Bringing values to new Boni employees

Boni is a family business, founded in 1972, of Dutch chain of supermarkets with 51 stores and approx. 3,400 employees. Their motto: always the lowest price, the best quality and the friendliest supermarket near you.

The Challenge

Boni Supermarkets is expanding their stores across the Netherlands. Each store previously onboarded employees differently, the manner and level of onboarding was different for each store. There was little to no understanding of the development of each employee nor was this well documented. Supermarkets in general have to deal with a high employee turnover. This means there is not only a continuous need for the onboarding of new employees, but also a high workload for the onboarding buddies.

Boni needed a standardized onboarding process in which they transfer their family company core values:

• Professionalism
• Passio
• Result orientatio
• Initiative
• Customer orientatio

Boni made inquiries at similar companies on how their onboarding program was set up, and used these findings as a foundation for their own onboarding project. This had to be done in a way that engages their young employees (15-18 years).

The Solution

Totara Learn was selected as the best LMS solution for the entire employee base of Boni. Boni selected Totara Learn as the LMS solution for all its employees, with specific requirements for the groups: service office, distribution centre, and younger store employees. These requirements included a desktop view with a specific dashboard for the service office, a multi-language interface for the employees of the distribution centre, and a mobile-first approach for the younger employees of the stores on which this onboarding is focussed.

The process began with a smooth integration between the HR-system and Totara. When a store manager uploads a new employee into the system, it triggers a real-time upload to Totara Lear, enrolling the employee in the onboarding program.

The onboarding program includes learning about the pay slip, updating personal details, understanding how to use the Team Boni app, and provides additional information about the organisational structure of the shop and its various departments. Additionally, there is a module which educates store employees on the prohibition on selling alcohol to minors.

Boni created all the e-learning modules and involved employees in the process to ensure their relevance. Even the videos were made by and with Boni employees. To ensure that the content is fully absorbed the modules are structured in a mandatory format, which is quite unlike other organisations where youngsters can skip content. The program is intentionally mobile-first and designed for the Totara app, this for the young employee base that is accustomed to accessing content on their phones anytime, anywhere.

The onboarding program consist of three elements, and each element earn an employee a badge. All store managers have an account in which the progress on each store employee is visualised based on these badges. Furthermore, managers can also see if their employees show interest in learnings of other departments of the store, which allows them to discuss growth options.

The entire learning platform was promoted with the slogan “You have a lot to offer”.

Results

The Learning at Boni platform, has made a remarkable impact in just a month since its launch. It was introduced to the employees on a Thursday afternoon, and within the first five hours of going live, 175 employees had already logged in. The momentum only grew over the weekend, with 450 employees accessing the platform by the following Monday morning.

However, the most notable success of Boni was reflected in the number of badges earned by the employees in the first month. The platform offers incentives and rewards, in the form of badges. The employees enthusiastically embraced this concept and earned a whopping 1,500 badges in just the first month!

The successful launch of Boni has paved the way for its potential impact on the organization’s overall performance. By providing employees with a centralized platform for learning and development, it will save both time and money for the company in the long run. With Totara Learn the onboarding process is streamlined as new hires can learn the necessary information through the platform, freeing up the onboarding buddies to focus on on-the-job training itself. This approach not only enhances efficiency but also helps new employees becoming more productive and engaged more quickly, leading to positive outcomes for the company as a whole.

“Just spent an hour doing the e-learnings with a smile on my face. Compliments on the whole thing! It looks professional but definitely attractive for both young and old.”

– Anonymous employee