Improving customer and business outcomes required more than traditional training. Circle K responded by rebuilding its frontline learning strategy for 85,000 associates, creating a stronger connection between learning and real-world performance on the shop floor.
85% of staff reported the training made them better at their jobs
85,000 associates trained globally
87% knowledge score gain, first to final attempt, 2020 rollout
14,000 stores across 27 countries
Acknowledgement: This page is based on the Circle K Transforms Frontline Training into Measurable Performance, a case study authored by Jordan Hammerstad, Associate Director of Research at The Josh Bersin Company. The material has been edited and condensed with permission.
Circle K is one of the world’s largest convenience retail brands, with nearly 150,000 employees serving customers across 14,000 stores in 27 countries. The mission is straightforward: make customers’ lives “a little easier every day.”
Delivering that consistently proved harder. Circle K had grown through acquisitions, and as Sue Vandersall put it, the company had “tended to let people do things the way they wanted to.” Service behaviors were delivered locally, moment by moment, across different markets, store formats, and customer situations.
The problem was not a lack of training activity. Employees were completing e-learning. But customer satisfaction scores weren’t moving, and new hires weren’t staying. Traditional methods weren’t producing the behavior change the business needed.
The operating model made it harder still. Store teams average 10 to 15 people, turnover is high, and the first six months are decisive for retention. Training was delivered by thousands of local managers rather than a central team, which left consistency dependent on local execution and gave field leaders no reliable way to see what had been completed, let alone applied.
What began as a European pilot in 2018 became the foundation for how Circle K develops its frontline:
Simulation scores are deliberately kept separate from formal evaluation. Employees can retry as many times as they need, and keep experimenting after they pass, making real mistakes in practice rather than in front of a customer.
The same platform proved itself under pressure. When lockdowns began in March 2020 and Circle K’s stores stayed open as essential services, custom protocol training went live in nine languages four days after the first conversation.
Eight years in, the results show up where frontline training is supposed to: safer stores, stronger customer interactions, and employees who feel prepared to do the work,
“At the end of the day, what we care about is facilitating learning. It doesn’t matter how many simulation attempts it takes to pass; what matters is that they leave the learning experience ready to do the work.” Sue Vandersall Vice President, Executive Succession Planning and Talent Development, Couche-Tard
Circle K is adapting its learning strategy to how employees actually look for information: in shorter, more immediate, and more contextual ways. Vandersall describes learning as happening in “small bites,” whether that means watching a brief video or asking an AI assistant for what’s needed in the moment.
That shift is shaping the company’s exploration of AI-enabled and conversational learning, including tools that support natural dialogue and scenario-based practice. The direction points toward realistic customer simulations where employees rehearse conversations with AI that mirror actual in-store interactions.
“Learning is becoming less about completing orientation or working through a training program and more about helping employees learn quickly, when they need it, and to the point.” Sue Vandersall Vice President, Executive Succession Planning and Talent Development at Couche-Tard
A partnership that’s evolved over eight years.
