Customer Service
What retail hiring managers should ask when hiring for the holidays
One of the most critical elements of retail customer experience is the direct interaction customers have with retail associates. That makes hiring a critical factor.
November 25, 2022 by Barry Rosen — CEO, Interaction Associates
One of the most critical elements of retail customer experience is the direct interaction customers have with retail employees. At the same time, attracting and retaining the right people to engage customers is a significant challenge for managers in every sector, but it's especially difficult for retailers this year.
According to The Washington Post, 70% of retail industry job openings are unfilled, outpacing other sectors by a wide margin. There will be more pressure in the coming months as Amazon and UPS turn up the hiring dial.
Unsurprisingly, staffing is the top concern for retail executives heading into the holiday season.
Successfully addressing this challenge will require retail leaders to create conditions for success as they prepare for the holiday shopping season and the uncertain year ahead. Here are five questions worth considering to create your conditions for success.
#1 Is this candidate really the right fit?
Retailers are often ready to hire anyone with experience listed on their resume and a few references. After two to three weeks, they leave, or you ask them to leave. Rather than simply hiring someone who looks good on paper, apply a few more tried and true hiring routines.
So start by identifying the characteristics of successful retail employees at your stores. When recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding new employees, consider how candidates fit these objective criteria, including how well they'll fit in and add value to the already established team.
To support the candidate assessment process, conduct an interview personally. Get initial screening support from HR, but don't rely on HR to make the hiring decision. Since manager hiring decisions are also plagued by bias, input from other stakeholders can help improve hiring decisions. Make time for people with on-the-floor experience to conduct an interview including team members. With criteria in hand, team members are often the best judge of who will succeed.
Devoting a little bit more time up will save lots of time, and disappointment, later on.
#2 Are you creating a welcoming environment?
If the value of working retail is seen as "just earning a paycheck," then it's likely your retail workers will shuffle over to another store. Most workers put a high value on positive human connection and belonging. These critical human needs that are especially important for younger workers.
The intangible experience of authentic human connection has profound business implications. For example, Deloitte reports that belonging at work can increase job performance by 56% and reduce turnover risk by 50%.
Creating a welcoming environment that fosters belonging is one of the most important components of an effective hiring and retention initiative, especially for new hires.
To foster and facilitate a welcoming environment, consider:
● Having employees walk around with new hires to discuss merchandise.
● Inviting new hires to have coffee so they feel connected to their coworkers right away.
● Engaging teams in camaraderie-building activities.
#3 Do new employees understand what desired performance looks like?
Retail is a unique sector, balancing in-person customer service with other responsibilities like merchandise arrangement and store cleanliness.
Leaders help new employees get focused and proactive by defining successful performance and setting achievable goals. This might include the number of customer interactions, sales conversions, and positive customer satisfaction feedback.
Neuroscience-guided research has shown how clear and realistic goals have a positive impact on performance.
While companies may tailor well-known metrics to assess performance, retailers looking to retain talent will take time to explain desired performance standards to new hires and demonstrate the action and behaviors required to achieve them.
#4 Are new employees learning, bonding with manager, teammates, and other new employees to the job?
The relationship between supervisor and new employees may be the most important part of an effective retail employee retention strategy, enabling employees to feel safe, supported, and productive.
Learning with teammates creates a "we're all in this together" experience and increases the likelihood that individual employees will share responsibility for the success of their team. You can foster this dynamic by creating simulation activities where new employees can test out desired behaviors and receive feedback.
Team simulations and sales motivation games build cohesion and provide opportunities for the supervisor to build connections with new hires.
It's often said people don't leave companies — they leave their bosses. In other words, be the type of leader that people want to work with and for.
#5 Do new employees receive supportive feedback — positive and constructive?
As people leaders, strong relationships with employees are built through conversations. Retail managers guide three types of conversations:
● Expectation conversations.
● Check-in conversations.
● Performance feedback.
If you can master these conversations, you go a long way to mastering the practice of retail employee management.
We know people are more inclined to continue desired behaviors and even shift undesirable behaviors in response to positive reinforcement. Specific steps for providing affirming feedback are:
● Name the situation: Example: In the stockroom.
● Describe the behavior: Example: Placing loose items in designated shelf space.
● The impact the behavior had on the team: Example: Made it easier for teammates to access items and provided an example to others.
● An encouragement to keep up the good work. Example: "What you did today really helps perform better as a team. Thank you."
In general, people need at least one instance of positive reinforcement each day and some research says a 6:1 ratio of affirming to constructive feedback is most effective. Employees want to hear from their managers that they are good at their jobs and are succeeding.
That means affirming words, an authentic smile, and simply public recognition regularly go a long way to meet an employee's daily requirements for positive feedback.
A final thought
Retail managers and employees have endured a disorienting couple of years.
As you ramp up for the big shopping events and the annual holiday season to create the best customer experience possible for shoppers, answering the five questions cited can help you develop recruitment and retention strategies to hire the right people and keep them on your team through the season and the year ahead.
About Barry Rosen
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