New Possible’s British Training Awards sets out to discover and celebrate the organisations that are truly passionate about L&Ds role in building a thriving workforce.
In our ‘Sharing Success’ series, we interview British Training Awards Winners to shine a light on the inspiring projects that are improving workplaces across the UK and beyond. In this article we talk to Samantha Calandrelli at Dishoom, Winners of the 2024 ‘Onboarding Initiative of the Year’ category.
Introducing Samantha Calandrelli
Samantha has been with Dishoom for almost nine years, starting her journey in one of the cafés. Over the years, Samantha has had the opportunity to work in various positions across different sites and gain a deep understanding of café operations. About four years ago, Samantha joined the Learning & Development Team. As a Learning Architect, Samantha's focus is on designing and implementing training programs, helping opening new sites, and finding ways to support Dishoom-wallas.
About Dishoom
Dishoom pays homage to Bombay’s Irani cafés. They were the first places where people of any culture, class or religion could take refuge with a cup of chai or a simple snack. Dishoom continues to breakdown barriers in its restaurants and through its charity, which has donated a meal-for-every-meal served – over 20 million-meals to-date. Dishoom is managed by a team of Babus* led by co-founders Shamil and Kavi Thakrar. The first Dishoom opened in 2010, and now has eleven-cafés and 1900+ team-members.
Before the pandemic, Dishoom's onboarding materials were outdated and did not cater to the digital and inclusive learning styles of a new generation. Recognising the need for change, Dishoom undertook a comprehensive overhaul of its onboarding process starting in 2022. This included the creation of over 180 microlearning videos, updating 80+ e-learning modules, reworking the week-one induction process, and implementing in-café trainers.
These efforts resulted in increased engagement, reduced new starter turnover, and the development of bespoke digital and face-to-face content. However, Dishoom realised that a more cohesive learning experience was necessary to truly integrate new starters into the company culture and processes.
*Babu can be a term of respect in India but is usually used to refer to bureaucrats behind desks who don’t do much.
Developing the Ultimate Onboarding Workbooks
To address this, Dishoom embarked on an ambitious project to create comprehensive onboarding workbooks that seamlessly connect hard-copy materials to their digital ecosystem. The development process involved extensive focus groups and surveys, engaging 423 team members, which accounted for 47% of Dishoom's workforce at the time.
The resulting workbooks are designed to support all new team members, communicate Dishoom’s culture through design, introduce step-by-step onboarding journeys, emphasise wellbeing with on-shift mindfulness exercises, and highlight team members who are available to help.
On the challenges Dishoom aimed to address with the new onboarding workbooks, Samantha commented: “Over the past 14 years since we opened our first café in Covent Garden, both our business and the world around us have changed. One of the biggest shifts has been our team's expectations of their workplace and how they learn in the flow of work. This generational and cultural change meant that we needed a fresh approach to our onboarding process and how we share important information.
By 2022, we had already rethought how we support new starters and had created a suite of microlearning content; we refreshed our e-learning modules; reworked our induction processes; and updated our face-to-face training approach.
While these initiatives sparked engagement, helped to reduce new-starter turnover, and created bespoke digital and face-to-face content for new starters, our learning experience was still not as seamless as we wanted it to be. We still needed to find a way to consolidate these resources so that we could share our culture, embed processes, and streamline our step-by-step onboarding journey with ease. In a way, it was like we had all the ingredients for a great dish but we didn't have the recipe to bring it all together. After conducting a series of full team surveys and focus groups, we knew that our new starter workbook was the document that would bring together these different elements.“
Insights were also drawn from diverse sources, including hospitality industry leaders and best practices from renowned organisations like Harvard Medical School, Boeing, Apple, Netflix, and Valve.
When asked what insights Dishoom integrated from these organisations, Samantha commented:
“When designing our workbooks, we looked to several organisations, most of them from different sectors, for inspiration.
