Orientation is a key to getting the newbie to familiarize themself and adapt to the organization, work environment, culture, and practices that are prominent in the organization. Orienting the employees is an opportunity for the company to establish the policies, code of conduct, and ground to commence a relationship with fellow employees. In addition to that, I strongly believe that a well-structured orientation carries great weight in employees’ perception of the organization and its people; especially when it is brick and mortar like Marshalls. Let us promptly explore the orientation at Marshalls.
For the stores, stretched orientation might not hold much importance as the employees visit the store every day. At Marshalls, the orientation is wrapped up in a day and lasts for two to four hours to be precise. Let’s dig more into the details.
What is Marshalls?
Incorporated in 1956, Marshalls is a division of Melville Corporation known for its footwear. It is a subsidiary of TJX Companies Inc. Marshalls is an established budget-friendly retail chain offering a lifestyle – a wide range of apparel for men, women & children, home decor & furniture. The headquarters is situated in Framingham, Massachusetts, US. It has over 1000 stores around the globe and thousands of employees working part or full-time; it has successfully settled its online presence as well through its official website since 2019. Take a look at the website here.
Fun facts
- Marshalls is not a discount store, rather it is an off-price retail store.
- All of its stores do not contain the same merchandise, what a unique strategy! ▪ Half of Marshalls customers are men.
A dive into the Orientation Day
As a usual orientation norm, it is all about knowing the company and co-workers and introducing yourself. The detailed orientation is comprised of the –
- Introduction to the company
- Code of conduct
- Paperwork
- Tour of the store
Specifics
Orientation takes place in the back of the store setting up a few tables adjacent to each other; the seats are assigned to the employees providing their badges and paperwork to collect personal information for company records and go through the modules and accept the company policies.
The day commences with an introduction to the corporation, its history, offerings, customer services, people practices, culture, etc through a video. The new joiners are given detailed information regarding how things work at the store, everything about customers, and how they prevent loss.
On top of that, they are given a tour of the store. It gives a thorough understanding of the structure, different departments, how and where the items are displayed, and an idea about customer footfall. There is an opportunity to learn to run the computer registers.
The Culture
With a motive of delivering great value to the customers, Marshalls is keen on attracting ambitious talent who are welcomed and valued for their diversity and background. There, it is essential to teach them the off-price business model and support them in order to let them provide value to the customers. To encourage and engage the staff, they have seven specific categories of benefits:
- Insurance
- Leave
- Flexibility at work
- Health & wellness
- Financial perks
- Retirement Meals
In 2018, Marshalls was listed as America’s Best Employers in Forbes magazine.
Any Other Day at Marshalls
It is different according to the position and role, but what is universal for all of them is, a busy day at work.
For the store, sales, and merchandise Associates, the regular activities contain stocking & restocking shelves, helping with the register for the bookkeeping, welcoming & helping customers with departments, directions, and suggestions and attending to the queries they have, putting shopping carts in place, loading & unloading trucks, scanning the products and billing.
To bifurcate it into categories –
- Administrative
- Sales
- Stock Management
- Customer Service
Conclusion
To make a long story short, Marshalls provides an orientation for a few hours the day before the first day, to give a gist about the company and the specific store in order to bring in basic clarity with a view to addressing the motive to provide a great customer value every day and include the new employees into the culture of the company now running for more than 65 years.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the hiring process at Marshalls?
There is a short and standard procedure
- Filling out the application form – Quick phone or personal interview – reference check ▪ Earlier there were forms in hard copy, but as digitalization has taken place, Marshalls has also switched to online applications that can be accessed on the company website or different online job sites. Walk-in is an option as well.
2. What do they ask in the interview?
For the most part, there are common questions like –
- Introduce yourself.
- Tell me about your background.
- How much time would you be able to devote?
- What are you studying?
- Where have you worked before?
There are a few job related questions –
- How would you deal with an angry customer?
- Would you be able to multitask?
- How do you define Customer Service?
3. What is the one thing to work at Marshalls?
Different employees have different opinions, yet most commonly, the best about working there is customers, employee discounts, relaxed management, supporting co workers, helping customers, and flexible timing.
4. What is a pay mechanism at Marshalls?
Employees are paid weekly, in most cases on Fridays. There is a fixed hourly pay rate; once the employee completes six months at the store, raise is given.
5. What is minimum age eligibility?
18 years is the minimum age, it would be best to confirm with the store.
6. What are the shift timings at any store of Marshalls?
Based on the feedback from the employees, shift timings vary on weekly bases. It also depends on the employment type and position. The regular full-time employees work for 6 to 9 hours and part-time employees work for 4 to 6 hours on any typical day at Marshalls.
