Retail Revival: Do you need a mentorship program?

Whether it’s called employee training, onboarding or mentorship, most businesses need a way to bring new employees up to speed.

What these programs look like — and how long they last — varies from business to business, but one thing is constant: The goals and guidelines need to be well-defined and communicated to ensure success.

For garden centers, new employees need to be brought up to speed in several areas. There are the basic logistical details, like where to park or where to store your coats and lunch.

New hires also need to know where to find the markers, flagging tape and other necessary tools; the company procedure for unloading trucks; and explanations on displaying and caring for plants. Perhaps most importantly, the procedures and values for good customer service should be made clear and modeled.

Many businesses prefer to keep things casual, saying that they’ll assign new hires to shadow or work with an experienced employee.

Even with this approach, however, it’s good to have some of the onboarding process clearly laid out by management. When it’s left to various staff members, new hires are likely to miss out on some key information.

The first day

The first day on the job can be so jam-packed with information that a new employee isn’t likely to retain it all. It’s to everyone’s benefit then that in addition to showing the new hire around, give them an information sheet or employee handbook that lists all the basics.

It should include where and how to clock into work, the length of breaks and lunch periods, and the company dress code. Does the company provide cold or wet weather gear? Where should purses, lunch coolers or other items be left?

Beyond the personal, this guide should lay out sales policies. How does a list of nursery items sold get rung or written up? Are customers allowed to load plants into their truck or car in the yard? Where can staff find the SKU or inventory name to convey that to the cashiers?

Having the procedures for sales clearly written not only brings the new employee to be up to speed quickly, but it gives them the language to use with possibly difficult customers: "I’m sorry, sir, but you can’t put that in your trunk before it's been paid for. I'm new here, but that is clearly written in my employee handbook, and you don’t want me to get in trouble with my boss, right?"

The handbook should also outline the basics of plant care. Many new employees come to a garden center because they love horticulture, but how plants are cared for at home is far different from their treatment in a garden center.

New staff may be used to watering dry plants with a watering can, but doing that in an annual or perennial section with thousands of pots is inefficient.

I remember many years ago at my garden center, when a new employee was told to pot up some liners of perennials into 1-gallon pots. When I checked on her progress, I saw that she was lining the bottom of each pot with paper towels to cover the drainage holes, because "that’s how my mother told me to do it."

Mentors and shadowing

In addition to an information sheet or handbook, nothing beats on-the-job training with someone experienced. Management may want to give the mentor a reminder list of what they are expected to demonstrate to the new employee.

In addition to showing how customers are greeted, explaining inventory management is a requirement. Unlike stores where the merchandise usually remains intact until a sale, a garden center stocks living things, and a percentage of them don’t remain saleable. New hires need to know which plants can’t be sold, where they are put for composting and how that inventory is recorded.

It can be helpful for new staff to shadow one experienced employee the first week, and another the second week. Even when everyone is on the same page about practices and procedures, there will be something unique to learn from every mentor.

The more direct connections and relationships that are fostered among staff members, the better the teamwork.

Who's who?

Print or post a staff directory for new staff members with a current picture of all employees, their title and what they are responsible for. A newbie needs to know who to call if the electric cart breaks down, who to contact if they forgot to punch in, how to report an injury and who will help if a customer is out of line or in distress.

These directories can be a part of a company handbook, put in a notebook in the employee break room or posted as a chart by the timeclock.

With a combination of printed material, first day onboarding by the personnel manager and shadowing experienced employees, the entire company mentors its new hires.

C.L. Fornari is a speaker, writer and radio/podcast host who has worked at Hyannis Country Garden, an IGC on Cape Cod, for nearly 30 years. She has her audiences convinced that C.L. stands for “Compost Lover.” Learn more at GardenLady.com.