How to Retain Employees in a Retail Environment

By Allan Pulga

A primary concern among retailers is employee retention, or in other words, limiting employee turnover. The reality is, particularly in cellular retail, your salespeople won’t stay forever.

To keep good employees, there are a several factors a cellular retailer has to overcome, such as:

• The wireless market is competitive and with so many sales outlets, employees will inevitably move from one place to another.
• Employees get burnt out and decide to leave.
• Selling cellphones is a temporary job (i.e. for young people, college students), or is considered a “stepping stone” to better-paying careers in sales or business.

Clearly, solving employee retention problems isn’t as easy as outbidding your competitors, paying your people enough money and keeping them happy – it’s complex. But if looked at from the top down, there are a number of key things that will help you achieve a better return on your investment of training and time in your employees.

Although it won’t make them stay forever, making the right management decisions can be the difference in a new salesperson leaving after six months and that same salesperson happily working and staying with your company for three years.

Here are a few things management needs to do in order to keep employees in a retail environment:

Competitive pay and commission structures are crucial to retaining salespeople. “Although surveys have shown that recognition, pride and caring management are more important to employees than money… compensation is still not an insignificant issue,” advises Sam Leder, former President of Shepherd Retail Recruiting and longtime retailer/consultant/recruiter in the home furnishings industry.

Leder also urges management to conduct regular performance reviews. “People are hungry to know where they stand with you, and while ‘review’ means ‘raise’ to many people, you can make it clear, through your training program, that you reward superior job performance.”

In order to hang onto good salespeople, it’s important to create a stimulating environment of constant learning and offer opportunities for self-improvement/promotion. Offering opportunities for growth not only prevents employees from feeling “stuck” in a position (in which case they might want to leave to find a different job), it also reduces the likelihood of “burnout,” as regular training sessions and workshops get them off the selling floor and out of their everyday routines.

“You are much more likely to keep a more highly qualified person on staff, and you will be making a statement to the entire company about how you are willing to invest in them as people,” says Leder.

People will want to stay in a workplace where they have made friends and where they have a good time doing their job. You simply must have good work culture in order to retain employees.

The company administration and management must respect employees and be accountable to them. In retail, the gap between head office and stores should be bridged by the management team – communication is the key.

“Communication is the first step toward creating the kind of environment the people care about, and if they care, they just may stay,” says Leder. “At any time, all your employees should have a pretty good idea of how business has been, and they should be aware of what issues the company is attempting to address.”

Leder says store owners and managers “set the tone” for the entire organization. If salespeople enjoy their encounters with you, they’ll be more likely to greet customers with a positive attitude. It’s easier for them to do their job well if they feel appreciated and encouraged by management, instead of intimidated and scrutinized.