Reimagined Onboarding Transforms Retail Giant’s Hiring Experience
CARA partnered with one of the largest non-grocery retail cooperatives to establish a standardized Warehouse Specialist Onboarding Program that transformed the organization’s new hire onboarding experience and created a pipeline for supervisors.
Challenge
Our client desperately needed five times the headcount as they neared peak season. They had to get the people up to speed quickly in order to have the capability to achieve their revenue goal. The main thing standing between the new employees and their ability to deliver was an outdated and inconsistent onboarding program. In fact, a disproportionate percentage of turnover was happening among new employees those employed for 90 days or less.
Result
CARA developed a tailored onboarding program that greatly enhanced their new hire process, reducing turnover and accelerating the speed to proficiency for newly hired employees. As a result, the client saw improvements across all support centers, including:
- A 25% decrease in team member resignations.
- A 42% increase in new hire retention rates within the team member’s first 90 days.
- A supervisor promotion pipeline, which enables the organization the ability to promote from within.
Solution
The goals:
- Increase speed to proficiency in the Warehouse Specialist role.
- Provide a Train-the-Trainer experience for former Subject Matter Experts that are now in a new role as Training Process Leads (TPLs).
- Develop a standardized learning experience, including updating Standard Operating Procedures.
CARA conducted a comprehensive needs assessment to gain deeper insights into the current training process, evaluating its effectiveness, efficiency, and alignment with organizational goals. The assessment also aimed to uncover underlying factors contributing to employee turnover, such as gaps in skill development, engagement, or support during onboarding and ongoing training. By identifying these key issues, CARA provided actionable recommendations to enhance training programs and reduce turnover.
CARA partnered with one of the largest non-grocery retail cooperatives to establish a standardized Warehouse Specialist Onboarding Program that transformed the organization’s new hire onboarding experience. and created a pipeline for supervisors.
Challenge
Our client desperately needed five times the headcount as they neared peak season. They had to get the people up to speed quickly in order to have the capability to achieve their revenue goal. The main thing standing between the new employees and their ability to deliver was an outdated and inconsistent onboarding program. In fact, a disproportionate percentage of turnover was happening among new employees those employed for 90 days or less.
Result
CARA developed a tailored onboarding program that greatly enhanced their new hire process, reducing turnover and accelerating the speed to proficiency for newly hired employees. As a result, the client saw improvements across all support centers, including:
- A 25% decrease in team member resignations.
- A 42% increase in new hire retention rates within the team member’s first 90 days.
- A supervisor promotion pipeline, which enables the organization the ability to promote from within.
Solution
The goals:
- Increase speed to proficiency in the Warehouse Specialist role.
- Provide a Train-the-Trainer experience for former Subject Matter Experts that are now in a new role as Training Process Leads (TPLs).
- Develop a standardized learning experience, including updating Standard Operating Procedures.
CARA conducted a comprehensive needs assessment to gain deeper insights into the current training process, evaluating its effectiveness, efficiency, and alignment with organizational goals. The assessment also aimed to uncover underlying factors contributing to employee turnover, such as gaps in skill development, engagement, or support during onboarding and ongoing training. By identifying these key issues, CARA provided actionable recommendations to enhance training programs and reduce turnover.
The Story
The CARA Group’s client is one of the largest non-grocery cooperatives in the United States, with a global presence that includes 80,000 team members, over 5,500 stores, and 15 retail support centers (RSCs). These RSCs are critical in keeping retailers stocked with products that support their local communities, with team members managing receiving and stocking on the inbound side and order fulfillment on the outbound side.
During the peak of the pandemic in 2020, the client experienced a significant surge in product demand, which required a rapid expansion in hiring across all RSC networks. The retailer’s hiring pace increased dramatically, from one to two new employees per week to five to ten new hires during peak season. However, the existing training approach couldn’t ensure a consistent onboarding experience, leading to variability in how new hires were trained. This inconsistency resulted in a sharp increase in turnover, with the average new hire tenure dropping to just one month.
Revolutionizing Onboarding: CARA’s Dynamic Training Overhaul
To address these challenges, CARA partnered with the client to develop a custom, standardized onboarding training program for the retailer. This program was supported by leadership, included input from cross-functional team members, and involved dedicated trainers.
The goal was to help new hires become engaged and productive quickly while minimizing disruption to RSC operations. As a CARA instructional designer noted, “The goal was to create a solution that was flexible and caused minimal disruption to operations within the RSC.”
The new training model also incorporated an upskilling component, designed to efficiently onboard new hires, equip RSC team members with the necessary skills to increase speed to proficiency, and prepare Training & Process Leads (TPLs) with training delivery skills.
Getting to the root cause of the retailer’s training and turnover issues was critical. The target audience included warehouse specialists and training and process leads, while the indirect audience included supervisors, managers, and directors, as the team created tools to support the on-the-job transfer of skills and knowledge.
CARA conducted a thorough review of data from exit interviews, engagement surveys, and focus groups, which revealed that training satisfaction was inconsistent and that there was a lack of standardized processes and documentation. These findings were shared with leadership and warehouse teams to ensure everyone was aligned on the recommended changes.
Building Trust and Partnership
CARA focused on building strong relationships and breaking down silos, resulting in a true partnership with the client’s leadership based on trust and results. Collaborating with a consulting firm partner, CARA developed a comprehensive design document that outlined specific course objectives and detailed descriptions of processes, tasks, and activities.
“CARA and the client have become true partners, where when there is a problem, a solution is developed together,” said the CARA instructional designer.The program also included regular touchpoints and idea-sharing sessions, led by the consulting firm partner, to ensure ongoing success. The design featured a blended learning approach and upskilling for the TPL role, which is now responsible for maintaining the updated training and onboarding practices.
Measurable Outcomes: Improved Retention and Reduced Turnover
After deploying the new training onboarding program, the client saw a significant reduction in resignations and an increase in retention. A 41% overall increase in new hires across 15 retail support centers led to a 25% decrease in terminations/resignations and a 17% increase in retention within the first 90 days of employment.
Reflecting on the program’s success, the Manager of Training stated, “Fighting against turnover has been a major driver in our efforts to step up our training and onboarding programs. We heard from our team members that they wanted more consistent training, so, with The CARA Group, we’ve completed projects aimed at standardizing our new hire training, providing a framework for existing team member re-training, and creating a comprehensive classroom and on-the-floor training experience to support business initiatives to ensure that everyone is receiving the same high-level training, regardless of location.”
