Hannaford Supermarkets Offers Cross-Training to Upskill its Associates

Today’s retail environment includes high levels of turnover; employees are looking to grow their careers in new ways. To adapt, many employers have used cross-training as a tool to support their teams’ ambitions, provide avenues for growth, and bolster their retention efforts.

Hannaford is a New England-based grocery retailer with over 180 stores and 29,000 associates. They strongly leverage cross-training and education benefits to support individuals, teams, and the organization.

Matthew Rothman, who leads early talent development at Hannaford Supermarkets, explains Hannaford’s approach to cross-training and its overall value. 

How would you describe your company’s approach to cross-training? Has it become more of a priority in recent years?

It is definitely a priority. We’re a retail grocery chain with hundreds of stores. Each of them has nine functioning departments and some have 300 associates. We use an automated scheduler that assigns associates to each department, based on what skills they have. Cross-training is essential for us because it means people can help out across our stores when needed; it also provides an enriched experience for those associates who are able to more fully understand all that encompasses running a supermarket. Many of our associates are hired into one position but express interest in learning about other opportunities. We make training available to them knowing it will help them grow their skills as well as generate a stronger connection with our company.

We’ve seen a growing trend over the past 5 to 10 years: new hires are more interested in opportunities to continue to learn new things. We’ve kept pace with that and have provided as many opportunities as we can.

What are some skills that can be particularly helpful to include in cross-training efforts?

Because there are so many different roles within our organization, it’s important to try to identify who needs what kind of training. Some are completely content in task-oriented, individual contributor style roles—we have plenty of those roles in our offices and retail stores. We also identify those who are interested in more of a leadership role.

For our store associates, we help them build their retail skills and knowledge: using the equipment, inventory management, food and workplace safety standards, etc. For many, this is their first job, and we’ve learned it’s also valuable for them to learn effective communication, how to prioritize, and how to lead people. 

Depending on their role within the store, our people interact with the public and are the face of our company. We want potential leaders to be able to assess situations, prioritize, make decisions, hold others accountable, delegate tasks, and ultimately, help us make Hannaford the best place to work and shop.

How are you providing cross-training opportunities for your associates—through education providers, internal training programs, or other avenues?

We do a lot of cross-training within our stores. If an associate wants to develop their skills in another department, we make sure they get that experience. We also provide tuition assistance for those interested in continuing their education.

A few years ago, we recognized that there was a great opportunity to evolve our education benefit. We benchmarked our approach across the industry and wanted to match what other companies are doing—to remain competitive and ensure we were supporting our associates and their goals.

We decided our education benefit is one that all of our associates can benefit from, not just those who are full-time or salaried. We didn’t want to make the option available to just some of our associates—we wanted to make all associates eligible, helping to ensure an increased level of accessibility and affordability. 

Our associates have options, and we’re committed to providing support in whatever way works best for them. If they want to go to school, they can receive a great education and develop their career with us.

Can you speak to the value that cross-training provides for your company?

Offering cross-training and education benefits provides a lot of value for us. First, it means that our associates are adaptable and can help out wherever they’re needed. Second, it helps with retention. If a summer associate works for us while they’re in high school and then takes advantage of tuition assistance and goes to college, our hope is that they return during the summer. We’ll even partner with another store to transfer the associate to a store closer to the college they’ve enrolled in. 

We have some people who’ve been working with us for decades. If we can provide them with the means to pursue a business degree, for example, they can grow into a leadership role within our offices. And anytime one of our associates learns a new skill or gets a formal education, they share those skills and experience with their co-workers. Others are getting value from it.

Can you speak to the value that cross-training provides for your associates?

It gives them the skills and the ability to take on new roles and responsibilities. It can also help them gain confidence, and it helps open up a lot of possible avenues within our company. Some people are hesitant to work for a retail grocer, but once they start here and understand all the things that make it run behind the scenes and all the different opportunities that you can have while here, it really makes a difference for them. As they rise in our company, they start to see how beneficial our work is to the communities we serve.

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