When "saving on staff" actually costs you money...
I like to hit the street and speak to customer service staff in local businesses about what challenges they are facing. This is important to me because service culture and the human experience are always changing and staff on the frontline are in the thick of it!
I trekked out a couple of weeks ago to an area that is known for a lot of substance abuse, mental health challenges facing the community and youth crime.
I was interested to find out what level of support and training employers were providing local service teams who are working with the public every day.
The answer – not much!
I walked into a large retail chain store and spoke to two very lovely ladies at the counter. Both had been in retail and customer-facing roles for many years but were feeling quite disengaged from their current employer.
Not only was there a lack of training, but the store had made cutbacks and as a result, sometimes there was only one staff member on the floor and a line 8-10 people deep, along with people wondering around looking for help.
On a semi-regular basis, people at the back of the line would get angry, throw down there chosen items and storm out.
Feeling defeated; the retail assistant’s response to this was to shrug and say, “oh well, there is nothing we can do”.
The ladies had not mentioned any of this too management for fear of losing shifts.
This was crazy to me.
A store has cut back staff to save money and is now losing customers due to said money saving measures. In doing so, it is also disengaging staff through lack of training and conversation on handling such high-pressure situations.
I drove home thinking about what could have been done to help these ladies:
A simple conversation to acknowledge staff experience and brainstorm ways to manage customer volume could work to reduce these issues and keep customers in store.
The first two small cost-free solutions that came to my head were:
1. Placing a sign at the end of the checkout area to acknowledge the potential wait and maybe prompting to join their app or checkout their online store. This way customers are entertained, while waiting.
2. A quick shout out from the retail team member thanking people for their patience. This way, people feel seen, they feel appreciated and are more likely to act in a respectful way.
This frame of, "oh well, there is nothing we can do", is not rare. It can become a coping mechanism for staff who haven't been given the support, training or tools to feel they CAN do something. Over time, it can create a sense of helplessness, erode confidence and ultimately impact not only customer loyalty, but staff retention too.
Which, I realised, was the case for these two ladies when the conversation shifted to their hopes and goals of leaving this establishment. When those resignation letters drop, it will cost this business a pretty penny in recruiting and training new staff. So, their cost- saving measures will ultimately cost them time, effort and money to fix.
I would love to hear your comments, thoughts or alternative solutions?
Maybe you have a similar experience to share?
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