Training Needs Analysis Report: Coles and Training Gaps

This report conducts a training needs analysis for Coles, a major Australian retailer, identifying a training gap among its sales executives. The analysis highlights the importance of training for employee productivity and customer relationships. The report discusses Coles' existing training programs and identifies shortcomings, particularly in areas like product knowledge and customer relationship management. To address these gaps, the report proposes an innovative online training program to enhance employee skills, improve customer satisfaction, and leverage HR metrics effectively. The study emphasizes the benefits of online training, including flexibility, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness, ultimately aiming to improve overall organizational performance and employee retention. The report also touches upon the challenges faced by the organization in terms of HR metrics and training effectiveness. The training gap was identified through a detailed analysis of the existing training programs, focusing on the sales executives' roles and responsibilities.

Running head: TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
About the Organisation..........................................................................................................3
Training within Coles.............................................................................................................4
Training Analysis...................................................................................................................5
Training Gap..........................................................................................................................6
Training Need.........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Training is one of the essential aspect of every organisation. Without training the
employees cannot work efficiently within an organisation that will not only affect the
employee productivity but will also affect the customer relationship with the organisation
(Memon, Salleh and Baharom 2016). Therefore, a training program of a training analysis
helps the organisation in understanding as well as strengthening the skills of the employees
and also works towards improving the already existent skills within the employees (Memon,
Salleh and Baharom 2016). Training program also diminishes all kinds of diversity barriers
and bring every employee to the same level of knowledge as well as skills that are required as
well as necessary for the organisation (Edinger et al 2019). Furthermore, regular training
programs also removes weak links that are there within the organisation who rely on others to
get the task of the organisation done. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every organisation
to take training programs seriously that will eventually benefit the organisation and that a
neglect of training and development would lead to uncomfortable circumstances (Edinger et
al 2019). Therefore, the primary aim of the paper is to discuss about Coles organisation and
the training programs that they indulge in. at the same time the paper will also discuss about
the training gap within the organisation.
Discussion
About the Organisation
The report will discuss about Coles organisation. Coles is one of Australia’s leading
retailers with more than two thousand outlets nationally. Within their organisation they also
believe in making life easier for the employees as well as the customers. Today it has more
than one lakh employees working under their store and mostly are indigenous employees
(Coles 2016). It has its headquarters in Melbourne. Its competitor in the retail sector is

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Woolworths and together the two supermarket chains rule all over Australia by delivering
best products as well as services. Coles is also known for their good customer services as
well as proficiency (Coles 2016). They pay extra attention towards their customers as well as
their needs and this is the reason why they sell halal products so that their products can be
used by every individual irrespective of their religion and caste (Mortimer and Grimmer
2018). Since the organisation is huge therefore its responsibility towards their employees as
well as their customers become more.
Training within Coles
To deliver the best to their customers and ensure good employee productivity the
organisation has indulged in some of the training programs that would increase employee
productivity and enhance their relationship with their customers (Coles 2016). The first
training that employees are given in Coles are regarding the vision as well as mission of the
organisation so that the employees can perform accordingly (Phillipov 2016). They clearly
taught about the nutrition and health standards in the products of Coles, they are then given
training regarding the company’s environmental sustainability programs and are also taught
the ethics that are required as well as expected from the employees of Coles along with some
responsibility towards the organisation as well as the customers (Phillipov 2016). This
training is primarily given to people who are responsible for management as well as research
and development. After the above training the trainers understand the requirements of the
policies of Coles, their brand standards as well as guidelines (Mirtschin et al., 2018). They
also train their employees regarding risk and crisis management. The employees are also
given training o HACCP courses that helps the former to understand Hazard Analysis Critical
Control Point or HACCP and trains them to develop as well as acquire knowledge of
implementing HACCP to meet consumer as well as regulatory requirements (Pulker et al.,
2019). Onsite managers and quality assurance managers are given courses on preventive

