Safeway is teaching workers "not to take their personalities off when they put their uniforms on" with a new theatre-style staff training initiative. Training manager Sue Scouler-Davison said: "It is a very different type of training event ­ it's about taking the shackles off. We are working on creating a social atmosphere in store, part of Safeway's new emphasis on retailtainment'. "We want staff to bring their fun side into work with them. We want lots of buzz in store." The STAR training programme ­ Seeing, Taking Responsibility, Action and Relationship-building ­ uses cabaret techniques to bring out spontaneity in delegates. Activities on the away-days are physical: chairs are pushed to one side as delegates limber up, sing nursery rhymes, and role play selling vegetables with a song and a dance. Staff are not being taught to act, according to Scouler-Davison, just to be themselves. "The real purpose is to teach delegates about how to express themselves in the way that will get across the message behind the words, how to listen to each other and work as part of a team," she said. The desired end result is excellence in customer service as attentive staff interact with customers in a relaxed store atmosphere, she added. "We are encouraging a very different atmosphere to that usually found in a traditional British supermarket. At the moment we are focusing on staff at reformatted Safeway stores in the fresh to go areas, particularly in the south-west and Scotland. We have trained up 20 people to deliver the courses in house." {{PEOPLE MOVES }}

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