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The real knowledge isn’t in the manual

Ask anyone who’s actually run a shop floor. It’s knowing why the Tuesday delivery always comes in short, or which regular needs a size held back before it disappears. Retail loses people faster than most industries, and each time someone leaves, something goes missing that was never written down.

What walks out the door

Each time someone leaves, something goes missing.

OakHive is knowledge transfer software. Before someone leaves, an AI interviewer talks with them about the work, by voice and in their own language. This is what comes back.

The Tuesday delivery that comes in short

There’s a reason, and someone on the floor knows it. It’s been that way so long that nobody thinks of it as knowledge. The new manager will count it three times before anyone tells them.

Handover guide. What lands on you first: The five things that need attention in week one.; The Tuesday delivery that comes in short: What was decided, and the reasoning behind it.; Known risks & exceptions: The one case that breaks the default process.; Who to ask, and when: Contacts for what isn’t in this guide.

From the handover guide, written to whoever takes the role next.

The register that jams

There’s a workaround. It has never been written on anything, because everyone on the shift already knows it, until the shift changes.

Guided session, Chapter 2 of 4. Chapters: The five things that land on you first; The register that jams, and how to clear it (open); The one exception that breaks the default process; When to call, and when to escalate.

From the guided session that walks the role chapter by chapter.

The regular who needs a size held back

Customers stay for the person who remembers them. When that person moves to another location, the memory goes too, unless someone recorded it.

Ask Monica. A colleague: Which regular has a size held back? OakHive: Two of them, both on the Thursday list. She kept the sizes in the back office diary, not in the system. A colleague: And who signed that off? OakHive: That wasn’t covered in her interview, so I won’t guess at it.

From the chat, answering after they have gone.

The seasonal display that never matches the diagram

The printed plan says one thing; the floor does another, for a reason that was good three seasons ago. Whoever built the display is the only one who can say why.

Manager’s summary, Section 4 of 4. Sections: What the role actually covered; Seasonal displays that never match the diagram; Risks and gaps (flagged); What wasn’t covered (flagged).

From the manager’s summary, ready before the last day.

Who to interview

The store manager finishing up. The supervisor headed to another location. The floor lead everyone asks when the register jams.

What they knew stays behind after the last shift.

Questions retail teams ask

  • Testers told us they’d rather talk for an hour or two than write handover documents for weeks. There’s nothing to prepare and nothing to write, because it is a voice conversation. They can pause and come back over a few days, and the interview stays on the work. Smaller roles finish well inside two hours.

  • Yes. It’s for any time a role changes hands: a resignation, a retirement, an internal move, a long leave. The interview, the documents and the chat work the same way.

  • A handover guide written to them and a guided session that teaches the role chapter by chapter, with the option to stop at any line and ask. After that, a chat that answers from what the last manager said and says so when something wasn’t covered.

All questions

See a real handover in 20 minutes

Bring a role that is about to change hands. We show you an anonymised handover guide, what the interview looks like, and how the team asks it questions in Microsoft Teams. No slides.

We take on a few companies at a time, and a person replies to every request.

We reply within two working days.

We use what you send only to reply and to prepare the call. It is kept for 24 months, never sold and never used for ads. Privacy policy.