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maintenance that will help the managers to implement policies that would help in minimising
hazards and maintaining the required equipments (Pulker et al 2019). The organisation also
indulge in special employee training as they are aware that without appropriate, qualified and
trained staff the organisation can face a lot of issues therefore, the training focuses on
effective team building and leadership techniques (Grimmer 2018). Coles has now also
adopted technology training for the development of employees that will be including new
HR, finance as well as procurement systems that would lessen the pressure on the employees
of the organisation (Grimmer 2018). Through technology they will be getting quick feedback
from the customers and the employee too will be trained about the Coles Online process.
Through technology the employees will be able to learn quickly and at the same time they
will also be able to serve their customers in the best means possible (Grimmer 2018).
Training Analysis
Though Coles is a large retailing organisation it goes through certain problems within
its organisation regarding the training as well as development of the employees. To recognise
the training gaps within the organisation it is essential to conduct a training needs analysis
(Lacerenza et al 2017). To conduct a training needs analysis for identifying the training gap
within the organisation it is necessary for the latter to conduct a training needs analysis by
identifying what training is required by the organisation, who needs the training, how much
time and money will be spent on that particular training and many more (Lacerenza et al
2017). To identify the training gap it is essential for Coles to determine the desired business
outcome and then link those outcome with the employee behaviour. Then the organisation
needs to identify training competencies and then evaluate the latter that will further help in
determining the performance gaps among employees (Lacerenza et al 2017). It is here that
the organisation needs to identify the type of training that should be given to the employees
along with a method of moving ahead with the kind of training that is required. It is also

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essential for the organisation to determine the cost that will be spent in the training and
development process of the employees (Phillipov 2016). After conducting the above method
of training needs analysis it was found that the employees of Coles lacked training in some of
the fields that are required for the smooth functioning of the organisation and there were also
certain loopholes in the training programs of the company (Phillipov 2016). When a training
analysis was conducted it was found that the sales executives of Coles were facing some
issues in their daily productivity due to lack of proper training.
Training Gap
HR metrics is one of the issues faced by professionals of every organisation. HR
metrics within an organisation helps the latter to understand how the human capital can be
utilized to assist the organisation to reach their goals as well as objectives (Fink and Sturman
2017). One of the aspects of HR metrics is to provide effective as well as innovative training
to the employees that helps in the retention of the latter as well as help the organisation to
compete in the market (Fink and Sturman 2017). HR metrics will also help the organisation
to quantify the programs related to talent management as well as HR processes. Training
effectiveness index, employee productivity, training expenses required for each employee and
training efficiency are aspects of HR metrics (Fink and Sturman 2017). Coles therefore has
not been able to effectively and innovatively use their HR metrics aspect of efficient training
as a result of which the sales executive of the organisation are facing a lot of problems within
the organisations (Marr 2018). Since Coles is a huge retailing business that operates across
Australia it is quite evident that there is bound to be training gaps within the employees.
Though Coles provides prior training to all the employees it is possible that they are unable to
provide the same training as well as ethics to every employee of their stores who operate
throughout Australia (Coles 2016). Therefore, a training gap is identified in some of the
employees operating in some of the stores of Coles. It is essential for the organisation to

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immediately mitigate the training needs as it would otherwise affect the organisation’s
relationship with the customer. It is the sales executive who directly interact with the
customers and they are the ones who are directly informed about the customer grievances as
they are the first people that the customers interact with (Marr 2018). If the sales executives
are not trained properly or they lack training in some of the areas then it can act as a
hindrance to employee as well as customer satisfaction (Marr 2018). The sales executives
lacks training about the products that are sold in the stores of Coles and also lack training in
building strong customer relationship. Due to the lack of training the employees productivity
have drastically went down that can furthermore affect the reputation of the organisation
(Coles 2016). This can also lead to employee turnover within the organisation that will be a
big loss to the company as efficient staffs acts as an asset Coles.
Training Need
To mitigate the above problem a training need has been identified for Coles. The
organisation can adopt an innovative method of online raining program for its employees that
has not been used before within the organisation. By taking the help of technology in the
development of the employees the organisation will be able to mitigate the problem of
employee dissatisfaction where equal training will be imparted to all the employees and at the
same time their grievances will be heard as well as worked upon for the smooth functioning
of the organisation (Massenberg, Schulte and Kauffeld 2017). There are many advantages of
adopting the method of online training. Since Coles is a huge organisation with many
branches operating across Australia it is not always possible to impart training to all the
employees after the initial training that eventually leads to a training gap within the
employees (Lai, Shum and Tian 2016). Therefore, online training will help Coles to
coordinate with all the employees at the same time without much difficulty. Online training is
both flexible as well as comfortable and also does not require much time (Lai, Shum and Tian