Harvard Medical School’s emphasis on trusting individuals' judgement while also creating a clear step-by-step plan for complicated processes influenced our content creation. We ensured that every piece of information in our workbooks was accurate, clear, and concise. This helped minimise misunderstandings and ensured that new starters could quickly grasp essential concepts and procedures while also allowing our trainers to bring their expertise.
From Boeing, we learned about the importance of checklists - using the pre-flight checklist approach we created a series of end of day checklists and end of training checklists that broke down content into individual learning assets. This approach ensured that complex processes were broken into smaller tasks - which ensured that learners understood everything they needed to before taking their test.
Apple’s minimalist design guided us in creating a clean, intuitive layout for our workbooks to help new team members navigate through the content easily and focus on what truly matters.
Netflix's strategy of feeding the right content at the right time helped us rethink how and when we shared links to digital content to supplement the team's learning.
From Valve, we learned how they use design exceptionally well to communicate their culture. This inspired us to find the right tone of voice and to integrate elements of our unique Dishoom lingo and humour throughout the workbook, making the content more relatable and engaging. This helped new team members understand and embrace our culture from the start.”
Innovative Learning Techniques
To ensure the effectiveness of the workbooks, Dishoom implemented several innovative learning techniques. These included pre-training surveys to identify learners with additional needs, a blended-learning approach combining digital, classroom, and practical training, daily checklists, QR codes linking to digital resources, and end-of-shift practice quizzes. Visual presentations of product specifications were also provided to assist ESL learners, and flexibility was built into the process with an end-of-training ‘pre-flight checklist’ and a final sign-off survey.
On the blended-learning approach and its impact, Samantha commented: “The workbooks unite face-to-face, digital and hard-copy resources into one learning-ecosystem and create an inclusive learning environment for our new starters.
Incorporating illustrations and diagrams within the workbooks helps visual learners better understand and retain information. We included digital resources with audio and video for team members who like to learn by listening. The workbooks are designed to be used during practical, hands-on activities, in-person training sessions, and on-the-floor practice, allowing kinesthetic learners to engage through physical interaction. Offering detailed written content, end-of-day quizzes, checklists, and extra pages for note-taking supports those who learn best through reading and writing.
The workbooks have made a big difference to our team and helped the wider business in a several way, including:
- New Starter feedback on their first week of training is the best it's ever been. Our guest feedback noticeably improved once the workbooks were introduced and there was a significant drop in new starters and overall turnover.
- Most importantly, the feedback from our team has been overwhelmingly positive. They feel heard and valued, and they have acknowledged that the new workbooks delivered exactly what they needed.“
Continuous Improvement and Impact
The initial version of the workbooks was beta tested in Dishoom cafes, and over seven months, feedback was gathered, and adjustments were made to refine the content. By summer 2023, the fully designed workbooks were launched to great acclaim.
The impact of the new onboarding program has been significant. The initiative has cost £7,000 to design but has successfully united face-to-face, digital, and hard-copy materials into one cohesive learning ecosystem. It has created a consistent yet flexible step-by-step induction pathway, resulting in 98% positive feedback from new starters, a 12% improvement in guest feedback scores, and a 20% reduction in new starter turnover.
Dishoom's comprehensive and innovative approach to onboarding has set a new standard in the hospitality industry, demonstrating the power of adapting to change and the importance of continuous improvement in employee training and development.
What advice would Samantha give to other companies looking to implement similar onboarding initiatives?
“Look for Inspiration Everywhere: Don’t limit yourself to your industry alone and actively seek out best practices from other sectors. You never know where the next great idea might come from. We discovered that we have much in common with organisations we never thought we’d relate to!
Adapt for Change: The world and your organisation are constantly evolving, so look for ways to design content to be time-proof and easy to update. Our approach included a fixed document that links to up-to-date digital assets, which made updates easier and helped our printed content to stay current.
Less is more: Be ruthless with the content you include. Every element should have a clear purpose and contribute to the overall goals of the onboarding process. If it's not essential, is it really needed?
Seek Tough Feedback: Ask for tough feedback at each step. Seek feedback from old timers and senior leaders, and continually adapt based on their input.“
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