In This Issue
Pleydell Smithyman celebrate 25 years working with garden centres
Heavy rain dampens sales at garden centres
Face masks from Global Journey are a garden centre bestseller
Cowell’s embraces back-to-school photo opportunity
Taking face mask fashion to a new level
Introducing Glee Gathering, 15-16 Sept 2020
Glee New Product Awards hosted by GTN
Plant sales up by 40% despite the rain
Lawn seed sales up five-fold this summer
Customers saddened by garden centre closure
HTA AGM 2020 goes virtual
Register for online plants industry event of the year
Gardenex produces updated A-Z Guide to Exporting
The UK’s £3.7 billion garden glow up
Never fear, Glee Daily News is here
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Garden products back to 9% down on volume
83% average weekly increase since re-opening for growing media
Tong Garden Centre invests in e-learning for team development
Feeders, hedgehogs and mealworms...big movers in Wild Bird Care sales chart
AIPH announces Virtual International Horticultural Expo Conference
The best of last week's
Plants just keep on selling
Pop up showroom in Edinburgh for garden centre buyers
Garden centre extension plans approved
Tong marks five years of ownership with further changes
Garden centre re-opens after suspected arson attack
Garden Centre Photo Tours
Haskins Snowhill re-opens after £15m re-vamp
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to the GTN Bestsellers printed weekly newsletter
All the latest news from the world of pet products
Natural Instinct unveils new packaging
Laughing Dog launches 100% vegan dog treat
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Tong Garden Centre invests in e-learning for team development

Tong Garden Centre has partnered with world leading e-learning provider SAP Litmos to provide a wealth of learning and development opportunities that will benefit people at all levels in the 181-strong team.

 

Head of people and culture, Neil Barwise-Carr, and his colleague Becki Smith will be working with managers at the Bradford centre to identify courses and pathways appropriate to individuals and teams, with a view to upskilling team members in areas including customer services, IT, safeguarding and food safety.

 

"The Litmos e-learning initiative is an engaging, extensive and accessible online learning platform that colleagues in all departments will be able to use to build both core skills for their current roles and additional skills for future development," said Mr Barwise-Carr.

 

"We have access to hundreds of modules, from diversity and inclusion, conflict management, sustainability through to IT, finance, communication and marketing skills, that we can tailor to the team, from new starters to experienced team members.

 

"The Litmos programme forms part of our blended learning approach and facilitates customised learning paths for all team members."

 

In addition to the e-learning initiative, the People and Culture team have also introduced additional paid breaks for team members working longer days, morning huddles, birthday tea and cake and social and fundraising events.

 

"The raft of initiatives that Neil and Becki have introduced have significantly enhanced motivation and engagement within the team. This has been verified with a 385% increase in our Net Promoter Score since we introduced it six months ago, which is a fantastic result," said Tong's MD, Mark Farnsworth.

 

The Net Promotor Score helps to measure employee engagement and to determine what is important to the team. You can score anything from -100 to +100, with anything between +10 and +40 deemed to be a good result. In their first survey, Tong achieved a result of +14 in its first assessment in January 2020 and had increased to +68 by June.

 

Tong Garden Centre occupies a 17-acre site in Tong village. It is one of Yorkshire's biggest garden centres with 110,000 square feet of retail space and parking for up to 1,000 cars.

  

Pictured (from left to right): Neil Barwise-Carr, Becki Smith and e-learner Dylan Carroll. 

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