PETCO
Internal Mobility
ASSESS
Due to an industry shortage, PETCO, a leading specialty retailer of premium pet food, supplies and services, was having difficulty hiring pet trainers for their stores. To solve this recruiting dilemma, our client's Talent Acquisition team decided to train existing store associates as pet trainers. This solution would not only lower their cost-per-hire, it would also help retain good employees. Classes were set up in their stores throughout the U.S. to teach associates the skills needed for this function. At each store, the general manager announced the program to employees. Unfortunately, the classes were not filling up and most had to be cancelled. PETCO called on Bernard Hodes Group to assess the situation and strategize a solution that would increase interest.
STRATEGIZE
Becoming a trainer included a salary increase, advancement and more stability, so it was not apparent why more associates were not taking advantage of this opportunity. After assessing the situation by speaking with general managers, we concluded that associates were not adequately informed of the program. To ensure all information was well disseminated and increase class registration, we would develop a strong, highly visible internal campaign.
Our creative solution utilized a visual of a dog teaching a class with a headline that read: “Learn. Teach. Stay” on a blackboard. This concept played off the existing Talent Acquisition tagline “Come. Work. Stay.” This was also reflective of PETCO's image as a fun place to work and the tongue-in-cheek recruitment campaign that has appealed to employees in the past.
IMPLEMENT
We developed posters and flyers to promote the campaign internally. The posters were hung in the break rooms of stores in eight PETCO districts and flyers were distributed to all employees. In addition, we changed the call-to-action from contacting the store manager to contacting Talent Acquisition directly. This would expedite the process and lessen the burden on store managers.
MEASURE
The campaign was a complete success. In the first two months, more than 50 employees signed up for the classes. In fact, many classes ran out of room and had to turn associates away until the next round. Prior to implementing these classes, we had run large display ads in an industry journal at a cost of $2,000 per ad, which had yielded only a couple of candidates. By getting our message out to the employees, we were able to reduce the cost-per-candidate from $1,000 to $30, while also addressing retention.
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