TiER1 Performance As one of the largest U.S. retailers, The Kroger Co. operates nearly 2,800 grocery stores, 35 manufacturing plants, and 44 distribution centers across the country. Employing about 500,000 associates, Kroger recognizes that people are their differentiator—that when they create a place where associates love to work, they create a place where customers love to shop. Kroger wanted to ensure they had the right talent, teams, and structure in the right focus areas in their business. In late 2019, the company undertook a full-scale, enterprise-wide transformation called Fresh Forward.
Propelled by Fresh Forward, the company began a journey to reimagine their associate experience in early 2020. Their objective was to align their associate experience to their new employer brand, Feed Your Future, and realize their vision of being an employer of choice. Through this work, they identified moments in the associate journey when associates could be delighted, uplifted, and deeply engaged. Onboarding was at the top of this list of moments, and they began rethinking the onboarding experience for all associates.
TiER1 consultants partnered with the Kroger team to redesign onboarding and create a baseline experience for all Kroger associates. Together, we created an enterprise onboarding solution, A Fresh Welcome, which launched in November 2020 and now drives a consistent and meaningful new associate experience. Here’s what we love about Kroger’s onboarding transformation:
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. Before embarking on design, the team aligned on a vision that was twofold:
Using Performance Experience Design methodology, the team designed a comprehensive onboarding experience for all new hires in which associates get everything they need to thrive at Kroger. Featuring three distinct phases of preboarding, orientation, and role based development, A Fresh Welcome was built on that foundation of establishing global “hallmark moments” that all new associates should experience regardless of where they are hired in the organization.
The design team knew they needed A Fresh Welcome to be easy for leaders and managers to use with new hires. To ensure adoption, the new program needed to be turnkey for this audience—simple in its design and easy to execute. Therefore, the team designed with simplicity in mind. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team was also intentional about designing A Fresh Welcome with remote onboarding in mind, ensuring that the journey would be meaningful and engaging in both in-person and virtual situations.
Using a preboarding site, new associates can now learn about the company and their role before their first day on the job. This public-facing site gives new associates the opportunity to learn about the company, the culture, Kroger values, operations, and the meaningful impact the organization has in the communities they serve. In addition to sharing company information, the site creates excitement and reduces uncertainty around what they can expect in their new job, and ensures associates feel confident in their decision to join Kroger.
The team identified several core onboarding materials that would help bring the global “hallmark moments” to life for associates in stores, supply chain, and office environments. Branded supporting resources include welcome emails; digital onboarding guides built in Articulate Rise for managers, onboarding buddies, and new associates; journey maps that provide a visual overview of the 30-day onboarding journey for new associates; and a revamped orientation experience. Through these resources, all new hires are experiencing a consistent welcome to Kroger, no matter their role, line of business, or geographical location.
“We are thrilled about A Fresh Welcome Onboarding and the impact it’s had throughout our company. It affirms the new associates’ decision to join our company and provides them with the tools, resources, and confidence to effectively serve our customers. A Fresh Welcome Onboarding was designed to accelerate the associate and customer experience, and it is doing just that,” says Senchal Murphy, Kroger’s Senior Director of Training and Onboarding.
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. Because of the program’s success, TiER1 Performance and Kroger won a Silver Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Human Capital Management Award for Best New Hire Onboarding Program.
Due to the momentum and excitement around the initial launch of A Fresh Welcome, there are plans to expand it to Kroger’s executive level, as well as create versions targeted to existing associates in the organization who are new-to-location and/or new-to-role. Moving forward, Kroger’s Training and Onboarding team is focused on refining and expanding A Fresh Welcome so that it will become the common onboarding framework across the entire organization.
Want to reimagine your onboarding program for greater impact? Give us a call at (859) 415-1000 or drop us a line in the form at the bottom of this page.