well as you probably know we've got our
own in-house training facility here for
bursters as many for staff but we and by
we I mean our marketing department do
open it up to the public too
so it can get a bit messy in terms of
scheduling if we're hiring someone to go
into a barista role we insist on some
previous training in experience there's
certainly no shortage of applicants but
it's company policy that they should
know how to make the best coffee with
our beans and equipment so all new hires
have to attend some training sessions
which is where life starts to get
complicated first off I have to be
notified when a new hire is employed in
a burst role of any of our cafes some of
the managers are good about letting me
know others seem to blot out my
existence and just don't communicate at
all sometimes I only find out there's
someone new when I stopped by a cafe or
my regular long black and get something
that just isn't up to standard the
damage a substandard barista can do to
our brand just isn't worth thinking
about well the coffee might taste okay
but then I notice something really off
like a cold taro being served in a flat
wake up I've seen some real shockers but
where was I oh yes the basic training so
assuming a manager has let me know when
someone new has been recruited they then
get in touch with the new hire to
schedule training sometimes you get some
real resistance bristles can be a bunch
of prima donnas always think you they
know it already but if they want to work
for Coffee Co they've got to learn to do
things our way I try to remember to add
their name and the training session
scheduled and attended to the
spreadsheet but we do get a lot of
people through high turnover in this
industry and things just get away from
me now I think about it I guess it's not
just the spreadsheet because I use that
calendar thing an Outlook to book the
meetings so there's some information in
one place and summon another I guess
when it comes down to it there's my
whiteboard that I rely on most to keep
check of wind training sessions are
booked there's the master source really
which means we have a few issues of
marketing trying to schedule public
training because they're all based in
the office
of the road and can't actually see my
whiteboard so if I'm out and about
there's no easy way of knowing when the
speed training slots up oh and I forgot
to mention there's another marketing
inspired training venture that's
complicating my life big time there's
bright idea of vlogging training two
small independent cafes so we're pushing
our beans and smaller equipment at the
same time there's a new venture and it's
complicating our in-house training
scheduling even further
marketing sometimes I think I've been
not say what I really think about that
bunch
so all our baristas are required to
attend three basic training sessions
when they start work with us each of
these sessions last two hours so there
might not be scheduled on the same day
but it should be reasonably close
together we have to fit in with the
rostering at the home cafe it's a bit of
a juggling act to say the least then if
they miss a session I must admit I don't
always know about it
so probably our follow-up isn't as good
as it could be but you can't control
everything can you it's only after
they've completed these three sessions
that in theory they're allowed to fly
solo and lead the shift it's probably
fair to say a few fall through the
cracks though there's another aspect to
all of this and that I've only been
talking about the new staff hired as
baristas we've also got the situation
when you've got your other non
specialist cafe crew runners kitchen
hands counter staff etc who perhaps
might be drafted in when the breast is a
short or hard pressed to keep up with
demand if a cafe finds they have someone
already on their books who shows promise
and being a barista is an art not a
science
then they'll obviously want to hang on
to them in that case we've got to work
out a specialized training plan for them
so they can build up to full barista
status it doesn't happen overnight which
means we've got a fair few of these
let's call them baby baristas they'll
have to be monitored they stand in line
to get a pay hike if they make it to a
full barista status so it's important to
keep tabs on them I've got most of them
listed on another spreadsheet somewhere
or other I think
and of course because these babies are
starting from zero they've got a lot
more ground to cover first of all
they've got to do the basics like a
spritzer preparation understanding the
different type of milks and how to put
the drinks together most people have no
idea the effective fat content and milk
has on the creamer
but regressing again as they either get
the hang of grinding tamping and
extracting they can move on to the next
level of training which covers a greater
range of drinks customer service skills
and preventative maintenance to know how
much we've been missing in these
machines and for each of these skills
there are exams both Russian and
practical we don't do things perhaps
here luckily recording the outcome of
his exams is one of the easiest parts of
my job if I forget and a baby for us to
past you can bet your bottom dollar
they'll remind me so if they don't
remind me and there's no password are
recorded on my spreadsheet for them then
I know they must have failed
there's my foolproof system at least I
can feel I've got that part nailed down