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2016). It can be easily conducted without any problem of place. Only a definite time needs to
be decided to conduct an online training program that will help the employees to be up to
date with the changes that are taking place in the market and accordingly sharpen their skills
(Lai, Shum and Tian 2016). Online training is also easily accessible as everyone in today’s
generation has the availability of phones and tablets that are easy for the employees to carry
with themselves. Furthermore, online training is also cost effective that is the organisation
does not have to spend their money on travelling as well as equipments and the training can
be conducted even from a different city (Chang et al 2019). Through online training programs
every employee can lay down their own opinion as well as perspective regarding a certain
issue that can help the organisation as well as other employees to ponder on that subject and
work together to mitigate the problem.
Online training therefore can be conducted from any part of the country or the world
and when an organisation like Coles adopt the above mode of training then it will further
benefit the organisation and will also help to solve the problem of training gap within the
organisation that can affect the employees, other staff managers and most importantly the
customers (Martini and Cavenago 2017). It is also easy to share the progress report from an
online medium where instant solution can be made while taking the employees into
consideration. Online training will further help the employees to retain information where
real life concepts can be used for better understanding. Online on board programs can also be
adopted to engage new employees (Martini and Cavenago 2017). Through this online
program the new employees will be trained about the vision, goals and mission of the
organisation and the managers will further help the employees to understand their roles as
well as responsibilities. This can help the organisation to achieve satisfactory performance
(Martini and Cavenago 2017).

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Through online programs Coles can also arrange for a monthly talk where the
employees will be provided with a feedback on their monthly performance so that they can
continuously improve their performance as well as method of engagement (Tuzovic and
Mathews 2017). This will further help Coles to align itself to their organisational goals by
ensuring that every resources are used in an efficient manner. Through online training Coles
can also engage itself in organisational level analysis that will further help the members to
understand the training gap within the succession plan (Tuzovic and Mathews 2017). At the
same time through online programs the employees too will be able to voice their grievances
that will help the organisation to understand where they are lagging in their employment
programs and will at the same time enhance the goals of the organisation through positive
collaboration (Tuzovic and Mathews 2017). Furthermore online training can also be recorded
that can be used by the employees according to the needs and preferences of the latter.
Conclusion
Therefore, to conclude it must be noted that training is one of the most essential
criteria for every organisation and that the latter should give in extra effort as well as time to
adopt new ways as well as patterns to train their employees for the retention as well as
satisfaction of the latter. As discussed in the paper Coles is a huge as well as reputed
organisation that has always worked towards the satisfaction of their customers and has also
adopted a number of strategies to keep their customers happy but at the same time they have
lacked in their employee training as well as development program. When it comes to training
their employees they have not been successful in adopting innovative ways to train their
employees. Therefore it is essential for them to identify their training gap by conducting a
training analysis that will help the organisation to mitigate their problems of training gaps. It
is essential for them to adopt online training that will be quick, efficient as well as user

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friendly and will also allow the organisation to retain themselves in the market and increase
employee productivity.

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References
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Grant, A.M., 2019. The mixed effects of online diversity training. Proceedings of the
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employees as corporate social responsibility (CSR) ambassadors: A quasi-field
experiment. Journal of Business Ethics, 157(2), pp.359-373.
Fink, A.A. and Sturman, M.C., 2017. HR Metrics and Talent Analytics. The Oxford
Handbook of Talent Management, pp.375-390.
Grimmer, L., 2018. How flybuys will change Coles after Wesfarmers demerger: Interview
with Alana Mitchelson.
Lacerenza, C.N., Reyes, D.L., Marlow, S.L., Joseph, D.L. and Salas, E., 2017. Leadership
training design, delivery, and implementation: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 102(12), p.1686.
Lai, C., Shum, M. and Tian, Y., 2016. Enhancing learners’ self-directed use of technology for
language learning: the effectiveness of an online training platform. Computer Assisted
Language Learning, 29(1), pp.40-60.
Marr, B., 2018. Data-driven HR: how to use analytics and metrics to drive performance.
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