Excellent Employee Experience Drives Retail Industry
Retail. A very interesting sector where the employees are, quite literally, the face of the brand. Customers enter a store and they presume a certain level of service, boosting the brand experience via staff’s interaction with the actual product or service. With this knowledge, it is imperative to hire the right employees to provide the level of service required in pleasing buyers.
Retail employees are now considered to be an asset and thus, drives a number of retail trends for this, and the years ahead.
Employees Are Your New Customers
“Happier employees make happier customers and that makes good business.”
Employee turnover in retail has a high rate; staff routinely come and go and this causes challenges. It’s going to be tough to build customer loyalty when shoppers see a new, unrecognisable face each time. In addition, replacing an employee costs about one fifth of their salary, hence, the need to focus on retention efforts.
Create compelling strategies that focuses on employment engagement and satisfaction; Build rapport with your employeesBy investing in employee training and development, and providing a succession path or plan, you can attract a workforce seeking a career rather than pay
Focus On Employees Well-Being
Certainly, employee performance suffers if they are stressed, unhealthy and unhappy. Come up with a policy that promotes work-life balance. “Well-being programmes create a healthier culture, offer support to employees, actively address potential issues rather than reactively responding to symptoms like stress, or other health problems that can result in extended absenteeism.”
New Performance Rewards
Annual appraisals no longer impacts candidates of today and already considered to be an out of date way to measure performance.
Plan on-going feedback sessions and focus group discussions to be able to relay their concerns and/or opinions“Spot bonuses allow employers to reward great work without permanently altering salaries”
Targeted Recruitment To Improve Retention
Recruitment needs to focus on how to target and assess potential talents. “Hiring cultural fit will reduce the risk of departures”, referrals will still be popular – word of mouth is still considered to be one of the most reliable sources of information but social recruitment will progress this year as well. Organisations have to improve their employee branding and online profiles since retail relies on millennial and gen Z candidates who are greatly into digital and mobile technologies.
Embracing The Auto-Scheduling Revolution
“Workforce management technology can now delve into data analytics and historical sales data to calculate all your future staffing needs.” Companies are disposing archaic HR systems for the innovative, cloud based technology. This revolutionises talent management by freeing up HR or team managers and concentrate on strategy and team performance.
As consumer’s behavior gets affected by technology over time, retaining and developing employees to progressive paths should sit right in with your organisation’s core. This shall make the retail sector thrive and, at the same time, prove the ROI of employee development.
