candidates for certain skills and qualities before they’ re hired can help with employee retention.
“ Our recruiting process is designed to identify candidates who align with our company values and demonstrate a genuine interest in hospitality and customer service,” she says.“ We look to ensure each applicant understands the responsibilities of the role, and wants to be involved with their community. Key qualities we prioritize include enthusiasm, a team-oriented mindset and a desire for delivering great customer experiences.”
Preventing employee turnover not only reduces the need to train new hires, but it also helps ensure knowledgeable, reliable staff are there to help customers, deter shoplifting and keep the store running smoothly.
Taylor remains understanding of his employees’ lives at Half Time.“ Everybody has something going on in their personal life, and we try to be cognizant of that need and be flexible with them,” he says. That is his secret to employee retention.“ If our employees are in college, that comes first, so we’ re 100 % flexible with their work schedule. If they need time off, we’ ll figure it out,” Taylor says.“ That has allowed us to keep people for quite a while.”
Half Time specializes in selling a variety of beer, so it’ s crucial for new hires to know and learn about beer in order to help shoppers.
Taylor also likes to pat his employees on the back with small bonuses based on good performance or a good customer review.
“ I try to do little things like that, but in reality, long-term retention boils down to being accommodating with their schedule,” he says.“ At the end of the day, it’ s just beer. I have to sell product, but it won’ t kill me if I’ m short staffed.” •
HIRING AND TRAINING A WAREHOUSE TEAM
by KRYSTINA SKIBO
Having a competent staff running the warehouse is crucial for distributor success. These workers ensure all products are stocked on the shelves, packaged correctly, go to the right location and are safely put on the truck.
This is why it’ s important to have adequate hiring and training practices at your organization.
According to Terry Blachek, managing director at Franvest Capital Partners, the most important aspect of any hiring and training practice is being prepared.
“ It’ s one thing to be prepared with a uniform, name tag and paper, but you need to have a planned day-by-day checklist and program ready to train them,” he says.“ And not just the checklist, but even the material behind the checklist. Do you have a process ready to go? Think about how you’ ll train your staff to complete certain tasks.”
When putting your checklists and programs together, Ryan Johnson, co-founder and senior business advisor at Vivipins, has some tips for the suppliers, for lead times and for quality control:
• Safety training so nobody gets hurt
• Machine training such that tools are operated the right way
• Computer training for software and systems
• Culture training so the new recruits understand the“ why” of the work
“ When training is repeatable and consistent, workers learn faster and fewer mistakes occur,” Johnson says.“ That saves money and keeps operations running smoothly.”
Onboarding processes can vary considerably, but a common thread is that they should have practical elements, like those that Johnson describes.
Wendy Makinson, HR manager at Joloda Hydraroll, suggests other practical elements to cover, such as health and safety requirements, since warehouses are high risk environments.
“ Using machinery is often part of working in a warehouse environment,” she says.“ While hands-on training is undoubtedly necessary, we believe that formal, classroom training is equally important. This combination builds comprehensive knowledge and confidence.”
Safety training has similar requirements across any warehouse environment, according to Makinson. It must be robust, ongoing, interactive and updated as soon as new risks or processes arise.
“ It’ s also important to factor in refresher training and peer mentoring,” she suggests.“ None of us remember everything we are taught unless we are using that knowledge consistently. Refreshing and supporting our workers’ training ensures that best practice is consistently reinforced, and high standards are maintained.” Another important aspect of training is technology.“ At this point, even warehouse employees are expected to have some level of digital literacy, whether it is scanning inventory, operating handhelds or tracking hours,” says founder and CEO of PEO-Marketplace Guillermo Triana.
www. stateways. com Winter 2025 • StateWays 17