High employee turnover threatens the consistency and quality of customer service at your business.
A Korn Ferry survey found the average turnover rate for hourly retail employees is 65 percent. Retaining employees is a challenge that you can solve with strategic training. Here are five ways to maximize your training:
1. Discover what motivates your employees
Not every employee who works for you will be motivated solely by a paycheck. Sit down with each of your employees and learn more about what they want to get out of the job. For some, working at your shop may be a step toward future career goals. Others may feel satisfied helping shoppers find exactly what they were looking for.
With a better understanding of what motivates your employees, you’ll be better able to help them to become successful in their roles. These positive feelings will get passed on to customers who interact with your employees.
2. Don’t ignore your brand’s culture
Training for skills is important, but skill alone does not make an expert customer service representative. Your brand values must be on display at every level of your business. Building a culture of positivity, productivity and community will help to combat employee fatigue and may even increase your retention rates.
When employees feel valued, they’ll be less likely to look for work elsewhere. According to a 2017 Gallup poll, 17 percent of employees leave their jobs due to conflicts with management or within the general work environment.
3. Use a mix of training methods
Let’s face it, no one gets excited about employee training. Employees don’t want to sit and listen to a lecture, and managers would rather spend their time doing something else. Overcoming this challenge can be difficult, because it’s hard to make dry information seem fun.
A survey conducted by Intercall discovered that 50 percent of employees believe in-person training helps them retain information, compared to 41 percent of employees who think interactive online courses do. In other words, different people enjoy learning in different ways. Mix up your training by leveraging in-person sessions, digital learning modules and on-the-job experience.
4. Focus on product knowledge
Today’s point of sale (POS) systems have made it easy for employees to process transactions. In fact, the popularity of self-service checkouts indicates that a significant segment of shoppers are unaffected by a lack of human cashiers.
Retail employees shine when they possess a deep understanding of the products they sell. Customers will have questions, so employees need to be prepared with answers. Retailers should focus some of their training time on helping employees grow a deeper understanding of the brand’s products and services.
5. Follow retail tech trends
Every year, emerging technology makes some aspect of the retail industry easier or more efficient. From security sensors to AI-driven product recommendations, there’s always something new on the horizon. Keeping up with these trends will give your brand and your employees an advantage over competitors.
For instance, investing in a faster, more efficient POS system could free up employees to spend more time speaking with customers.
Managing a retail store takes significant time and effort. To learn more about how to maximize productivity and streamline processes at your stores, check out our resource center today.
