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Tools · Associate training

Five-minute loss prevention huddle card

By awareretailgroup.com Editorial· Edited by · Published

Steps

  1. Pick the fixed weekday. Choose one day a week for the loss prevention huddle and write it on the schedule. Keep the other days for sales, staffing, and the truck.
  2. Print the four-week rotation. Print the rotation table and tape it inside the office door. Check each week off when it is done.
  3. Fill in the card tonight. Complete every line of the card before leaving: the behavior, its trigger, one example from this store, two questions, and the names of the two associates you will ask.
  4. Gather everyone at shift start. Run it standing, at the start of the shift with the most associates on the floor. Skip nobody. If the crew is spread across departments, run it twice.
  5. Minute one: state the behavior. Read the behavior and its trigger word for word from the card.
  6. Minute two: show it at the fixture. Move the huddle to the register or the back door and demonstrate the behavior on this store's fixtures.
  7. Minutes three and four: associates answer. Ask question one to the first named associate and question two to the second. Each answers out loud. Correct a wrong answer on the spot.
  8. Minute five: name the watch item. Name the one thing to watch for today, say who to tell, and end on time.
  9. Hand off the card. Give the card to whoever opens tomorrow. A keyholder or assistant manager runs the same script from it on the store manager's day off.
  10. Check a week later. Ask the same two questions to the same two associates next week, without the card. A blank stare means repeat the behavior instead of advancing.

Drawn from the article this tool is based on.

This card is the printed half of the manager huddle talking points for loss prevention. It holds one behavior, one store example, two questions, and where to report. The manager fills it in the night before, holds it during the five-minute huddle, and hands it to whoever opens next.

How to use it

Print the rotation table once and the card once per week. The huddle runs on one fixed weekday, attached to the operations huddle, with its own five minutes so it is never the item cut when the operations list runs long. Everyone on the floor attends, including the person hired yesterday. Keep names out of the example: describe the register, the shift, and what happened, then coach the individual privately. The script never changes, only the card, which is why a keyholder can run it on the manager’s day off.

Week four carries the observe, report, never confront rule, the same floor standard as the repeat offender policy. The card’s last line, where to report, is the path employee theft awareness training builds around a named trusted person. More at the associate training hub.

The printable

The card, one index card or half sheet:

The four-week rotation, taped inside the office door:

Week Behavior (one line) Trigger Two questions to ask
1 Check the bottom of the basket and under the cart before closing the sale Every transaction with a cart or large bag “Where do you look first?” and “What do you say if something is not on the belt?”
2 Count the cases before you sign the receiving log Every delivery, every vendor, every driver “What do you do if the count is short?” and “Who do you tell before the driver leaves?”
3 Greet, make eye contact, and offer help as soon as someone enters your section Anyone lingering, blocking an aisle, or working in a pair “What does a good greeting sound like?” and “What do you do if they refuse help?”
4 Observe, report, never confront, never chase Any known repeat offender, aggressive customer, or pushout “Who do you call and what do you say?” and “Where do you go if it turns loud?”

After week four, start over at week one. On the back of each week’s card, keep two tallies by hand: how many associates reported something, and whether each report got a response they heard about. Bring the cards to the next district visit.

Common mistakes

Mistake What it looks like The fix
The lecture The manager talks the whole five minutes and associates nod and leave Minutes three and four belong to two named associates. If nobody else spoke, the huddle did not happen.
The news bulletin Every huddle covers yesterday’s incident, so there is no rotation and no repetition Yesterday’s incident becomes the example in minute two. The behavior on the card stays the same.
The orphan One manager owns it and it stops on their day off The card lives in the office, and a keyholder runs the script from it exactly as written.
The overrun It runs long on Monday and gets skipped by Wednesday End at five minutes every time, so the crew learns it will not eat their opening tasks.

What to do this week