Knock Travel – job review
| Company name | Knock Travel |
|---|---|
| Sector | Tourism |
| Number of employees | 22 |
| Type of workforce | Office workers |
What issue was the organisation facing?
With the current credit crunch, business is down in many parts of the travel industry. At Knock Travel business was down 40% at the start of 2008. Knock Travel wanted to ensure that staff remained motivated, engaged and performing well at work during this time.
What action did the organisation take?
Structured training was delivered in a variety of ways, through off-the-job training courses and in-house training.
Retail staff were given the opportunity to specialise in an area of their choice, for example they could become the Cruising Specialist or South America Specialist. To become a specialist they complete additional training in that area and often attend familiarisation trips to further develop their knowledge and enable them to better advise their customers.
There were also opportunities to work shadow or cross train across departments, for example someone working in business travel may shadow someone in retail to get an overview of what's happening within their department and to learn from each other.
In addition, a wide range of informal learning and development takes place at Knock Travel, including social events such as meals out and BBQs, work life balance initiatives and Team Building Days.
What has been the impact of implementing interventions?
By re-focusing and committing to developing staff through job review, training and development Knock Travel have turned business from being down 40% at the start of 2008 to down 15%, which is a significant achievement and far better than many are currently performing in the industry.
Staff confidence, ability and general well-being has increased. This helps make sales and encourages repeat business. At Knock Travel around 80% of their customers are repeat customers.
Staff retention – staff are more confident as a result of training and therefore more likely to be happy in their job and more likely to stay in their job.
More productive and efficient staff – knowledgeable staff have saved time and are more efficient.