Reference no: EM133337470

Case Study - Lloyds Pharmacy

As one of the largest pharmacy chains in the UK, with 1650 pharmacies and employing over 17,000 staff, Lloyds need to ensure that their staff are trained and developed to the highest standards. Located largely in communities and close to health centres, Lloyds staff are committed to the company's vision of 'healthcare for life' and want to meet customers' health needs through proper prevention, management and treatment of illnesses and ailments.As the new managing director appointed in 2011, Tony Page took charge of the pharmacy chain at a time of rapid change and stiff competition. Tony identified a significant business threat coming from large supermarkets that had begun offering a one-stop shop service, where customers could meet grocery, banking, insurance and healthcare needs under one roof. To compete with these supermarkets, Tony realised that Lloyds needed to improve levels of customer service as well as staff product knowledge and sales expertise.Beginning with store supervisors, he placed emphasis on ensuring that staff spent more time building relationships with customers to better understand their needs and requirements. He also started spending time on the road, listening to staff about their concerns and better understanding the business and customer views of the brand. Soon afterwards, Tony established the +One training programme - Lloyds' largest ever training programme. A series of two-day workshops were established to convey to supervisors the core customer service standards they were expected to deliver as well as helping supervisors improve their listening and communication skills allowing them to provide a more individualised, personal service to customers. The workshops were complemented with the provision of coaching sessions delivered by operational support managers, thus helping to reinforce and re-emphasise important lessons learned.To promote the programme across the retail chain, Lloyds collected and shared success stories from supervisors who participated in the workshops and coaching interventions. In addition, a 'best-in-class' competition was run to identify leading pharmacies and further promote supervisors. Training is also provided by Lloyds through an open learning centre where staff can access online training, as well as CDs, books and DVDs. Staff can also work on projects and secondments to broaden their knowledge, skills and experience. To date, Lloyds has reported improved levels of customer loyalty as a result of the training as well as higher levels of confidence amongst supervisory staff.(Adapted from: Sutherland, B. (2012) Lloyds Pharmacy's +One Training Programme. People Management, 29 February.)

Questions

1. Assess the key benefits arising to supervisors from participating in the workshops and coaching interventions.

2. How does the provision of training help in the recruitment and retention of staff?

3. How does investment in staff training and development help Lloyds become a dynamic progressive organisation?"