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L&D CASE STUDY -

WALMART

Jennifer Reena Sequeira

  

JENNIFER REENA SEQUEIRA

JENNIFER REENA SEQUEIRA 0
Questions
Section A

Q1. What changes would you recommend that Walmart make to their current
learning and development a provision in order to reduce costs and improve
performance?
A1. Below are a few changes I would recommend to make Walmart’s current learning and
development provision in order to reduce costs and improve performance
1)   Create a Pool of Knowledge Experts internally as part of career progression
         External Training to be discontinued immediately, as the external vendors wouldn’t
know the day to day shop floor challenges
         Identify internal knowledge experts from each team to act as a Learning Specialist
         TTT certification on product knowledge/facilitation skills to be conducted for the
identified resource internally by the Training Manager
         Training Content & delivery to be conducted by the In house identified learning
specialist for the aligned team.

2)   Switch to the digital method of knowledge transfer:

 
A)   New Hire /Lateral movement Training:
         Identify the Competencies basis the Job Description of the New Hire Employee /
Employees moving laterally from other departments.
         Basis the competency, identify the Skills, Knowledge, behavioural, mandatory
Training content to perform the Job Well.
         Training schedule to be finalized for each New Hire. The Training for Lateral
Movement can be a shorter duration as compared to the New hire as Employees
moving laterally may already be Trained of few types of training interventions.
         Content to be delivered by the knowledge expert in blended Approach with use of
Gmeet, Webex etc. to reduce cost involved while training in a classroom, procuring
the cost for Training Labs, Trainer accommodation, Booking venue depending on the
no of Participants etc.
         E-Learning content to be created all types of training’s & certification of each module
will be based on Pre Scores identified at the beginning of the Training on identified
Competencies Vs the progress on those competencies post-training with regular
coaching & feedback session’s conducted by the respective team manager.
         E-Learning is a great tool to also align & track the performance basis the
competency/Culture of each department/individual & organization & map the
progress to track the efficacy.
     The design certification process for New Hire & On the Job training environment for
the new/internal movement employees to support employees with deferred Targets
& Matrix to capture Employees On the Job certification Phase.
 
B)   On the Floor Training Intervention:

 Daily Briefing – Knowledge Management Tool to publish the Daily Briefing points &
the Team Leader to ensure each employee has read & acknowledged the Knowledge
Transfer
 Weekly Product Knowledge Test: Basis the Daily update, product enhancement
etc Learning team to upload the Online Knowledge Check at a specific time scheduled
on Gmeet so that the Learning Specialist can invigilate the test.
  Mandatory certifications (Industry Based): E-Learning content to be uploaded
online with version control. The Course should have an assessment at the end of the
test to track training efficacy & certification Status.
 Surprise Dip Check
 Need-based Training – ROI Projects: Conduct TNI to identify GAPS, Identify the
post-training efficacy matrix, Design & deliver the content through a digital medium.
Design the post-training ROI parameter, Monitoring & coaching Mechanism
 Dashboard & Training MIS (Automated): The LMS will ideally provide the
required MIS to track training coverage, Man-days & efficacy etc. This will reduce the
cost incurred in creating MIs dashboards.
 Rewards & Recognition: Fun & Cheers activities to boost employee satisfaction,
thus ensuring the tenured pool is not demotivated. As tenured employees are a
wealth of knowledge & skill which keeps customers happy & increases loyal customer
database. Loyal Customers generally help organizations to reap great business as
compared to generating business from new customers.
Q2. Describe what changes, upgrades and new initiatives in form of different
learning interventions that you want to recommend.
A2. I recommend the below Leaning Interventions that would help Walmart:
1) Yearly Performance Appraisal:
This is a great tool to identify the employee's Skill, knowledge & Attitude Gap. The
learning department can help employees improve the Skill & knowledge however Attitude
issues needs to be addressed with the behavioural action plan & track repeat defaulters.
Take necessary actions for repeat defaulters.
2) Digital Display of Store Performance:
Shop Floor to project performance of each Team & shortfall numbers to complete
targets. The Daily, Weekly & Monthly Top Performance names with pictures to be
projected. This will increase the motivation of all employees leading to satisfied new
customers, leading to loyal customers. Thus increasing the fool fall of loyal customers
rather than investing in Promoting/Marketing the Walmart Brand to attract new
customers.
3) Create Loyalty Program Awareness & Set up Loyalty Help Desk at the
Store:
 Train Employees on Building effective Customer Relationship to educate employees
on the Loyalty Program & benefits.
 Educate customers on How to reap benefits from the Loyalty program
 Make it easy for customers to easily access the rewards & redemption process
 
4) Training Need Identification (Automate)
         Fortnightly/Monthly Training Need identification through various performance
triggers & Gaps at a click of a button through the Learning Management System
         Learning Suggestion Box (Automate).
 Market & create the awareness of the Learning Suggestion Box, which employees
can use to suggest any Skill, Knowledge, and Behavioural Training Needs.
 This tool can also help in gathering suggestions to upload an issue & suggest a
solution. The best Suggestions to be rewarded. The updated new process basis the
Employee Feedback to be published online. The Efficacy can be tracked with Pre &
Post scores which needs to be pre-decided.
 
