Take Care of Employees for Better Staff Performance
Working in retail should be a tag-team effort between employers and their staff. But that’s not always the case.
There are multiple stories of employees getting an earful from their bosses or from their customers and clients. Their hours are long, the breaks are short, the working environment is too much for them. In the end, they’ll give up and file for resignation.
As a business owner, a supervisor, or even as a team leader, looking for ways to improve your staff’s performance is probably common to you. Fortunately, it’s never too late to care more for the people who tend to your business.
Be Generous with Premiums and Benefits
Employees can easily become weary with their 9-to-5 job. They may try to look like the stress has not gotten into them, but the long hours, stressful customers, and every other factor may affect their performance at work. So why not help lighten up the mood a bit? Or at the very least, give them something to look forward to for all their hard work?
If you have a budget, why not throw in performance bonuses every week or month for the top-performing employees? Give bonuses to employees who managed to win more customers over. Why not give your employees discounts so that they can also enjoy the products in your store?
Give them something to look forward to when they are working so that they do not feel like they are working for nothing. If you can, why not even throw a party for your employees every month or so? Doing so shows that you care for them, too.
Invest in Employee Training
Employee training is a great way to ensure that your staff is up-to-date with the latest in the retail industry and customer service. Training hones their skills and improves their productivity. Plus it will look great for your customers knowing that your staff has had numerous training sessions in order to serve them better.
The training shouldn’t be limited to newer topics and areas of expertise in the retail industry. Even a quick refresher course will help the more forgetful staff members remember the right way to handle customers, ring up purchases, and other technical aspects of the job.
Improve Communication with Customers
Speaking of customer service, communication is another aspect that you should heavily invest in improving. The key to running a successful retail store is having a team that can communicate well with your customers. Staff members may have become passive in their work or do not know what to respond to your customers.
Focus on improving your staff’s communication skills at work. They will need it whenever a customer needs something from your store, has an inquiry, has a complaint, or is looking for a recommendation.
Your customers are not the only ones you should care for. To achieve better customer satisfaction, focus on employee satisfaction, too. Remember: happier employees lead to better staff performance. Better staff performance will ultimately lead to better store performance.
