Memorandum

To: Hugo Levi, Chief Operations Officer

From: Daniel Day Lewis, Human Resources Manager

Date: 15th June 2020

RE: Designing an Employee Performance and Evaluation Process at Stop and Shop

Current Situation

The purpose of this report is to detail the development of a cashier’s performance evaluation and review process and the program training. The Stop and Shop chain of supermarkets focus on retail trade in essential and non-essential goods. The company functions best due to the presence of cashiers, who help with profit realization. Various managers are in charge of the various store departments. The cashier head brings together the efforts of its departmental staff. This department is said to be the greatest contributor to the store’s profit-making abilities, but it is also said to be the greatest contributor of inefficiencies (Nicasio). Shoppers have previously given feedback in light of cashier inabilities to link customers’ previous and current purchases, enjoying a lot of discounts, unfriendliness, and inability to handle angry customers. The overall store manager has gathered that store line managers are encouraging such risks through disengagement and lack of engagement with cashiers on these matters. The store has not conducted an evaluation before due to non-issues in some basic goal realizations.

Description Of The Problem

The cashier is responsible for customer service in form of greeting, friendliness, cross-selling, and handling customer issues; money handling; store front maintenance; refund issuance; and product stocking. From the current situation, the cashiers have been identified to be inefficiently trained. Store line managers are only trained once they join the organization. With such little training, cashiers are bound to blander on sensitive matters (Lisa). These are grave matters for the store. With the annual acquisition of little training, some store managers are promoted to higher positions, only to drag their past mistakes forward so that issues grow and the store continues to feel this impact. Performance evaluation informs on the level of training.

Cashier Training Vision

Stop and Shop will adorn a whole, new look when the training is complete. The cashiers and store line managers will be able to effectively and efficiently conduct store business. Cashiers will better handle customer complaints, link customers’ previous and current purchases for better customer details, and provide just the right amount of discounts to balance store profitability and customer satisfaction. The cashiers will have greater confidence in their skill set. With this, head cashiers will be training subordinate cashiers for their good. They will be able to grow in leadership, thus making them more prepared for bigger roles around the various stores. These efforts will then result in greater efficiencies and effectiveness, with greater product and service quality.

Training Program Goals

In light of the store’s vision, cashiers will be expected to meet three goals after training completion:

40% reduction in customer handling complaints 3 months after training completion.

50% improvement in linkage of customers’ previous and current purchases 4 months after completion of training.

45% improvement in balance between customer purchases and discounts given 3.5 months after completion of training.

The cashiers will meet the detailed goals, with assistance from the set deadlines. With proper evaluation and training, cashiers will have a better understanding of customer needs, thus reducing the customer complaints. The cashiers will have a better grasp of the POS system (Nicasio). This will result in an efficient reconciliation of previous and current customer purchases. Lastly, cashiers will have a better grasp of store goals and objectives, as well as customer needs, thus better handling effective decision making in offering discounts for the benefit of both parties.

Performance Evaluation Review Process

Performance evaluation and review will take a three-way approach. First, the cashier’s skills will be gauged using a checklist scale. The skills under consideration are attention to detail, knowledge of products and the POS system, effective handling of pressure, effective and creative in problem solving, takes initiative and good grasp of store goals and objectives (Verma). The store line managers will need to understand individual cashiers in consideration of these qualities:

The attention to detail aspect – the cashier’s keenness on products, amounts, pricing, and customer needs.

Product knowledge – details the cashier’s ability to understand the store products, use, their pricing, and aisle location.

POS knowledge – details the cashier’s understanding of the POS hardware and software, its functioning, and use in meeting customer needs.

Pressure handling – the cashier is able to remain composed in high pressure situations and even solve pending issues.

Effectiveness and creativity in problem solving – cashier is able to come up with ways of deals with issues effectively and efficiently.

Takes initiative – takes charge of situations effectively.

Good grasp of store goals and objectives – cashier has a good understanding of store expectations and aligns their own goals and customer goals to them.

With this, the managers will be able to understand how best to improve the cashiers’ grasp of these qualities and how to slowly equip them some more.

Qualities Yes No

Keen attention to detail Good knowledge of store products Good grasp of POS system Effective handling of pressure Effectiveness and creativity in problem solving Takes initiative Good grasp of store goals and objectives Table 1: Individual Cashier Qualities

Source: Verma

The cashiers’ effectiveness working in groups will look at issue management, teamwork, problem solving, and effectiveness of communication (Yatin). Managers will be responsible for identifying these qualities:

Issue management – cashier effectively handles group issues.

Problem solving – cashier is able to come up with solutions to group problems.

Communication effectiveness – cashier communicates clearly in group forums.

Teamwork – cashier works well in teams.

The managers get to make decisions about the cashiers’ need for greater group interactions and improvement of their attitude.

Qualities Yes No

Effectiveness in management of issues Great teamwork Effective problem solving capabilities Effectiveness in communication Table 2: Cashier Group Qualities

Source: Yatin

Lastly, the cashier’s interaction with the other departments in light of their influence in their understanding of store products and services is an important aspect (Campbell). Ensuring a good understanding of the various departments, the managers will have improved store management with better departmental interactions.

