B1 (Websoft HCM (formerly WebTutor))

2023: Quick training, no regulations and standards - is that possible? Provides training for the entire B1 store job line (First Choice)

Magnit is one of the leading retail chains in Russia in terms of the number of stores and their geography. The company is constantly developing and launching new formats: kiosks, small stores with an emphasis on the cafe zone, soft discounters stores with a limited number of products presented.

In 2023, the company launched hard discounter stores "First Choice or" B1. " We will tell you how we managed to organize training for the entire line of positions of stores of the new retail format.

Training Project Task

Build from scratch an ecosystem of training and adaptation of employees of a new store format:

• in the absence of regulatory materials and work standards,
• in a short time,
• with ambitious plans for discoveries.

Limitations faced by:

• disparate information on various resources (Teams, instant messengers, network folders, mail),
• training is needed "yesterday,"
• no personal computers.

Such a task is very different from those that are usually solved in the company: the organization of training has to be done in a startup, when all technologies are worked out first in the format of hypotheses and are immediately corrected.

Solving the problem required a different approach both in terms of automation and in terms of the overall construction of the training system.

Target audience

• Director;
• Administrator;
• Seller;
• External employees (outstaff).

Project Concept - "Nothing Superfluous"

• Simple entry into the company (onboarding);
• Rapid adaptation;
• One information space;
• Minimum theory, maximum practice (20/80);
• Availability of training through mobile devices;
• 0 resources for external personnel training.

Stages of work

1. Detailed Inquiry Study

• For whom training is positions, the number of employees in stores;
• Adaptation time;
• Technical capabilities and features;
• Geography;
• Discovery schedule.

2. Research

• Interviews with working employees;
• Monitoring their work;
• "Fitting" standards and regulations from other store formats.

3. Content development

• Content for a mobile application - longrides, videos, memos;
• Up to 40 minutes to study the topic.

4. Testing

• Checking the health of content items;
• Collect feedback, make adjustments.

5. Automation

• Set up the assignment of programs to employees.

Duration of development and automation: 2.5 months. The project was implemented by a team of 10 full-time employees of the company.

Program Content

source = "WebSoft Development"

Example of the Director's program:

Onboarding/Preboarding

• Organizational issues;
• All about the stages of training and practice.

First stage. Training

• 6 topics;
• 40 content items - courses, videos, memos;
• Practice with a mentor in an active store;
• The theory is given through a mobile application.

Duration: 7 days.

Here the employee studies the key topics - those that are needed here and now, the basic ones for working in the store: acceptance of goods, calculation, work with price tags, work at the checkout, own production.

All novice processes take place together with the director-mentor.

Second stage. Store launch

• 3 topics;
• 16 content items;
• Preparing the store to open.

Duration: 10 days.

Here the new director is assisted by the launching director (the company has such a position). Together they check the launch plan of the store, accept and check the assembly of equipment, organize the acceptance of goods, the distribution of all products in the store.

At this stage, the training has materials on soft skills: how to hold a meeting with staff, how to distribute tasks for the day, how to conduct an interview, how to choose an employee for your team.

Third stage. Workplace training

• Main work in the store.

Duration: within 30 days of the store opening.

The director begins to study the topics that he will need in the future. These are mainly sales work, performance reports, loss work, and the formation of a plan to improve performance.

Support tools throughout the program:

• Diary of the director;
• Mentor memo.

source = "WebSoft Development"

A different approach was used to train external employees: they developed a telegram bot. It contains basic information, distinctive features of the hard discounter technology:

• About the store;
• What to wear;
• Unloading;
• Calculation;
• Price tags;
• Tara and recyclables;
• Baking.

source = "WebSoft Development"

Changes in processes occur quite often, so the team has employees who allocate part of their time not to develop a new material, but to make changes to existing materials.

First results

The program is assigned to:

• 27 directors;
• 43 to administrators;
• 44 sellers.

Average test result based on internship results:

• 94% - directors;
• 93% - administrators;
• 91% are sellers.

Technical insights

• A direct link without SCORM and placement in RES allows employees to study the required material in advance.
• Store employees participated in the content development process - partially filmed videos and photos themselves. The value of the content did not decrease.
• Telegram bot saves time and resources of full-time employees.

Methodological insights

• First, hard skills. No long introductory. We only give what the employee will apply in the next two weeks. Everything else - then.
• You can teach without standards. The absence of the described standards and regulations is not an obstacle to the creation of training programs. Training can be a complete replacement for regulations.
• You can learn during the development of the program. It is not necessary to start training only after the end of the full development cycle - you can provide content with subtopics, adjust and supplement it already in the process of application.