Practise judging why businesses train workers, from induction and on-the-job methods to safety compliance, productivity and training limits.
In 1971 Starbucks opened its first coffee shop in Seattle, Washington, US. Since then, it has experienced significant growth with more than 32,000 stores operating across 80 countries. It sells coffee and food products including cakes, biscuits and sandwiches. Starbucks has a mission 'To inspire and nurture the human spirit - one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time.'
Starbucks refers to its employees as 'partners' as they encourage people to support each other and work to achieve common goals. It offers the opportunity for partners to develop their skills and knowledge of the coffee shop market, by starting as baristas, then as coffee masters and finally as coffee shop managers.
Explain one disadvantage for a business of training its employees.
A01-3 marks
Award 1 mark for identification of a disadvantage for a business training its employees, plus 2 further marks, for a maximum of 3 marks.
- Training employees takes a great deal of time (1) and needs existing employees to carry out the training (1) which can reduce the productivity of the business (1)
- Existing employees have to be taught how to train employees (1) which incurs additional expense (1) for the business and there is no guarantee they are trained efficiently (1)
NB No marks are awarded for a definition.
Answers that list three disadvantages with no explanation will get 1 mark only.
Accept any appropriate response.
(3)