Lloydspharmacy launches +ONE training programme
Lloydspharmacy has announced the launch of its largest ever staff training programme this month which includes a specially created initiative for supervisor level retail staff.
The pharmacy said the +ONE programme aims to drive up retail standards and customer experience in store, and will see 1,500 supervisors and 50 operational support managers attend two-day workshops in July. This will be followed by ‘train the trainer’ workshops for the operational support managers to provide sustainability in the programme. Together these mark the start of a ten-week course on retail and customer experience skills.
Supervisors will go on to train over 12,000 store staff themselves in locations across the UK. Skills covered will include listening techniques, ways to better assess customer need through questioning, and meeting customer needs through sales and coaching. Over 3,200 pharmacists and pharmacy managers will receive an abbreviated version of the training, meaning almost 4,800 employees will receive ‘off the job’ training, out of store.
Barbara Sutherland, head of capability at Lloydspharmacy, said: “This training will help enhance the customer experience in our stores by giving supervisors, one of the most important groups of people in our business a clear idea of the standard of service we expect, as well as the coaching skills to be able to ensure this is delivered to our customers. Our staff are fantastic healthcare experts, but we need to ensure they have the skills to be fantastic retailers as well. With a wide range of offers, giving them the best product knowledge is key, and our supervisors are the best people to make this happen.”
The programme has been designed with input from Area Managers in the business, and is sponsored at Board level by managing director Tony Page.
Tony Page, managing director of Lloydspharmacy, commented: “At a time when local communities are losing some of their recognised and more familiar stores we are investing in our people; increasing our efforts to get closer to the communities we serve.
“It’s important to us that our service is personal. Every customer that comes into a community pharmacy has different needs and requirements, and may not be aware of the full range of product and services they can access in a pharmacy or indeed the benefits that these have for them. They have to be treated as individuals and supervisors are a critical part of our team to deliver this.”
Lloydspharmacy has over 1650 pharmacies across the UK. The company employs over 17,000 staff and dispenses over 156 million prescription items annually.
