PETCO

Bilingual ERP

ASSESS

PETCO, a leading specialty retailer of premium pet food, supplies and services, was having difficulty hiring warehouse workers for its Monroe, NJ, Distribution Center. Our client had previously tried to attract candidates through onsite employment fairs, but the turnout was extremely low. Their Talent Acquisition Department decided to implement an Employee Referral Program (ERP) for the distribution center. Managers were informed of the program and asked to promote it to their employees. Despite these efforts, referrals remained low. PETCO needed to increase referrals by developing a communication piece that would increase awareness of the program.

STRATEGIZE

Because of the warehouse's environment, many traditional ERP communication pieces, such as e-mail announcements, were not feasible. Additionally, a large percentage of the population did not speak English, preventing many employees from understanding their manager's announcement of the program. Cultural differences also discouraged inquiries to managers.

Awareness and complete comprehension of the program were key. Our solution called for the creation of posters in both English and Spanish that clearly outlined all eligible positions and the reward for each successful referral in an easy to understand chart. Our creative was fun and bright, reflecting PETCO's image as a fun place to work.

IMPLEMENT

To announce the program, we hung posters with copy in both English and Spanish in employee break rooms. Although managers had announced the program to employees before, these communication pieces served as a constant reminder, while presenting all details and bonus amounts in Spanish, eliminating the language barrier.

MEASURE

The posters were not only successful in reaching the Spanish-speaking employees, they also helped increase referrals. During the three months the posters were displayed, the number of referrals increased by more than 300%. Due to the success of the program, PETCO has rolled out English and Spanish ERP communication pieces at all of their distribution centers.