Foot Locker discovers the power of communicating directly with 40k+ team members
Foot Locker Inc鈥檚 44,000 team members don鈥檛 have corporate email addresses, so HQ traditionally sent updates via email to each store with the direction that store managers would relay important information to their teams through huddles or postings in the back room. But they had no way of tracking who was or wasn鈥檛 seeing key messages.
鈥淗Q would communicate to the Regional Vice Presidents, who would then send the communication out to their group or district managers, who would then communicate the information down to a group of store managers,鈥 says Dennis Gjaltema, Sr. Manager, L&D – EMEA, Foot Locker. 鈥淏ut a lot of things would get lost in translation or not reach the entire population we wanted to. So, we were really happy with the communication abilities in 羞羞视频.鈥
The leadership team at Foot Locker quickly bought into 羞羞视频 as the perfect modern approach to training their frontline team members, but the communications piece was more of a light bulb moment during their first demo of the solution. While the leadership team was excited about the possibility of sending messages out directly to each team member through the platform, the mood shifted from anticipatory to mission critical thanks to an unexpected event.
鈥淲hen COVID-19 hit we had tens of thousands of team members who went to work one day and the next day the stores were completely shut down. The communication functionality became a lifeline for us,鈥 says Lauren Hayes, Head of Global Learning at Foot Locker.鈥淲e鈥檝e often said, 鈥榃hat would we have done to keep team members engaged and updated without being able to reach them on their mobile devices through 羞羞视频?鈥欌
Hayes admits that they most likely would have been relying on store managers to send out mass texts to their teams to provide important updates. Instead, Foot Locker鈥檚 leaders were able to get quick, consistent messages out around staying safe and healthy to keep a sense of community going.
鈥淲e increased our video training on COVID-related topics like how to wash your hands, how to be mindful about bacteria and germs and how to put on and take off a face mask,鈥 says Gjaltema. 鈥淥ur team members really appreciated the focus we were putting on their health and safety.鈥
District managers were also using 羞羞视频鈥 or Lace Up as they brand it internally at Foot Locker鈥攖o send messages of encouragement to their teams.
鈥淲e looked for creative ways to keep the teams engaged, like creating a rapid-fire video series focused on getting to know our leaders, asking them questions like, 鈥榃hat are you binge-watching right now?鈥 and 鈥榃ho would be your dream dinner guests?鈥欌 says Hayes. 鈥淒uring such a scary, uncertain time it was a critical way for us to keep the team feeling engaged and connected.鈥
One thing that made reaching their teams simple during the pandemic was having a BYOD (bring your own device) option for training. When employees are in store, they also have the option of completing training on a desktop computer, but 93% of Foot Locker employees in North America still choose to do their daily training on their own devices (the number is even higher in EMEA, with 97% training on their mobile devices). To comply with requirements of Foot Locker鈥檚 legal team, users simply sign off on the Terms of Agreement each time they log in to train on their own devices, which clearly outlines that all training must be completed during working hours.
鈥淭he philosophy is the same globally,鈥 says Gjaltema. 鈥淲e make time for team members to Lace Up right before their shift starts and that is our only expectation of when they鈥檒l train. And it takes less than five minutes, so it does not cut into productivity at all.鈥
The Foot Locker leadership team continues to use the communication functionality in Lace Up regularly, whether to speak out on world events that may be impacting team members, recognize team members鈥 accomplishments, share holiday-themed messages, or focus on diversity, inclusion and belonging.
鈥淲hether it鈥檚 acknowledging events that are happening across the country, or even the world鈥攐ur goal with communication is staying connected to our team members and building a culture where they feel they truly belong,鈥 says Hayes. 鈥淲e want them to understand that when they come to work every day, it鈥檚 not just a job; they鈥檙e part of the Foot Locker family.鈥
Read Foot Locker鈥檚 training transformation story
COMMUNICATION and BYOD
Foot Locker鈥檚 mobile-first approach to training drives the team member behaviors that keep customers smiling
Read chapter 1PROACTIVE PARTNERSHIP
Proactive partnership helps Foot Locker continue improving their training experience
Read chapter 4