As a manager of a retail store, you are well aware that there are always opportunities for improvement. You know all the sour notes coming from your bosses and your employees when goals are not achieved. What do you learn, from analyzing missed sales targets and declining customers? Is it possible that it traces back to staff scheduling? If so, you could be suffering from the “No Show Blues”.
TAKE NOTE OF WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH STAFF SCHEDULES
CAUSE: You are cutting back on allowing carry over sick time from one year to the next
EFFECT: Employees are saying, “I’d rather use it than lose it”
CAUSE: Trying to get more bang for the buck has resulted in one or more of the following:
- Less flexibility in scheduling perks
- Longer shifts
- Less hours per employee
- Wage cutbacks
EFFECT: Low morale among employees resulting in significantly higher unscheduled absences and probably nullifying most of your savings.
TREND: The workforce includes four generations of employees – all at different life stages with different needs for balancing their work and home life.
EFFECT: Unscheduled absences are most often for reasons other than personal illness.
FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW WHEN SOMEONE DOESN’T SHOW UP FOR THEIR SHIFT
- It costs you money.
- It means poor service for your customers.
- It generates frustrations internally between employees.
- It results in poor team spirit for everybody.
- Customers can feel the negative difference when you are understaffed.
- NO SET POLICY: If you don’t have a set policy in place, employees can take advantage. Have firm consequences for not following the policy. Staff should be well aware of what qualifies as an exception.
- YOU DON’T LISTEN: Always give your employees the opportunity to explain a no-show. Some excuses will be legitimate but others, as they say, are “the dog ate my homework” classics.
- IT ISN’T THEM, IT’S YOU: In some instances, the problem may be with the schedule itself. Is it clear, accessible and prepared far enough in advance that everyone knows who should be where and when? Have you, and your staff, had proper training in this area?
- Involving staff in improving the effectiveness of scheduling is an Invaluable training exercise. Focus on your store’s long term objectives and have employees give input to solutions
- Empower employees to come up with specific problem to address and solutions to implement.
- Set an action plan. Prioritize actions.
- Make it a priority that everyone knows the policies and best practices relating to scheduling.
- Regular review and revision allows you to spot and avoid those scheduling problems that can spell disaster to sales targets, customer service and profitability. Be both firm and fair. Employees should know in advance what is expected and if they are performing well or not.
- Conduct regular comparisons to show what progress has been made in this area. This will result in a continual improvement process.
- Have employees analyse for themselves how better scheduling results in a higher level of customer satisfaction.
- Report to your staff how this area positively affects store profitability.
- Over time you will develop a checklist or manual that will be an excellent reference tool, saving you time and your store money.
WHY DON’T PEOPLE SHOW UP?
WHAT SOLUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE?
- Offer rewards for being on time. You may resist this because employees should not have to be rewarded for what they are paid to do. Perhaps a preferred schedule or a long lunch will work. It doesn’t have to cost you anything to reward good employees for doing their best. It might be just right for the less-motivated staff person.
- Conduct a quarterly or semi-annual scheduling assessment. More often may be necessary, depending on the severity of your problems. Obviously, keeping records and being on-the-job, will give you the information that could have an immediate impact on both customer service and profitability.
IS IT WORTH IMPROVING?
Of course, improving your staff scheduling is a never-ending process. As human and economic resources change and fluctuate you must keep refining your use of your most important assets. If you decide that this is too much work or not worth it, your competition will definitely leave you behind in the marketplace. Regularly implementing small improvements based upon continuous self-assessment will provide generous returns on both time and money. Make an investment in your staff. Your customers will be glad you did. As you move away from the no-show blues, you will see the results on the bottom line and that will be music to your ears.
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