week 5 attached is the template and instructions attached is the Portfolio Project and Part II has instructions that has to added.

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Theresa Gass-Williams

Bryant & Stratton College

HURS350 - Training and Development

Professor Pugh

September 27, 2025

The Vitamin Shoppe is a national retail outlet that deals with vitamins, supplements, and health related products, and exists in a highly competitive industry that is dynamic. The company has some challenges to deal with which include the emerging competition posed by online stores, swiftly evolving consumer behavior and the employees must be capable of proving that they are well versed with the product and have had adequate customer service abilities. Although the organization enjoys a good mission which focuses on fostering a healthy lifestyle, there are weaknesses in developing the workforce, such as the lack of uniformity in the training provided at home and insufficient responsibility in the action of skills acquired. The needs assessment in this report entails the collection of data at the organization level, Job level, and individual level in the training needs assessment. It also identifies the stakeholders, training requirements, and suggests the long-term objectives of workforce development very much aligned with the direction of the company.

Body

I. Data Collection

A. Organizational Level Assessment

The Vitamin Shoppe training course should underpin the mission of the company to give customers a healthier life, and at the same time be strategic in promoting customer experience and sustaining informed workforce. Organizational culture has principles of empowerment, education, and interaction with customers and this makes training a critical tool in positioning these values. Yet, the rules and regulation concerning making the employees accountable and rewarding their application of skills not routinely applied throughout all locations within the stores. Accountability in training would enhance by a more developed performance devaluation mechanism that depends on training results.

The company has enough resources to train as it has access to e learning sites, in-store education as well as external collaboration with health specialists. But it will require to allocate resources in a strategic way to cover the weaknesses of consistency and employee engagement. There are number of essential insights brought out in SWOT analysis. Its strengths are an existent brand image, its devoted customers, and the availability of contemporary training technologies. Poor practice of training programs, poor incentives that may motivate employees to engage in life-long learning and large turnover in retail jobs are weaknesses. There are existing opportunities in the prospective market of wellness, utilization of online training programs, and partnership with medical staff. Competition on the internet, a high rate of fluctuation in demands and problems of stable workforce in the competitive labor market are some of the threats.

B. Job Level Assessment

The most suitable method is competency-based analysis in the Vitamin Shoppe since achieving success would be based not only on completed tasks but also encompass the behaviors related with the work done like communication, customer services, and product knowledge. Skills in the areas define how the employees can accomplish the provision of the kind of service desired both by the organization and its clients. In doing the job analysis, a number of techniques can be used, among which are interviews conducted with managers to know their views on the performance expectations, observation conducted on sales associates in dealing with customers to know their behaviors, and questionnaires given to employees to represent their views on their training needs. These techniques will offer desirable insight into competencies and capabilities necessary. Job incumbent is the source of job analysis because they can further explain what they can do and fail to perform in the sales floor, there is the supervisor who can assess the performance outcomes and there is subject matter expert whose role is to make the technical knowledge in nutrition and supplements accurate and relevant.

C. Person Level Assessment

At individual level, research training would be suitable to employees at Vitamin Shoppe since there are gaps in product knowledge and high-level skills in dealing with customers. Employees are usually inspirational and trainable, thus able to learn. Nevertheless, company should take the realities of the staff turnover into consideration meaning that training programs need to be brief, available, and flexible. Performance evaluation assessments in identification of individual training needs used to identify the weaknesses in customer service; skills inventory where skills of employees in products and services recorded and placement or technical tests when employees are supposed to undertake specialized advising duties. Through these tools, guaranteed that training done to the right targeted individuals and serves as an aid to personal as well as organizational objectives.

II. Identify Stakeholders

The training process has stakeholders such as the employees, store managers, corporate leadership, and the customers. Primary stakeholders are also the employees who will deal with the customer directly and how well they use the knowledge they have acquired through training. The store managers are critical about performance monitoring and effectiveness of training performed. Corporate leadership makes sure that training is related to the greater mission and plan, and even customers are indirect stakeholders as they are the ones to be satisfied with a well-trained staff.

The stakeholder buy-in will be important to the success of training initiatives as its absence may result in an outcome where training is either unlikely or not fully implemented as well as maintained. Buy-in may attained by ensuring the stakeholders in the design process, generating awareness about long-term returns of training, and showing them how training helps in achieving organizational objectives. Resistance and issues to concern may be managed through provision of explanations of expected results, including the pilot training programs to seek feedback, and by relating training results to quantifiable results including sales improvement or, customer contentment.

III. Analyze Training Needs

Based on the sets of the collected data and stakeholders, a set of potential training requirements in the Vitamin Shoppe can identify. Employees do not always have congruent knowledge of products and, therefore, are unable to offer advice to the customers. Communication and customer services skills are also lacking, and this creates unequal experiences with customers in the various locations. Moreover, the company has issues related to the high turnover rates, so it is poised to necessitate creating training that is flexible and efficient.

Three long-term strategic goals proposed in order to deal with these problems. To begin with, the organization must consider implementing a uniform training message in all the stores of the organization to promote similarity in product knowledge and customer services. Secondly, it must implement an incentive system based on performance, which will reward employees who utilize the results of training in their job performance. Third, to enhance retention and engagement, the company needs to invest in professional development of its workforce, investing in digital platforms, constant learning opportunities, and career advancement programs. The strategic objectives will enable the organization to seal the knowledge gaps, minimize the performance gaps as well as align the workforce development process with its mission of enhancing the healthier lifestyle.

Conclusion

Analyzing the training needs assessment of the Vitamin Shoppe reveals a lot of potential improvement in the areas of workforce development and performance. The organizational level requires training to conform to the mission and strategy and overcome the weaknesses including low application and accountability. On the job level, competency-based analysis supports the elevated level of communication, product knowledge, and customer engagement depicted as the most important skills. On a one-on-one level, training is possible and required, and employees become willing to learn. The participation of stakeholders is very essential in the achievement of training success, and long-term strategic objectives should be directed towards the standardization of training, establishment of performance rewards, and in the continuous development. These measures will help the Vitamin Shoppe to develop a diligence of talent, better experiences to customer, as well as competitive advantages in health and wellness sector.

Noe, R. A. (2020). Employee training and development (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Werner, J. M., & DeSimone, R. L. (2017). Human resource development (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.