Onboarding new hires involves many steps, from completing tax forms to company orientation meetings.

One thing we heard many years ago was that when an employee was found not carding, the retailer would often say that they signed a form indicating they would ask for ID and “card” as the company directed. 

What we also found back then is that this process was used as a placeholder for regular training – and that on-the-job training was done right after the employee signed their forms.  No warm-up. No practice. Just go live.  

What’s missing? Training.  Training that helps role play situations and training that provides practice on handling the carding process and rejecting an underage purchase attempt BEFORE the employee goes into the live environment.

And this brings us to Best Practice Number 2: Provide Regular Employee Training Focused on Preventing Underage Age-Restricted Product Sales.

In the training process, employees should gain skills, knowledge and experience handling all kinds of situations.  And retraining is important too as it reinforces practices that you want solidly in place.  Furthermore, if store policy isn’t followed correctly, retraining comes into play and is often needed.

At We Card, we offer 3 types of training:  Front Line training, Manger Training and Refresher training – all focused on ensuring that retailers provide the right elements for a successful employee.  Some research also points to training as a good employee retention program as employees feel valued when they’re offered more opportunities to learn and engage in activities that improve their on-the-job skills.

To check out We Card’s training or learn more about what makes a good training program, click here.

For questions about We Card, our initiatives, practices and products, visit www.wecard.org, or contact us at 1-800-934-3968 or comments@wecard.org.