BUSI 444 Case Study: Training and Development at Bloomingdale's

This case study analyzes the employee training and development needs at Bloomingdale's, a luxury fashion brand, addressing workplace safety concerns. The analysis identifies the need for improved employee awareness regarding safety protocols, particularly concerning ladder usage, box cutter handling, and cleaning procedures. A three-step needs analysis process is proposed, involving inventory analysis, interviews with managers and supervisors, and the design of a simulation-based training program. The recommended training method involves real-life simulations to enhance employee engagement and habit formation. The case study suggests measuring training effectiveness through reduced employee injuries, decreased compensation costs, and improved safety records. References to scholarly articles support the analysis, providing insights into training methodologies and their impact on workplace safety.

Running head: TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Training and Development
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Safety and security are one of the main concerns of the employers in a workplace. It is
the responsibility of the employers to provide the employees with a secure workplace. It
helps them in keeping employee health and avoid unnecessary lawsuits and claims due to
workplace injury (Bell et al., 2017). Bloomingdale’s is a fashion brand owned by Macy’s.
They are known for their luxury items and latest design. There are more than 10,000
employees working all over the 12 states. The employees working in the stores face
workplace safety issues despite the perceived safety of sales jobs. The company has already
applied some approaches to aware the employee’s awareness for safety. These, however,
have been proven inefficient. In this report, the needs analysis of the employees of
Bloomingdale’s have been conducted. Depending on the needs analysis, a new training
method has been suggested for employee awareness to safety. Finally, the outcome
evaluation of the training method has been analyzed.
Needs analysis is a systematic process that identifies the training and awareness needs
of the employees, customers or other stakeholders. It helps companies to improve their
experience and create a better workforce. It also is extremely cost effective as the specific
needs are addressed and gaps are filled which reduces the issues that were present in the
company earlier. In Bloomingdales the main problem was the lack of knowledge and
awareness about the safety measurements of the store employees. The store workers need to
shelve the products and de-shelve them according to the needs of the customers. In doing so,
they often face injuries by falling off the ladder or strains and sprains in their muscles.
Another safety concern is the wrong use of box cutters for opening packages. Box cutters are
generally sharp and cause serious injuries if nit used properly. The third issue that the
companies face is cleaning of the broken glasses on the floor shop. Sometimes due to lack of
precaution, glass fittings of the store may get broken by the employees or by the customers
themselves. The employees need to make sure that the store is safe for the customers and they

2TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
must clean the shop immediately. While doing so, they sometimes do not follow proper
procedure and end up hurt sue to that.
The company has already implemented certain measures for the safety and security.
They post messages in break areas, they provide classroom trainings on the safety and
security measures related to these issues. And hold pre-shift meetings to remind the
employees about the measures that they should take in order to mitigate the mentioned risks.
The problem lies in the fact that employees are aware of the measures but do not have the
habit of applying the steps (Kumie et al., 2016). Many of employees are not able to identify
the hazardous situations as well. The problem thus, is in the awareness of the employees.
Despite all those approaches, the problem remains which calls for a needs analysis. For the
needs analysis procedure, a three step approach is necessary.
The first step of the needs analysis is the inventory analysis where the employees will
be surveyed and their current level of understanding about the safety measures and their
views of the effectiveness of those measures will be analyzed (Noe & Peacock, 2008).
Depending on the results, the store managers and the supervisors will be interviewed to
understand from their perspectives the problems that employees are facing in maintaining the
safety protocols. The third step includes the determination of a training program and
designing the program for the betterment of the employees as well as defining the expected
outcomes at the end of training.
The employees need many safety knowledge and skills. First, the employees need to
be able to identify the hazardous situations. They must be able to inspect the equipment that
they use life ladders and box cutters to identify the potential damage that they can create.
They need to be able to use the said equipment for the mitigation of the risks. Fourth, they
must also look after the other employees in the store and direct them to safety procedure. The

3TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
employees must also be able to follow the protocols on cleaning the floors and disposing the
waste for safer workplace. In the process of needs assessments, the store employees, the
cleaning staffs, the supervisors and the store managers need to be involved. Other than that,
the finance department of the company, the experts that will be conducting the training and a
technological team will be needed.
The recommended training method for Bloomingdale’s is simulation. In this training
method, the employees are trained through real life situations (Armstrong & Landers, 2018).
For safety protocols these are most effective as the trainers would be able to arrange for
situations that would require the employees to apply the safety protocols. Without the
knowledge of the situations where they should be using the rules and precaution, making
them a habit will be impossible. This training session will actually help in making that habit.
Bloomingdale’s wanted a training program that can be conducted during the working hours
of the employees and would happen on the floor. Due to the international nature of the
business, a singular workshop is not feasible. They wanted a training program that will appeal
to the diverse workforce. It is necessary to remember that the retail stores has employees
form different age. Simulation technique will train them to identify dangerous situations,
mitigate or take actions to mitigate and supervise others. This will happen on every store and
thus will comply with company requirement that it should be flexible to accommodate the
different layouts and challenges of the different stores. The exercises are also measurable
through the reduction of employee injuries and complaints on safety issues. A further
feedback system can be established to attract response from the store managers. The training
will be conducted via managers of the store who will be instructed through experts. There
will be specific real life situations that will be created and the employee’s response will be
recorded. After each sessions, during lunch breaks, the challenges and problems will be
discussed.

4TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
The outcome evaluation that Bloomingdale’s should measure are the reduction in
employee injury and complaints and the decrease in compensation that the company had to
pay for workplace injuries. They might also keep track of the recordable workplace injury
and a monthly review of the improvements. They should also record the decrease in claims
and payments that the company have made since the starting of the training and the rate of
reduction of such issues. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of the training for increases
safety and security of the workplace, by showing them previous examples of companies that
have availed similar training programs (Frost, 2016). Demonstrations can be done through
demo sessions and example drawing where companies were able to save large sum of money
from safety issue mitigation.
From the above discussion it can be concluded that needs analysis is necessary for a
formal and structure based approach to any problem. In case of Bloomingdale’s problem
regarding safety and security of the employees, the needs assessment training approach is
particularly effective. Measuring the current situation of the employees through survey and
interview and a simulation based training approach will be most effective in this case. They
will increase employee engagement as employees will take part in those real life situations.
Applying these techniques will help them mitigating the problems.

5TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
References
Armstrong, M. B., & Landers, R. N. (2018). Gamification of employee training and
development. International Journal of Training and Development, 22(2), 162-169.
Bell, B. S., Tannenbaum, S. I., Ford, J. K., Noe, R. A., & Kraiger, K. (2017). 100 years of
training and development research: What we know and where we should go. Journal
of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 305.
Frost, S. (2016). The importance of training & development in the workplace. Small
Business, http://smallbusiness. chron. com/importance-trainingdevelopment-
workplace-10321. html.
Kumie, A., Amera, T., Berhane, K., Samet, J., Hundal, N., Michael, F. G., & Gilliland, F.
(2016). Occupational health and safety in Ethiopia: a review of situational analysis
and needs assessment. Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, 30(1), 17-27.
Noe, R. A., & Peacock, M. (2008). Employee training and development.