No matter what industry you are in, whether it is retail, Hospitality, or any other industry, as the Owner/ Manager of the Business/ Company you are accountable for the actions of your Staff.
What your staff do is a reflection on your business, which can also demonstrate the culture of your business- remember the culture starts at the top.
I hope before choosing to hire any staff, as the owner of the company you have decided on the Culture that you wish to be demonstrated throughout your business. In addition, I guess if you have not, then now is the time to consider this and discuss it with your Staff, and ensure they are all on board with the culture chosen for your Business.
You have gone through the extensive recruitment path to hire the staff who believe will help your Business to grow and ensure your day-to-day operations are completed- whatever department they work in.
You spend time going through your staff inductions, company policy and procedures, processes, so they know how to do something, or who to contact for any customer questions etc, they understand the Mobile Phone use policy, email use policy, uniform policy, smoking on premises policy, and then you leave them to start their job.
Whilst yes we often tend to employ Staff who can “hit the ground running” rather than needing development, as employers we need to remember this is never true, all staff need further development during their career.
Whilst yes they might be able to their current day-to-day functions with minimum supervision they will still need Professional development and staff training during their time.
More so in the Retail or Hospitality Sectors, staff will need up to date training in Customer service- taking order, knowing about the products, menu options, drinks on the menu, wine use, how to use the Point of sale terminal.
You as the Manager are still accountable to your customers on the service in which they receive during their visit (s) to your venue. As if they obtain bad service that reflects on the actual store, and therefore Management, rather than on the individual staff member, as often we do not remember the name of the Staff member who serves us.
Ensure you take time to train your staff in customer service, ensure they understand about conflict Management, body language and the importance of it. Ensure they understand the food safety act if you work with food, if you work with Alcohol ensure they keep up with the responsible service of alcohol requirements, if they work in retail ensure they understand the stores refund policy, and also understand consumer law in relation to the refund requirements.
Guess my piece of advice for you, is do not go rushing into employing staff.
Once you have decided to hire staff, whether it is single, multiple staff at once, remember to write yourself an action plan, or timetable before taking advertising for staff, the timetable requires some of the following information.
- Application time line
- Reviewing Resume time line- how long do you need to read them all,
- Interview dates – try to pick these out before advertising
- Do you need a second round of interviews
- Do you need to do police checks, or working with children checks
- When do you want them to start- what notice do they need to give at their current jobs
- Induction date- when is a good time for you to hold the induction
- Do you want to do a meet the Staff session as soon as they start
- Training date,
- Future training dates either for new or current Staff.
- Meeting and review dates etc to discuss their performance, training, and development requirements.
One other thing to remember Staff training or development. Is an investment into your business, and not an expense, although yes you have to pay money out for it, it can also bring many benefits into your Business, some can be financial, others can be in more reliable staff who are prepared to stay longer.
Look after your staff and they will look after you and your company.
A happy employee will help you with your marketing, advertising, and referrals, as they will be happy to refer potential clients to you, if they are not happy then they may not be happy to send clients your way. Without referrals, it is more money you need to spend on marketing or advertising.Advertisements
