"The professional development of employees will always be a solid foundation for informed decision making"

Modern food retail is in a state of constant change, adjusting to new consumer trends. Chains are opening cafes, expanding the range of ready-to-eat food and their own brands, using modern technologies, and introducing innovative approaches to management. All this requires completely new knowledge and skills from both line and management employees. Anastasia Zenkova, Director of Human Resources and Organizational Development of the Perekrestok retail chain, told Izvestia in an interview.

- Why is it important to invest in employee training? What does it bring to business in general and to retail in particular?

- I have worked in different industries: IT, management consulting, engineering, food production. And I can be sure that regardless of the industry, employee training remains the basis for successful business development.

No matter how the challenges change, the professional development of employees will always be a reliable support for making well-informed decisions. And X5 realizes this very well. For example, in February 2024, we launched a unique in-house educational project - the Perekrestok training center in Moscow. For our company, it will serve as a platform for comprehensive training of retail specialists. Cashiers, baristas, cooks, bakers and other specialists are being trained in nine modern training rooms for 130 people. In addition, over the last quarter we have expanded the geography of training, conducting it in all regions where our network operates on the basis of local training classes (Samara, Yekaterinburg, Rostov, Sochi, etc.), as well as in Moscow on the basis of an additional center. Now the number of employees trained per week (within a 3-day full-time training program) reaches 230 people.

The combination of actual theory and practice in a game format allows you to learn the necessary skills and acquire a new profession in a few days. Importantly, we train our employees at the company's expense and guarantee them employment and opportunities for career growth, which attracts new employees who are looking for stability and development. In addition to business benefits, this approach gives employees energy, thirst for knowledge, and motivation. After all, humans are explorers by nature.
In addition, we have a unique program for vertical growth of employees, such as the Directors Club, which focuses on developing partnership and entrepreneurship within the company.

- Do you adapt training formats to suit different employees? Surely different methods are used for different people?

- Of course, we take into account the peculiarities of employees and their roles in the company. Retail today is a complex system offering customers a wide choice of goods and convenient ways of getting them, which requires new skills from managers.

At Perekrestok, we have developed unique training tools for employees at all levels. We combine mobile "microlearning", distance courses, VR-technologies and face-to-face classes, and are developing a mentoring system. All this allows us to effectively master the necessary skills to work in the company.

In addition, we expand the knowledge of existing employees through the Master's program "Management in Retail" at the Higher School of Business at the Higher School of Economics and train them under the advanced training programs at PFUR. We are expanding the program because food retail is no longer just about going to the store. Now it is an opportunity for a customer to buy food that he likes, in a way that suits him: order online, come to the store, buy ready-made dishes or ingredients. And managing this system requires skills and knowledge that didn't even exist 5 years ago.

- This probably includes the change management skill that businesses are now prioritizing. What it is.

- In today's world, flexibility and adaptability are key to effective management. It helps a company stay competitive and successfully respond to challenges. Change management involves two important points: the ability to justify the need for change and its goals, and the ability to organize the process so that the transition is effective.

"Crossroads pays attention to the extent to which employees' values are aligned with corporate values. It is important that they are open to innovation and are not afraid to introduce something new. When selecting management personnel, special attention is paid to management skills and the ability to build communication within the team.

- So the people who work for you are already open to change if you select them in this way from the very beginning?

- It's not that simple, there are over 40,000 people working at Perekrestok, and everyone has different degrees of openness in their positions. Some roles don't require constantly looking for new solutions to tasks. However, employees responsible for processes, customer relations and business development must be open to change. Therefore, we select people with flexible thinking and new ideas for these positions.

Such employees should have curiosity, an interest in what technologies other companies are using and what the market trends are.

- Have the formats of employee training changed? How actively are new technologies and artificial intelligence used?

- Of course, they are changing. Now we are actively using new technologies in training. Moreover, this year we put innovation on the list of our company's core values.

For example, we train new retail employees using VR glasses to quickly and effectively immerse them in business tasks. The training platform allows employees to find themselves in a simulated store, where they can learn the concept of the chain and the rules of work. Training in VR-glasses takes only 15 minutes and replaces traditional 2-3 hour trainings due to the effect of full immersion.

In addition, we teach employees how to use neural networks in their future work. Thanks to the internal CoPilot X5 system, it is possible to solve tasks using language models, LLMs.

- Is personalization used in training?

- Yes, two years ago we launched a corporate marketplace of knowledge and educational programs. This system gives employees the opportunity to customize training according to their interests and receive recommendations for suitable courses. The platform includes both our own programs and courses from leading universities and educational partners.

- What is the special feature of the Directors Club program?

- This program is a vivid example of the impact of training on business results. It is aimed at transforming the role of the store director and realizing strategic potential. In order to form a lineup of managers who will fit the profile we need, we develop unique training tracks that include the development of managerial competencies and project work with the central office. As part of the project, we are developing a unique profile of a director for the market. He is not an operational manager, but an entrepreneur who is responsible for his business and whose remuneration depends on the profit of the supermarket. To do this, we show what actions affect the business in terms of customer experience, how to analyze data and draw conclusions.

We train supermarket directors and give them more freedom and autonomy to choose assortments, set premium levels and launch internal projects. The aim of the program is to train a new generation of proactive and business-oriented directors with clear motivation.

Around 250 of the 1,000 directors have now confirmed partner status and we continue to support their development so that all supermarket managers can meet the new standards in the future.

- What results has this program brought to the business so far?

- We can see that this format of training has an impact not only on employee motivation, but also on business profits. For example, in the first 6 months, RTO growth amounted to 3.8 percentage points or 18.4%, and EBITDAR, one of the main metrics by which you can track the performance of an individual supermarket, showed an increase to 16.4%.

What's more, by achieving partner director status, managers are able to share additional profits with the team when performance increases. In my opinion, such motivation is a great way to develop management skills and improve the competencies of employees.

- How high is the level of independence of directors? After all, different Perekrestok stores can differ significantly from one another.

- We are actively experimenting with this model and analyzing the results. We aim for each director to be able to influence the assortment, prices, promotional programs and service, adapting them to the needs of the customers of his or her store. For example, customers may come for fresh produce, ready meals or just to spend time in the café. The director's job is to anticipate these expectations and ensure that customers' needs are maximized. For example, they can influence the depth of discounts, duration of promotions and other aspects, and we analyze the results of these changes.

Our aim is to strike a balance between managerial boldness and effective decision-making. This is a large-scale project that will require reorganization of the central office and directors' functions.

- How do companies help employees develop, apart from educational programs? Is something else needed besides knowledge and skills?

- An unequivocal yes. Apart from work commitments, we all face other challenges in the outside world. Going through both pleasant and challenging periods of life.

When thinking about development, it is important to support employees and try to understand from what resources a person will invest in it. After all, in order to move forward, you have to start from something. For some people this push is charity and volunteering, for others it is sports and creativity. You can always find like-minded people in the company: every week we have all sorts of events so that everyone can feel that they are not just a resource, but part of a big team.