What is the Real Source
of Turnover in Retail?
All retailers
know that high employee turnover is a major problem in the industry.
Which of the
following do you think has the most impact on ET?
a) Low
wages
b) Physical
demands
c) Lack
of family time
d) Working
through holidays when others have time off
If you said
none of the above, you are correct.
The biggest
impact on ET is bad management. Did you know that 49% of retail associates leave
their retail position due to bad management?
True. According
to the Chartered Management Institute, 49% of the 3,000 people they polled said
they had quit a position in the industry after being dissatisfied with senior
staff.
That means
about half of retail employees left jobs as a result of being badly managed.
We know that,
very often, retailers promote staff to management positions even though they are
not properly equipped for a management role. Some of them don’t even have a
desire to be managers but accept the position for various reasons such as a
higher paycheck, more authority, better shifts, more job security, or maybe even
because, if they don’t, they won’t have a job. Many of these people refer to
themselves as accidental managers.
Many will
readily admit that they have had no management training; they really did not
want the responsibility of managing people; and they don’t have any idea how to
do it.
CMI director of
policy and research Petra Wilton believes putting people in charge of staff who
do not have adequate skills can be severely detrimental to retailers’
businesses. She says: “It’s no surprise the retail industry has a lot of staff
leaving if it is not investing in training. Managers need skills and in some
cases qualifications so they can do their job and keep staff.”
The fallout
from this type of promotion strategy is high employee turnover (ET) and, of
those who stay many are unhappy workers who make bad impressions on customers.
At DMSRetail,
we know it is a fact that bad management practices become very obvious to the
customer through the service they receive in addition to the appearance of the
store.
DMSRetail’s
‘Retail Operations for Maximum Success’ Workshop
provides the knowledge and tools required to increase employee engagement while
maximizing sales and profits. This is the training retail managers need.
Excellent
management practices and, thus, engaged employees will make the difference on
the top line, the bottom line, and everything in between.
Even though
some people may be naturally adept at managing people, most are not and they
need training. People management skills cannot be learned on-the-job alone.
Promoting someone to a management position and then withholding training is
setting the scene for a disaster.
Sales and
profits will not meet expectations, Employee Turnover will go up, store
appearance will suffer, customers will be dissatisfied and the downward spiral
will continue. It’s a no win situation.
So, always plan
to promote from within when you have a candidate who is well trained and
competent at managing your store(s) and your people in particular. But do not
promote someone who is not capable just for the sake of getting someone into the
position.
Train all
managers and have a system in place for continuous improvement.
Choose training
programs that will meet the needs of your organization. Training sales
associates is very worthwhile, but it should always come after management
training. Otherwise, according to the statistics at the beginning of this
article, possibly half of your associates – the very people you have invested
time and money in - will leave, making your investment in training them a
complete waste.
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