* Flexible learning at Pep Boys
Last week, we talked about Cingular Wireless providing training to its retail store workforce via terminals located at the stores. Today, we look at how Pep Boys provides its 19,200 retail associates with flexible training using terminals at its stores that also serve as point-of-sale systems.
The auto supplies retailer has been providing computer-based training to its store employees for the past three years. This training includes such things as orientation and dress code. It initially had one terminal at each of its 593 stores.
Since July 2004, Pep Boys of Philadelphia, Penn., has been rolling out new POS hardware and software at its stores and it has been using the POS systems as training platforms to educate users on how to use the systems as well as for other training. The POS systems are linked to Pep Boys’ intranet-based learning management system called Learning Central, where employees can access training modules that take 10, 20 or an hour to complete.
Employees also use the POS terminals to train on how to use the actual machine. Three simulation-based POS training modules guide users on how to use the system and also serve up reminders to greet customers and to thank them.
“The last time a new POS system was launched, we flipped the switch and sent out manuals. Over the years, however, we have grown sensitive to the pain this causes our customers as well as our associates,” says Jenny Berkley, Pep Boys training manager. “What’s the best way to make changes with minimal disruption? Through a blended training solution – as efficient but comprehensive as you can make it.”
Pep Boys now has 100-plus courses available on Learning Central, which was developed and is hosted by DScape International of Hope, N.J. The system has a bookmarking feature so that employees can take courses during quiet moments at the store and then hop off to help customers and resume when they are free by logging back on to the system. Employees can take training from any of the five or nine terminals that each store may have. In addition to orientation and dress code training, courses include retail product knowledge and management training.
Berkley says: “When an associate logs on, they see a development map that shows the courses they’re supposed to take online and a schedule. The learning management system also includes a job aid and a certification quiz, which is a summary of the knowledge associates must acquire to be considered for promotion.”
Berkley says Pep Boys has added personal development capabilities to its learning management system, which provides a dynamic development map that’s personalized to the associate’s job title and offers job aids to guide associates as they practice new skills.
