How Apple Retains 90% of its Employees (Spoiler: It's Through Training)
Hello there ??
Welcome to the first ever edition of Training the Frontline - our shiny new newsletter created to give you even more expert insights into the world of frontline training, help you stay on top of the latest industry news, and gain exclusive access to upcoming events.
We're kicking off the newsletter with an update on recent frontline news, a deep dive into Apple's impressive employee retention strategy, and a look ahead to this year's Workday Rising in Stockholm.
Thanks for reading,
The eduMe Team
Frontline news ??
Deep dive ??: How does Apple retain its frontline workers so successfully?
Apple is a company with 510 retail stores and more than 137,000 employees in numerous countries across the world. Keeping such a large number of people happy and loyal may seem an impossible task.
Even more so in a world where voluntary employee turnover has?risen?year-on-year for the last decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But against these odds, Apple has managed to ensure that their large global workforce, which includes a dispersed legion of frontline employees at their retail stores, remain engaged and loyal.?
Not only did they see an?improvement?in employee retention rate from 61% to 89% in two years under Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores,?Angela Ahrendts, but they have consistently ranked in Glassdoor’s Top 100 Companies to Work For.?Google?and Apple are the only two companies to have ranked every year for the 11+ years the list has been published.
So, what's their secret?
Value your workers, and show them that they are valued.
“I don’t see them as retail employees. I see them as executives in the company who are touching the customers with the products that Jony [Ive] and the team took years to build. Somebody has to deliver it to the customer in a wonderful way.” - Angela Ahrendts
When Ahrendts started at Apple she spent her first 6 months?travelling?to 40 different markets and meeting employees. This was done in order to find out what was happening on the shop floor and?how employees felt?about existing processes. In other words, she was keeping a finger on the pulse of the workforce by seeking feedback.
Ahrendts also emphasises the importance of prioritizing the engagement of each individual in order to achieve the success of the whole, regardless of where they are working, or the seniority of their job.
Your people out on the frontlines, interacting with customers, are of no less value than those working behind the scenes, at HQ. If anything, ensuring frontline employees’ experience is optimised is more critical, as they are the public face of your brand, and their level of engagement, motivation and loyalty directly impacts your customers’ experience.
Communication is critical, but it’s knowledge that empowers. Engaging your people with relevant learning material that they receive at their point of need will supercharge their performance. It's ongoing, timely learning that is at the crux of building long lasting loyalty between employer and employee, i.e. turning your “devotees” into “disciples”.??
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Extra reading ??
How to Measure the ROI of Your Training
Proving the value of training to internal stakeholders is still a major challenge for learning and development teams. How can you demonstrate the need for training to help your organization meet its business goals, and find assurance that you're making the right investment for your team?
The answer is simple: by measuring the return on investment of your training. Find out how to do it in our latest blog.
The Costs and Consequences of Frontline Non-Compliance
Compliance can be a thorny issue for businesses across industries - frontline compliance, however, presents an even bigger challenge. 24% of organizations don't have a compliance training program in place and, among those that do, only 10% are able to apply that learning to daily operations.
Find out what non-compliance means for both frontline employers and employees in this recent blog.
Join the conversation ??
Heading to Workday Rising Europe this month? So are we!
eduMe is returning as an official partner sponsor at this year's conference in Stockholm, and our team will be there ready and waiting to discuss all things training with some of the world's biggest frontline employers.
Swing by Booth #319 to chat with Team eduMe, and be in with a chance of winning a brand new Apple Watch ??
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Spotted! Catch our very own Director of Sales, Travis Boyle , in this video with Skedulo - one of our many integration partners also serving the frontline ??
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Want even more insights into the world of frontline training? Head to edume.com for more free resources ??