Dollar General Moves to Microlearning Platform to Train Staff

Dollar General, the fast-growing small discount store that recently announced a major hiring blitz, will train those 20,000 new arrivals—along with more than 150,000 existing front-line and corporate staff—through Axonify, a microlearning tech platform providing on-the-job training and development, the companies said.

Axonify focuses on front-line training programs that deliver what it called “personalized, bite-sized bursts of learning right in the flow of work,” providing efficient and effective training on mobile devices and existing systems without requiring separate lessons away from the store floor. U.S. retailers including Walmart, Festival Foods, Kroger, Northgate Gonzalez and Southeastern Grocers currently work with Waterloo, Ontario-based Axonify.

“In an effort to continue to innovate our training initiatives, we required a modern learning partner that offered personalized, scalable training that fits within the flow of work, engages employees and supports the business while reducing time to train,” Lori Bremer, Dollar General VP of talent management, said in a statement. “Axonify’s front line-forward vision was a natural fit for DG as we strive to empower our associates to deliver the very best customer experience.”

Dollar General said earlier this month that it would look to hire an additional 20,000 employees to support its fast-growing business and plans to open more than 1,000 new units this year. The Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based retailer employs 157,000 overall.

Axonify said it would enable Dollar General to measure how training knowledge is being applied on the job, helping the retailer align employee learning with business objectives. The company says employees also prefer training this way: 83% of users log in two to three times a week, which Axonify translates into meaningful behavior change that drives business results.

“Dollar General’s mission of serving others, and thereby serving its employees, is absolutely commendable and we are proud to further support that mission as a critical partner,” said Carol Leaman, co-founder and CEO of Axonify. “Whether onboarding a new sales associate, rolling out a new technology or product, or communicating company policies, a modern approach to training that evolves from a one-size-fits-all method is critical for today’s frontline employees.”