The Starbucks Business School
Posted 14 March 2008 at 8:27AM by Hannah Gilchrist in Investment and finance
Ever wished that there were more hours in the day to train your staff? Then why not take a leaf out of the Starbucks business book and shut up shop for a few hours.
For three hours on a Tuesday afternoon in February Starbucks stores across the US closed their doors for what they described as a mass training session. But does staff training make for a better bottom line in the long-run, or should businesses be more focused on their short-term earning power?
Many businesses believe that the key to improving your bottom line is training and educating your staff, both on the products they sell and the way they sell them. Estimates suggest that the UK is spending about £4.5 billion a year on training, with many interviewees enquiring about staff courses from day one. But even the most highly trained worker can still have their off-days, weeks or even months.
So the question remains. Starbucks may be doing the right thing by their staff, but are they doing the right thing for the business by letting customers know that the sides are slipping? The old saying goes that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but where does that leave your staff and your business? Is it really worth spending time training up staff that may only stay for a few months?
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice, learning, training
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Comments
2. At March 14, 2008 10:38 AM, Dee L Suss wrote:
I don't quite understand how having a training day could be construed as letting the sides slip. If anything I'd see this as a PR exercise in letting their customers know how much they train their staff.It's not like it was really necessary to shut their stores for a training day.
3. At March 14, 2008 12:15 PM, J G Dawson wrote:
Much of this makes good sense - but I believe potential staff should first learn all they can about a business before applying for a job - much in the same way as an author has to learn about a publishers taste in stories before submitting their work. In my opinion, the employer is doing the employee the favour not the other way round - So, in my experience, a touch of employee self-motivation wouldn't at times go amiss...
4. At March 14, 2008 12:58 PM, Ade wrote:
Whilst its true that training staff does take time and money, and if your staff turnover rate is high, it may sometimes seem like a waste of time, however, what is the cost to your business if your untrained personnel lose you customers as a result of their failings (or your failings, for not providing them with adequate training)? Afterall at the end of the day, when they do leave what keeps your business going is a good client base. It would not bode well for a business if you lose both employees and customers along with them.
You do not need to spend endless sums of money to provide basic training on customer service, product knowledge, etc., and it can only do a business good.
5. At March 14, 2008 12:58 PM, Liam Wilber wrote:
In reference to J G Dawson and his comment, I could not agree more!
Companies may get lucky with training, as one of the hopefull trainee's actually may end up contributing ideas which could make the company more money, increased profits, and you never know, improve the way in which it run's it's buisness.
6. At March 14, 2008 2:49 PM, James wrote:
So what if some staff leave after being trained? Others won't leave and will contribute handsomely to the enterprise as a result of the training investment.
People generally leave people rather than the job, so if there's a good work atmosphere then staff churn is less likely.
7. At March 14, 2008 3:21 PM, David Nicholson wrote:
Training is vitally important - BUT - from a customers point of view there is nothing more annoying than turning up at a shop/bank/cafe/office only to find that it is "closed for staff training". Staff training should be done OUTSIDE of normal office/opening hours.
It is NOT in the customers best interest to find the organisation closed for training. The customer should ALWAYS come first, and that means being open during normal opening hours, and doing staff training at OTHER times!
8. At March 14, 2008 4:10 PM, Ade wrote:
David Nicholson, the customer is coming first when staff are being trained! It is done to improve service delivery to the customer, amongst other reasons.
Surely you would not die if you could not get coffee when you want it 3 hours out of 720 in a month?
Staff training should be part of the perks of a job, why should it be carried out out-of-hours? The staff also have a life outside of their jobs, and should not have to give up some of this valuable time for something that can be done during their standard work hours. Its bad enough now working the way we do and having a culture that greys out the line between work and life (family, rest, leisure), without having to undergo extra training on PERSONAL time.
Leave work, at work.... or at least as much as you can.
9. At March 15, 2008 9:25 AM, jon wrote:
How hard is it to make coffee?
10. At March 15, 2008 3:10 PM, Tanvir wrote:
It's not just Coffee they sell jon. I love their caramel hot chocolate.. yummy.. Let's hope they make it better next time I'm there. May be a bit more drizzle on top :)
11. At March 15, 2008 4:13 PM, boon wrote:
I agree with Jon how hard is it to make coffee? Cant thik of a reason any sort of advertising would make me want to go get coffee, specifically starbucks. They have a brilliant business plan and simple too - they supply what is in demand.
12. At March 17, 2008 8:07 AM, Scott Speight wrote:
The biggest problem with mass training is that while you do that, the customers might go to your rival for their daily "fix" and could cost you the customer. Rather, train the staff at quiet times and including the customer is not always bad - we did this in a pub and the "regulars" rather enjoyed telling them how to pull a perfect pint! Also allows the customer to point out things that annoy them and so can improve customer relations - just don't try it with a customer in a rush though!
13. At March 17, 2008 9:22 PM, Kate Day wrote:
We were in New York the day the training took place, there was a real buzz with the staff prior to the training - they felt valued. Customers were offered free standard coffee in the store we were in whilst the staff were off training. The next day the staff said it was great, they were very enthusiastic about the training and said it reminded them of the levels of service required and standards of delivery they should aim for/achieve.
14. At March 18, 2008 3:15 PM, Pat wrote:
Well I think Kate's comment says a lot - look at how the staff felt, and clearly it was handled in such a way that customers still felt valued.
Personally I can deal with places being closed for training, and ...
"The staff also have a life outside of their jobs, and should not have to give up some of this valuable time for something that can be done during their standard work hours."
Quoted for truth.
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1. At March 14, 2008 10:22 AM, Catherine wrote: