills has a significant impact on our sector. A survey carried out last year by the Learning and Skills Council found that sales and customer service staff were ranked bottom when it came to doing their jobs competently - hardly a recipe for success for our industry which relies heavily on these professions.
But why should our staff be any good at customer service if they’re never taught how to do it? Why do we assume that being a good person will translate into confident, sales winning customer service when we don’t expect the same person to know how to operate EPoS technology first time around? Training isn’t just about building technical skills - it’s about building confidence as well.
Bells Stores has been involved in work-based training for more than 20 years. Having adopted the ethos ‘matching people to expansion’, we deliver Apprenticeships and many other work-based learning programmes. This commitment started in 1983 when we set up Bells Training Services as a training provider to both ourselves and other organisations. We have subsequently achieved local, regional and national recognition, including the highest rating held with the Adult Learning Inspectorate.
Last month Bells became a finalist in the large employer class of the Learning and Skills Council’s National Apprenticeship Awards - recognition we are hugely proud of. But while our reputation as a caring and committed employer is important to us, equally important is the real impact we continue to see training have on our bottom line. We believe passionately that Apprenticeship training supports our expansion plans, and improves profitability.
We continue to use Investors In People as our benchmark for people development. This month we became the first food retailer nationally to achieve the IIP standards for the fifth consecutive time.
Particularly pleasing as a part of this assessment was the independent feedback that our commitment and belief in the development of our people is stronger than
ever before. This was reinforced earlier this month when we won first place in the HIM CTP awards as Best Retailer as Voted For By Staff for the second year running.
But where has all this left our business overall against other companies, not just in the retail sector?
This is a question we put to the test by entering the 2004 Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For competition. It was a big step for us and we would have been delighted if we had reached the 100th spot. However, we achieved 58th place, with Asda at number 31 as the only other food retailer hitting the top 100. This gives us clear signals that our training and development is having strong paybacks right across our business.
The purchase of our company by Sainsbury in February has brought us into a much larger family and we are enjoying the swapping of experiences and skills.
Undoubtedly our training approach will be one that is further reinforced as we expand with them in the future.
But what about our customers? We work on the ‘little and often’ principle with 68% of our customers living only 440 yards from their nearest store. On average, they visit us 4.7 times a week and spend, typically, £5 or more each trip. By nature, we cannot afford to lose repeat business through poor service.
With choice - from supermarkets to farmers’ markets to local stores - it’s the people consumers meet behind the counter who will win their shopping loyalty. Left behind will be the retailers who agree with me that training is important, but who still think they cannot justify the investment.
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