Store Departments/Good Grasp Yes No

Grocery Meat Fresh Produce Dairy Health and Beauty Frozen Foods Seafood Deli Beer and Wine Front End Table 3: Store Departments, Shop and Stop

Source: Campbell

This process will take a week. Training will take place a month later.

The Recommended Model Training plan

Given the busyness of the Stop and Shop store, cashier manager training will occur for a month, thrice a week, that is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The store managers will have undergone training 4 months prior to the cashiers’ managers’ training. Other departmental staff will have undergone training in preceding months or months after the cashier managers’ training. The cashier managers are in need of the intense training to help improve their interactions with customers, have a better store policy understanding, and a better POS system understanding, which is what the training seeks to achieve while instilling new skills and information. Store managers will give lectures, power points, discussions, role playing and handouts for a better understanding of the training (Ross). This will help give the cashier managers better understanding and opportunities to grow. The individual, group, and organizational levels will be catered to in different settings and with a greater interaction with the rest of the staff during the first to the third week. The training will cater to assessments, questions and answers during the final week and short tests during prior weeks. The cashier managers will receive short assessments tests, short essay questions, and role plays to gauge their understanding, with creation of opportunities to ask and respond to cashier manager questions. Multiple choice questions will describe the tests, longer questions for the essays, and acting out cashier management roles in role playing.

Stage Theme Time Topic Objectives Learning Assessment

1 Introduction Week 1:

Monday: 1-3 p.m.

Week 2:

Monday: 1-3 p.m.

Week 3:

Monday: 1-3 p.m. Introduction to introductions between customers and cashiers

Introduction to understanding of store system Importance of skill application in customer interactions and running of store business. Lectures

PowerPoint

Discussions Short

2 Individual Week 1:

Monday: 3-4 p.m.

Wednesday: 1-4 p.m.

Friday: 1-4 p.m. On an individual level:

Improvement in customer interaction

Better understanding of store policy

Better POS system understanding

Application of skills and technical knowhow at the workplace – with customers, the store, and the system. Lectures

Handouts

Discussions

PowerPoint

Role playing Short essay questions

Role plays

3 Group Week 1:

Monday: 3-4 p.m.

Wednesday: 1-4 p.m.

Friday: 1-4 p.m. How various group interactions contribute to better customer interactions and general services Teamwork skill and technical knowhow application in running the store business Lectures

Handouts

Discussions

PowerPoint

Role playing Short essay questions

Role plays

4 Organization Week 1:

Monday: 3-4 p.m.

Wednesday: 1-4 p.m.

Friday: 1-4 p.m. Overall contribution of organization to better customer interactions Combination of skills for the overall good of the company Lectures

Handouts

Discussions

PowerPoint

Role playing Short essay questions

Role plays

5 Conclusion Week 4:

Monday: 1-4 p.m.

Wednesday: 1-4 p.m.

Friday: 1-4 p.m. Assessments

Q&A sessions To gauge the level of understanding of trainees Role playing Short multiple choice questions/tests

Short essay questions

Role plays

Evaluation Of Training Program Effectiveness

The cashier managers’ training will be conducted with regard to their reaction, learning, behavior, and results. Their understanding and takeaways will be considered during and after training. Cashier managers will be assessed during and after training through tests and feedback. The store managers will be checked against key performance indicators, issued questionnaires, and customer surveys. Cashier managers will be further gauged against improvement in customer handling, better understanding of POS system, and a better reconciliation of customer purchases and discounts. Cashier managers, in the end, will be expected to be more relaxed, have productivity increase, increased morale, higher customer satisfaction results, and more store efficiencies. Post-training assessments are effective too.

Conclusions

From the evaluation and training, Shop and Stop can identify two insights learned. First, more frequent trainings give better results in terms of customer satisfaction, improved product and service quality, and better staff satisfaction. Second, the organization ought to be designed like a network so that staff has a connection to each part of the organization for the growth and better results for the company with a deeper understanding of the store goals and objectives.

Works Cited

Campbell, Jeff. “What are the Different Positions in a Supermarket?” The Grocery Store Guy, 2020, https://thegrocerystoreguy.com/what-are-the-different-positions-in-a-supermarket/. Accessed 15 June 2020.

Lisa. “Responsibilities and Duties of a Retail Cashier.” ToughNickel, 2012, https://toughnickel.com/industries/How-to-Cashier. Accessed 15 June 2020.

Nicasio, Francesca. “The Retailer’s Guide to Cashier Training: Getting People up to Speed with Your POS.” Vend, 17 April 2018, https://www.vendhq.com/blog/cashier-and-pos-training/. Accessed 15 June 2020.

Pawar, Yatin. “8 performance appraisal methods you should be aware of. Upraise, 9 Aug. 2017, https://upraise.io/blog/types-performance-appraisal/. Accessed 15 June 2020.

Ross, Stanley C. Training and Development in Organizations: An Essential Guide for Trainers. Routledge, 2018.

Verma, Eshna. “How To Measure The Effectiveness Of Corporate Training.” Simplilearn, 28 May 2020, https://www.simplilearn.com/how-to-measure-effectiveness-corporate-training-article. Accessed 15 June 2020.

Appendix

Table 1: Individual cashier qualities

Table 2: Cashier group qualities

Table 3: Store Departments, Shop and Stop