Supermarket chain creates a “green” army

Citation

(2010), "Supermarket chain creates a “green” army", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 42 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2010.03742cab.007

Supermarket chain creates a “green” army

Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 42, Issue 3

UK supermarket Wm Morrison has trained more than 110,000 employees to help to meet its carbon and energy targets.

“We understand that an important part of achieving our targets to reduce our carbon footprint and our group energy used per square meter is engagement with our colleagues, to ensure that we are all working together to make the positive changes required. Energy-awareness training is key to that,” said Michelle Walker, training manager.

“We aimed to give each of our colleagues an increased awareness of what our energy consumption was as a company and to then relate this to ways in which they could save energy while carrying out their daily jobs. We conducted store audits to highlight practical ways of saving energy, to then create an engagement program focused on saving energy and carbon.”

A “cascade” training program was delivered to more than 100,000 employees in two months. Michelle Walker briefed seven trainers, who then delivered 40 sessions to 368 deputy store general managers, who were nominated as energy champions.

The energy champions trained the site’s management team, who then trained their teams, enabling colleagues to relate energy saving directly to their role.

“Energy saving quickly became part of our culture,” said Michelle Walker. “Refrigerator doors were not left open, ovens and packaging equipment were switched off when not in use and taps were not left running.”

Roger Owen, group property director, said: “I have witnessed how the training initiative has positively affected our business. Being efficient and not wasteful is instilled in our culture and have become integral to the way we do business.”

Meanwhile, pharmacies at UK supermarket chain Tesco are offering their customers a more personalized service following the introduction of a staff-training scheme.

Tesco’s pharmacy-training manager, Karen Marsden, said that in a crowded market, gaining customer trust and loyalty through training was essential and excellent training was vital. “Pharmacy assistants are often the first point of customer contact,” she said.

There are 2,400 pharmacy assistants in 250 Tesco pharmacies. Know Your Stuff on Pharmacy targets new employees but is also used to refresh the knowledge of other staff.

Claire Whitehead, pharmacy manager at Tesco Haslingden, Lancashire, said: “Our pharmacy assistants have come on leaps and bounds with the new program. Their knowledge is much better; they are enthused by the training, are more confident and provide better customer service.”

In a third supermarket initiative, Lincolnshire Co-operative is trying to reduce under-age drinking by training its staff to sell alcohol responsibly.

“In an era where under-age drinking is in the headlines daily, the pressure is mounting on retailers to become responsible businesses,” said Sara Barrett, learning and development manager.

This was the driving force behind the delivery to retail staff of the BIIAB Level 1 award in responsible alcohol retailing. Before delivery of the award, only informal on-the-job training was in place for staff selling alcohol in the co-operative’s 69 food stores.

Lincolnshire Co-operative applied to be an approved BIIAB center, and undertook a rigorous process to be able to deliver and award the qualification in-house. The food division committed itself to undertake the award as a mandatory part of staff induction.

The BIIAB award in responsible alcohol retailing was developed to meet training requirements in demonstrating a commitment to responsible alcohol retailing and due diligence. The qualification provides knowledge and understanding of the responsibilities of retailers authorised by a personal licence-holder to sell alcohol.

Chris Cocking, Lincolnshire Co-operative’s senior area manager, who leads the society’s efforts to maintain high standards in licensed retailing, said: “We take very seriously the concerns over the detrimental effect under-age drinking can have on communities. At the same time, we are keen to ensure that those who value the convenience of being able to buy alcohol legally from our stores continue to do so. That is why we attach such a high priority to staff training.”

Heather Lee, head of people and performance, said: “Our learning and development team has recently been graded outstanding. This shows that, as a center, we have first-class quality procedures, communication and administrative systems in place. In our recent ethical-standards survey, a number of members said they really appreciated the contribution we are making to tackle the social problem of under-age drinking in our communities.”

The Wm Morrison, Tesco and Lincolnshire Co-operative initiatives were honoured in the National Training Awards.