We’re excited to announce that TiER1 Performance and Kroger recently won two Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Human Capital Management Awards for two separate collaborative projects: Gold for Best Advance for Leading Under a Crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic and Silver for Best New Hire Onboarding Program for “A Fresh Welcome: Kroger’s Onboarding Transformation.”
“This recognition is testament to the passion and commitment of our teams who came together to deliver fresh approaches and much-needed support for our associates during an incredibly challenging year. That’s what it means to Feed the Human Spirit,” says Kroger’s Senior Director of Training and Onboarding Senchal Murphy.
Empowering Kroger with resources to lead through crisis
In March 2020, COVID-19 forced non-essential businesses to temporarily close and required essential retailers like Kroger to adapt their business model to safely serve community members and protect associates. At the start of the pandemic, Kroger identified four overarching leadership goals: safeguard customers and support associates’ physical and emotional well-being, ensure stores remain open and stocked, equip people leaders to lead effectively during crisis, and be a thought leader for the community and for other organizations responding to the pandemic.
Our consultants partnered with the Kroger team to create several resources on Leading in a Time of Crisis that spring, including five 2-minute videos and two handouts. These resources were shared with all people leaders across the organization to help them lead through the COVID-19 crisis. The videos were intended to demystify how strong leaders lead others through crisis and included clips of various levels of Kroger leaders sharing how they have struggled with and developed critical behaviors during tough times. Meanwhile, the handouts offered tips on how to lead appropriately despite the stress leaders are facing, including communicating in crisis times; managing with grace even when it’s difficult; and advice for slowing down, being thoughtful, and making good decisions. These assets helped Kroger leaders recognize their own leadership styles and norms and to develop their emotional intelligence muscles so they could continue to lead the company in a positive direction.
Partnering to transform Kroger’s onboarding program
In November 2020, Kroger’s Training and Onboarding team embarked on a journey to redesign onboarding and create a baseline experience for all Kroger associates. Kroger wanted to execute onboarding more consistently across the enterprise and with varying degrees of personalization to help mitigate associate turnover within someone’s first 30 days in the role. Collaborating with consulting partner TiER1 Performance, the vision was twofold:
- To create a program that was deeply aligned to the associate experience and Kroger’s employer brand
- To design the onboarding experience with both the new hire and Hiring Manager perspectives in mind
Together, we created an enterprise onboarding solution, A Fresh Welcome, which now drives a consistent and meaningful new associate experience. Using Performance Experience Design (PXD) methodology, the team designed a comprehensive onboarding experience for all new hires in which associates would get everything they needed to thrive. It was built on a foundation of establishing global “hallmark moments” that all new associates should experience regardless of where they are hired in the organization.
Using a preboarding site, new associates can now learn about the company and their role before they ever start working. Additionally, branded supporting resources including Welcome Emails; Onboarding Guides for Managers, Onboarding Buddies, and New Associates; Journey Maps; and a revamped Orientation experience were created to continue to ensure associates felt confident in their decision to join Kroger. Associate survey results after implementation of A Fresh Welcome exceeded the goal of 85% in the areas of Belonging, Ready for Success, and Leadership Connection, with even higher results for office associates.
Interested in learning more about how TiER1 partners with organizations like Kroger to activate their leadership development and onboarding strategies? Drop us a line below!
