In addition to spending about 20 hours per new employee for training, retailers report that new hires drain other resources and complicate store operations. In addition to new hires' inexperience there is often a disconnect between retail headquarters and stores that can cause summer promotions to not come off as well as planned.

To combat the problem develop a program that targets current employees, giving them incentives to help new hires by sharing information and watching out for them, especially in the execution of summer promotions.

Develop very specific instructions for executing summer promotions and build in incentives for employees for executing them according to plan. Communicate desired results and exactly how and when results should be reported so adjustments can be made if necessary so if it appears that results may not be as expected, results can be turned around.

Getting new hires up to speed quickly and effectively not only reduces the drain on resources, but can serve to retain employees as well.