Over 100 trainees took the opportunity to manage five PENNY stores on their own for a fortnight. Five of them report on their experiences.
Handover of keys at the PENNY store in Pulheim
From 31 January to 12 February, more than 100 trainees took over responsibility for five stores in the West region. The trainees managed the PENNY shops in Düsseldorf (Oberrather Straße 8), Pulheim (Sonnenallee 7), Troisdorf (Mendener Straße 21), Gladbeck (Feldhauser Straße 221) and Dortmund (Provinzialstraße 387) on their own. In doing so, they independently took on all the tasks that arise in the stores on a daily basis: Receiving goods, cashing up, placing orders, initiating returns, checking stock and even taking on complete store responsibility. The trainees were deployed according to the knowledge they had already acquired. During the two weeks, they provided insights into their everyday lives in various content formats on the PENNY Instagram channel.
Great trust in employees
Handover of keys at the PENNY store in Dortmund
"In addition to practical training, it is important to us that the trainees quickly take on responsibility. During the two weeks, they are more or less left to their own devices. This starts with ordering the goods, continues with the organisation and management of the store and ends at the checkout. The experienced employees can be contacted if necessary, but otherwise keep a low profile. With the trainee stores, we show that we have great confidence in our young employees," says Sando Piffczyk, Head of the PENNY Region West, which includes more than 360 stores in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.
Number of trainees increased
Handover of keys at the PENNY store in Düsseldorf
The campaign took place as part of PENNY's multi-media employer campaign. Under the motto "You can be anything but indifferent", the company has been increasingly targeting both employees who already work for PENNY and potential applicants since May 2021. Last year, PENNY increased the number of trainees by more than eight per cent from 945 (30/09/2020) to 1,028 (30/09/2021).
Handover of keys at the PENNY store in Gladbeck
How were the trainees practically prepared for the project and to what extent was experience from similar projects incorporated? one spoke to Alina Gremm, HR Expert Training Region West.
Alina Gremm
one: What is the idea behind the project?
Alina Gremm: The primary aim is to encourage the trainees to interact with each other and to promote independence and a sense of responsibility. The trainees were allowed to run a store independently and took on overall responsibility for the store. Fun was not to be neglected either. The stores were ready to sell as usual for customers, but they were made aware of the project through various advertising campaigns. We are pleased to use the project to draw attention to PENNY as an attractive employer and to inspire young people to do an apprenticeship at PENNY.
one: Were all trainees in the West region involved in the project?
Alina Gremm: Yes, PENNY trainees from all apprenticeship years in our region had the opportunity to take part in the project, including prospective sales assistants, retailers and trainees from the school-leaver programme.
one: How were the trainees prepared for this?
Alina Gremm: Thanks to the excellent training at the store, the trainees are familiar with the daily processes. This meant that the district managers, store managers and the store team played a key role in preparing for the campaign. In January, there was a digital kick-off event for each trainee store, where we provided the trainees with all the information they needed. On the day of the project launch, there was a briefing and handover from the store managers to the trainees. District managers were also available to answer questions to ensure that everything ran smoothly.
one: To what extent was it possible to incorporate experience from previous projects into the project?
Alina Gremm: The last trainee market project was implemented in our region in 2017. We benefited greatly from the experience gained from the last project and were able to build on the concept. As in 2017, we established a trainee market in each sales region. A project team consisting of sales managers, district managers and training experts was once again formed to organise the project. As a result, the dialogue was uncomplicated and decisions were implemented quickly via the responsible persons in the sales department.
one: And what innovations were there in this year's project?
Alina Gremm: Together with Employer Branding, we have planned a wide range of internal and external communication measures for 2022 - our social media communication via the PENNY Instagram channel is particularly noteworthy here. To this end, we have formed social media teams with trainees who have given an insight into their day-to-day work via the Instagram channel. I'm very happy about the media presence, as it allowed us to promote PENNY and the apprenticeship programme. There were also various campaigns in the stores, such as wheels of fortune and promotions with different products. As training experts, we were also on site for several days to personally answer any questions potential applicants had about training at PENNY.
Jan Steffgen, third-year apprentice at the PENNY store in Troisdorf:
"The project has been a super opportunity to find out about the different levels of knowledge of my fellow trainees and to be able to exchange ideas. It was an interesting experience to see what it's like to run a store completely without senior managers. I couldn't give any suggestions for improvement, as this project went really well and we had a lot of fun."
Philipp Radenhäuser, second-year apprentice:
"For two weeks, I managed the PENNY store in Puhlheim with other apprentices. As trainees from all three apprenticeship years worked together in teams, we had a wide range of different levels of knowledge. This allowed us to share our experiences of training and teach each other something. I learnt a lot and gained interesting experiences.
The project was also very well received by the customers. I received nothing but positive feedback for our work."
Evelyn Isaak, third-year apprentice and deputy in the trainee store:
"It was a challenge for me to be responsible for a large team at the PENNY store in Dortmund. As I didn't know all of the participating trainees, we first had to exchange ideas so that we could make the best possible use of our respective strengths and skills. Then I was able to entrust everyone with appropriate and sometimes new tasks, which we mastered together.
For me, the project was a wonderful and instructive experience that every trainee should have at least once."
Tugba Agca, second-year apprentice:
"As a team of 13 apprentices, we took over responsibility for the PENNY shop in Düsseldorf-Rath as part of the Azubi-Markt project. I really enjoyed the handover of the keys at the beginning, as it symbolised the start of the project. I particularly liked the working atmosphere and the interaction between us trainee colleagues. It was a super cool and very instructive project."
Darius Kekemeyer, first-year apprentice:
"I had a lot of expectations for the project. The prospect of realising what a store with a well-established and experienced team usually does without the permanent staff was particularly exciting. Seeing how the other trainees and I dealt with this new situation at the trainee store in Gladbeck was a valuable experience that taught me a lot. I'm now particularly excited to see how this experience will change the way we work."
Jan Steffgen, third-year apprentice at the PENNY store in Troisdorf:
"The project has been a super opportunity to find out about the different levels of knowledge of my fellow trainees and to be able to exchange ideas. It was an interesting experience to see what it's like to run a store completely without senior managers. I couldn't give any suggestions for improvement, as this project went really well and we had a lot of fun."
Philipp Radenhäuser, second-year apprentice:
"For two weeks, I managed the PENNY store in Puhlheim with other apprentices. As trainees from all three apprenticeship years worked together in teams, we had a wide range of different levels of knowledge. This allowed us to share our experiences of training and teach each other something. I learnt a lot and gained interesting experiences.
The project was also very well received by the customers. I received nothing but positive feedback for our work."
