I was at my local Staples tonight picking up a few things, the girl at the register had a name tag which said her name followed by "I'm in training".
I like the concept of this thing, to help employees understand that this person is new and still learning, unfortunately they cause more problems than they solve. The ones that just say "In training" or "Trainee" are even more demeaning. Even a new employee has a name for goodness sake!
BUT...
There's a growing number of customers who HATE dealing with new employees and the "in training" tag puts a giant bullseye on their chest. How many times have you been in line at a fast food restaurant and noticed the employee handling your line has a "training" tag on. Sure he's probably not taking much longer than the other cashiers to do his thing, but inevitably some customers will complain about the rookie taking the orders.
I am fully in favor of NOT forcing employees to wear these ridiculous tags as it just gives customers a reason to berate them/complain to their manager/be generally sucky simply because the person happens to be new.
I think companies should treat their employees with more respect than that.
I like the concept of this thing, to help employees understand that this person is new and still learning, unfortunately they cause more problems than they solve. The ones that just say "In training" or "Trainee" are even more demeaning. Even a new employee has a name for goodness sake!
BUT...
There's a growing number of customers who HATE dealing with new employees and the "in training" tag puts a giant bullseye on their chest. How many times have you been in line at a fast food restaurant and noticed the employee handling your line has a "training" tag on. Sure he's probably not taking much longer than the other cashiers to do his thing, but inevitably some customers will complain about the rookie taking the orders.
I am fully in favor of NOT forcing employees to wear these ridiculous tags as it just gives customers a reason to berate them/complain to their manager/be generally sucky simply because the person happens to be new.
I think companies should treat their employees with more respect than that.
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