Without even realizing it, we are already in the third year of this decade, and it is clear to us that this new year will be far superior to the first two in terms of good results, for obvious reasons. Our grocery store sector has created and will continue to create thousands of jobs every day due to high demand and growth, especially in our Hispanic supermarket community, where openings are constant.
One of our objectives for this new year must undoubtedly be to invest in training for all our grocery store associates.
Right now, our main enemy is the organizations themselves due to the urgency of hiring and filling vacancies. The growing demand is causing that in the short or medium-term, we will have to assume a new profile change due to not having trained our professionals with sufficient skills. We see this situation in practically all areas of our daily operations, cashiers, butchers, bakers, stock clerks, aisle personnel, managers, etc.
I must make it clear that we are not blaming the Human Resources Departments of our grocery store chain. If there is one thing these professionals deserve, it is precisely great recognition for the enormous task they are performing despite the conditions described above.
In this case, the Human Resources Departments are one more “victim” of the “whirlwind” system and constant acceleration that we have assigned to them from the management of the companies.
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Let’s take advantage of the start of operations in 2022 to reflect and change course in our hiring and training policies for new professionals in our sector.
At the Hispanic Retail Chamber of Commerce, we are convinced that to work in the grocery store sector, it is essential that all our associates be trained in the skills and competencies to be developed to expand their work capacity and the possibility of growth within the same chain.
For this reason, we have launched a training and support program for all Hispanic retailers through the Hispanic Retail Academy (HRA).
The Hispanic Retail Academy was created in response to this great need to train our future associates and help our communities hire unemployed people with or without experience in our sector, providing them with the necessary knowledge to develop their designation in our stores ideally.
The HRA schedules training activities according to needs (opening new stores, training agreements, specialization in produce, job placement, etc.)
Obtaining HRA Certification allows our future grocery store associates to train, professionalize, and find employment by supermarket chains through the sizeable Hispanic Retail Jobs job bank.
In summary, an investment in training for our supermarket chains will bring tremendous benefits for our entire sector, the most important of which are the following.
- Lowering medical leave costs when we provide specific training on how to perform a particular task correctly and safely (eliminating accidents at work).
- Detection of obsolete tasks that reduce productivity, i.e., by incorporating new methods through training, we can eliminate manual tasks that facilitate the dynamism of the grocery store associate.
- Improve our stores’ image and corporate brand thanks to incorporating the business philosophy within the training program (Corporatization).