Here’s a universal truth: Natural products retailers struggle to fully staff their stores. Here’s another: Many or most of today’s younger job applicants don’t appear to value work. Is there a way for you to buck this trend and improve staffing levels and worker productivity? Some thoughts.
Who’s in the workforce?
The participation-trophy generation now makes up the majority of those seeking work, usually employing the same level of enthusiasm they had watching classmates get the duplicate award for just showing up. Is there a through-line today to NOT showing up for work on day-one because, back then, their efforts made no difference to their grade? We can understand their assumption—however wrong it may be—that the amount of effort makes no difference to their eventual job success or failure.
Do we judge young workers too harshly?
It turns out, for those of us from older generations, growing up without the internet was a healthier, more well-rounded way to be. For younger generations, add to this the isolation of the pandemic years, which crushed opportunities to socialize, work, and gain skills just as many young people were about to enter the workforce. It’s no wonder they now lack confidence and a sense of direction. Applying a bit of empathy to their situation may be the key to unlocking the innate human desire to be productive and part of something with a higher purpose.
Attaching to a mentor
Assign your new hires to your best, most positive and productive workers and let them follow in their footsteps, learning the skills and, as importantly, the attitudes you wish to portray in your store. This accomplishes multiple goals: gaining job competence while receiving immediate feedback, promoting confidence in face-to-face interactions away from the electronic screen, and providing the tangible social fabric so sorely missing for today’s digital generation. Although you don’t have to, you may want to compensate your seasoned employees with a small bonus for this combat duty. The gains in productivity and workforce cohesion will likely pay dividends well beyond what any bonus costs you.
Shaping behavior and attitudes
You have a role to play, too, although you may not come naturally to the task of mentor. But as the owner, you set the tone for the culture of your store, whether you intend to or not. To demonstrate the attitudes and behaviors you want your employees to exhibit means being willing to get into the trenches and do the same work you ask them to do. This not only will inspire respect, but will also allow you to shape the narrative.
While stocking shelves, receiving orders, or helping a customer, you can narrate your actions, allowing you to explain why you are doing something a certain way, and not in another way. It may not be in your character to act as a mentor, and you may not find it easy to express your thoughts extemporaneously and publicly. But when you tie everyday interactions to the universal human desire for good health and fair treatment, one surprising reward may be to gain the reputation for being a good place to work. And known good places to work tend to attract higher quality employees. And higher quality employees tend to satisfy customers far more than less focused employees can.
Be consistent
Part of being a boss that employees look up to and respect comes from treating everyone consistently. If you overlook lateness in one employee, you must do it for all. Beyond the benefits of gaining respect for evenhanded management, you’ll avoid the consequences of uneven policy implementation. Inconsistency in dealing with employees is a red flag to regulatory authorities that are more likely to credit accusations of discrimination. In extreme cases, inconsistent treatment of employees can become evidence in a court of law that may result in a costly judgment against you. It has happened to independent retailers who otherwise run outstanding businesses. And if you employ family in your store, your challenge is even greater since long family histories make for behavioral and attitudinal blind spots.
Professional development
Even though you have a small business, some of your employees have big desires to gain skills and responsibilities. For job-specific knowledge, such as vendor trainings, consider compensating employees for the time they spend attending or studying the materials. For more generalized skills, such as management classes at the local city college, you can offer to pay for some or all the tuition and books.
It’s just human nature to want a long runway that opens onto a blue sky of opportunity. Helping employees reach their goals will increase their job satisfaction, and while they may not stay with you for the long-term, they’ll be a net positive to your business while there. Having helped them, former employees may continue to help you long after they leave by talking you up to potential customers and referring new employees to your store as a great place to work.
Compensation benefits
While you can’t match the compensation packages offered by larger employers, you can add flexibility to yours. This includes allowing employees to use vacation time and medical, wellness, or personal time off interchangeably. However, don’t be so generous as to allow employees to roll over these paid days off to succeeding years. This is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, silently building significant financial liability that can cripple your business. In the event you sell your business, the buyer will expect you to pay off the entire liability to close the deal. Even in a small store with just a handful of employees, over enough time, this can amount to tens-of-thousands, or hundreds-of-thousands of dollars.
Policy discretion
One challenge is how much leeway to give employees when applying store policies to customers. While you want employees empowered enough to use discretion in some cases, you are also opening up the possibility of allowing that employee’s unwitting biases to influence their decisions.
In one infamous case, a customer returning a partially used bottle of vitamins before the expiration date, but without a receipt, was refused the return by the employee handling the transaction. The customer happened to be of non-white ethnic or racial identity. The customer left, and 20 minutes later, a young white woman carrying the same opened vitamin bottle came into the store and spoke with a different employee who allowed the return.
It is impossible to set definitive limits on discretion, or to prophylactically address every situation where employee discretion is desirable. The best approach may be to continually discuss among the staff examples of policy dilemmas that have occurred and reach a consensus how to handle them. As a relief valve, always make the option of finding a manager an acceptable choice if the employee is unclear.
Recruiting
When you have a job opening, it is preferable to post internally first before going outside your store. You do not need to give a definitive yes or no to the applicant immediately, but you do need to use due diligence in your search. You may need to go outside the company while the job is still posted internally. This is okay if you continue actively searching and if you announce your decision promptly. Let all candidates know the status of their application.
When conducting an interview, it should be with one interviewer at a time, as multiple interviewers will intimidate the candidate, and is inherently unfair. Ideally, the owner, or your human resources manager if you have one, will do the initial interview to screen for red flags. Then the direct report of the candidate may conduct a second interview to ensure compatibility.
Discipline
The best managers are constantly giving positive feedback throughout the workday and not waiting for the periodic performance review. When there is need to provide corrective guidance, it is best to do so at or near the beginning of the employees’shift, when people have more energy and are more likely to take constructive criticism in stride. For example, studies show judges are more likely to deny parole later in the day when fatigue has set in. Preferably make your comments in the middle of your employees’ weekly scheduled days. Don’t ambush them at the beginning or end of their workweek.
Keeping your employee up to date with how you view their performance, emphasizing the positive aspects, will give them the confidence to take on more responsibility. And by keeping a dialog going, you’ll encourage them to engage more fully in their tasks and give you their best effort. WF
