All I Need to Know About Employee Management I Learned Working In Retail
It’s been a while, but I have an excuse. Around Thanksgiving I decided to embark on the increasingly popular holiday tradition of getting a second job to survive the season (financially-speaking…emotionally, I was an overworked, overtired, stressed-out mess). Admittedly, choosing retail may not have been the smartest idea. But pulling 70+ hours a week made me realize a few things. Among them:
- I could never be a lawyer, a doctor, or hold any other occupation that required working extensive hours.
- Otherwise normal, rational people will turn hostile and belligerent in an effort to save a few bucks. And guess what? There’s a whole line of them trying to use 4 coupons at a time.
- Corporations do not always make it easy for their employees to provide consumers with the best service possible. Why? Because profit is still #1, and customer service will never take its place.
- Those people who stay home and shop online? One word. Smart.
- Minimum wage and a sick discount hardly make up for working the day after Christmas.
My last part-time job was for an energy drink company. I was paid $10 an hour to essentially drive around with my best friends in a cool car to hand out free product. There was minimal supervision and ample chances to screw around, but despite that, we always did a bang-up job. We loved and believed in the product, we felt lucky to have such a great job, and we clamored at the opportunity to perform outside our normal responsibilities. This is in stark contrast to my current part-time position, where minimal work is both tolerated and facilitated.
Why do these disparities exist? A couple of thoughts:
Orientation
…is way, way, way more important than anyone gives it credit for. Orientation is NOT the same thing as training. It’s NOT showing some one where the bathroom is, giving them a mug full of candy and saying, “Have a nice first day!” Effective orientation, as my friend puts it, gets new employees to “drink the Kool-Aid.” First impressions go a long way, and its your best shot to build a passionate, knowledgeable employee.
Training
…is the crucial step after orientation where you tell your employee exactly what he or she will be doing. For example, how to fold a sweater. I’ve seen managers skip or rush through training, and then wonder why their employees are useless.
Attitude of Upper Management
Complacent managers = complacent workers. It’s a simple equation. If a manager cares about the good of the organization, their employees are more likely to care, too.
Opportunities to Grow
It’s not all raises and promotions. It’s training opportunities, special privileges, invitations to otherwise closed-door meetings or an opportunity to develop a new idea. Managers know this, but they rarely actually do it.
Clearly, there’s much more to effective employee management than these four factors, but at the very least, it’s a good place to start.
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Great post. Retailers need to learn customer service and employee management from Zappos, which famously trains employees and then offers a buyout if the employee quits on the spot. Why? Because they want to know who is dedicated to the job, and who just wants ANY job.
No matter what your company does, you must get your employees invested in your brand and your mission. If you don’t, employees become disgruntled, and disgruntled employees give bad customer service. It’s pretty simple, really.
Attitude of upper management can likely be tied into Orientation. Wherever in the chain upper management started working, they weren’t given a reason to drink the Kool-Aid, either, so it’s as hard for them to be enthusiastic
The other thing to think about is perceived autonomy. If you, as an employee, feel like you have the power to say to a customer, “You know what? I can’t honor two 10% off coupons at the same time, but I can give you 12% off instead of 10% off,” you make them smile, you make it more likely that they’ll come back and even recommend you (for 2% on one item — you can’t beat that cost for loyalty!) and you’ll feel like you have some power, even if the company sanctioned it and told you what leeway you had (that’s why it’s perceived autonomy — you might have less freedom than you think you do, but you’re still happy).
Actually, Josh, I think upper management stirs the Kool-Aid; they believe in what they’re selling. Middle management is where it all falls down — primarily because middle managers are often under-trained, disillusioned employees who took promotions because they needed the extra cash and thought they were going to get a say in how the business is run. On all other points, we agree!