5) Learning Specialist to be certified on various Learning Tools & Certification
to enhance skills.
 These sessions can be conducted by the Training manager post undergoing the
certification program Internal/External Sources. This will reduce the per employee cost of
Skill training conducted by External Sources.
6) Set up Learning Academy on an effective LMS:
Invest in an LMS that suits your Organisations Learning Need & organizations Goal.   This
academy will skill employees on the various program with a standardized certification
process. Publish the Name through online portals and track the efficacy of the
employee's performance based on pre-decided KRA. One-click accessible reports mean
quicker and easier identification of employee skill gaps and measurement of ROI.
7) Not reinventing the wheel –
Sometimes a problem may already be solved in some other location or region. An online
portal will help everyone access the known issues and solutions at a click of a
button. Approaches such as documenting innovations and lessons learned, the
communities of practice, and tools such as after-action reviews and end of the assignment,
reports can all help capture this learning so that it can be reused. 

Q 3) Discuss how those recommended learning interventions such as competency

framework, improved knowledge-sharing methodology & virtual learning at Walmart
might help to cut costs and make the HRD activity at Walmart more strategic.
A 3. Through the past experiencing in deploying these activities in all the previous organisations,
I have briefly explained how each will help Walmart cut costs and become more strategic.
1) Competency Framework:
A common Competency Framework will help speed the deployment process for
Walmart. This will be both cost-effective & desirable. It will help us identify & create
a pool of managers for various roles that may come as future opportunities across
any location. This will help in the selection, up skilling, handover of responsibility is
completed by the employee who is moving on. It will ensure the learning curve is
reduced and all BAU activities are managed without any loss of hours & business.
Improving employee development and motivating employees are other important
aspects of cost-effective human resource management which will lead to reduced
employee churn.
Reduce Employee Churn: Sometimes, knowledgeable employees leave a company
after experiencing burnout. A great Competency Framework will help employees
groom themselves for the required skills to perform their job better. Display
grievance boxes on the shop floor or online portal to address grievance’s Create an
in-house Fun & cheers team to conduct weekly/ monthly activities to engage &
motivate employees. This in turn will engage the employee’s attention to more
positive things at work. This will relieve some of the pressure and keep your
employees engaged in a positive way.
 
2) Improved Knowledge-Sharing Methodology:
 Reducing travel cost
 Reducing the time to find information
 Develop Standard Workflows and Processes
 Result in faster training & on-boarding
 Making better use of internal expertise (and not hiring consultants)
 Real  time support – Digital Media usage such as Skype, IM and social
media to quickly share information and put people in touch can greatly speed
up “just in time” advice to country offices or others who need quick support
 for important and urgent decisions within Walmart. This will help improve
employee & customer satisfaction leading to loyal customers.

 
3) Virtual Training

To justify how eLearning can make Walmart cost-effective, here are five reasons why
online training helps to reduce your corporate training cost.
 No need to hire on-site trainers
 Save money on travel and accommodation for the learners
 Cut expenses on material costs
 Minimize the loss of productivity
 No limitation on repetition of knowledge through e-learning & recorded sessions
 Save money/ time on tracking the efficacy of training intervention

Q 4)   How might the firm seek to ensure a return on investment for its learning and
development activity?

 Calculate Training ROI with the pre-decided KRA & objective. Align the Post
training support mechanism. Track daily/weekly Performance of the employee
post-training to achieve a set target goal. Compare the Pre Scores to the post-
training scores to understand the Progress. Identify daily/weekly defaulters &
share feedback/observations through regular coaching.
 Comparison of Training Hours while a training conducted in Classroom Vs the
same training delivered virtually. This will definitely be a good way of showing
the hours of training effectively used to achieve better results
 Impact Study: The third easy way of calculating ROI is to create an impact study
of any new tool/ automation and see the change brought about by training
across all functions.
 To ensure training is not a tick mark activity or a forced activity we can set a goal
or expected outcome from the operation/ management/ observation and use
Kirkpatrick’s model:  
 Level 1: Reaction - During this level, you survey the participants and gauge their
reaction to the training. Were they satisfied or dissatisfied? 
 Level 2: Learning - Conduct two tests or surveys – one before and one after the
training. This helps you measure what the participants have learned.   
 Level 3: Behaviour - The third level of evaluation takes place at some point in
time after the training has wrapped up. Have the participants started to use their
new knowledge or skills in the workplace?  
 Level 4: Impact - Measures whether the organization’s expectations were met.
This is referred to as Return on Expectations (ROE).  
Section B

Q1) Describe behavioural competencies aka topics on which you’ve delivered training

programs virtually or classroom.
For each entry, mention learning objective, level of target audience, mode i.e. virtual or
classroom, duration, year & month of delivery and no. of times you’ve delivered.
Use TABLE to answer this.
I had shared my BT detail excel embedded on the word file sent on 18th April, I’ve
attached the same excel separately here. Everything besides the mode, time &
duration is mentioned, I’ll try and add that too if required.
Let me know if you’d like me to add anything else.