Reference no: EM133042262

FFH: Onboarding, Training, and Rewards Scenario

Like many other organizations, FFH is concerned with hiring the right person for the right job. For an organization like FFH, this begins with entry-level warehouse and sales clerk positions. Starting wages are generally between $10 and $12 per hour, which is about average in most of their markets, and with only minor exceptions, all employees are hired with a full-time status. Despite efforts to hire only qualified employees and to treat them fairly, turnover of these positions is generally 15-20 percent in stores and warehouses, and estimates are that each employee that leaves costs FFH about $8,000 in lost time for their hiring and training processes.

HR recently began doing exit interviews with employees who leave FFH to try to uncover some causes of voluntary turnover. A major issue uncovered in these interviews is that employees did not feel their orientation and initial training adequately prepared them for the jobs they were hired to do.

The new employee orientation (NEO) program was developed about 10 years ago, and on the first day it begins with a 15-minute VHS presentation with the former HR director, who describes the history of the company and how important it is to "serve the customer." This is followed by a 3-hour program by a member of HR to review company policies and procedures. New hires then get one hour for lunch and come back for an afternoon involving employee benefits and paperwork to sign up for benefits.

The next day of NEO starts with a member of store management welcoming them to the store for about an hour before getting a store tour conducted by a member of HR. In the afternoon, they connect with their department supervisor and are introduced to other department members. They also receive their work assignments for the rest of the week.

The rest of the week is department training, and it is up to the supervisor to design and conduct this training. New hires are considered trained members of the team in week 2.

For this discussion, consider the results of FFH's exit interviews and the suggestion that both new employee orientation (NEO) and initial training could be improved. Working with a peer assigned by your instructor, use your course readings, your own findings, and workplace examples to develop an outline for a plan to improve FFH's onboarding and training of new employees.

• What changes would you recommend to the NEO program? Why? Briefly outline your new program recommendations.
• What changes would you make to the department training? Why? Suggest a model that could be used across FHH to upgrade new employee training.
• What would the pluses and minuses be if FHH were to implement a rewards program for those employees who acquire a certain level of skills?