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During the Christmas holiday season, businesses of many types employ seasonal or casual workers to meet extra demands. Often these workers are hard-working young people who have travelled from overseas, bringing with them their own language and culture. This international melting-pot makes for a fun and productive work environment, although it can also present challenges.

Here are some tips to assist you during this busy time, and to make sure it results in a positive experience for you and your new staff.

Nurture a team environment

It’s important that your casual staff feel as much a part of the team as your full-time workers do. Be sure to include casual staff in all team meetings and work functions, and invite them to join any outside work activities you think they may be interested in.

‘Sweet as bro’

Every country has its own way of doing things, and these can often be confusing for travellers. Take the time to explain some of the more well-known kiwi-isms – what ‘sweet as’ means; that a ‘thong’ isn’t footwear in New Zealand; and that tipping is much less common here for example. You’ll probably learn some things too!

Find the best way to communicate

Find a way to communicate that works best for each staff member. This will help mitigate any misunderstandings around job descriptions, hours of work, and any emergencies that occur. Some may prefer Facebook messenger or Whatsapp, while SMS or email may suit others.

Rotate shifts and roles

 Create a flexible workplace for your casual staff by changing shift times, roles and, where possible, location. Part of the attraction for seasonal workers is the ability to experience our beautiful country before heading off on their next big adventure, so a strict schedule is a real turn-off.

With some forward planning, and openness to out-of-the-box thinking, you and your team can enjoy the classic Kiwi summer together.

Spend your time where you can be most successful

So how do you stop wasting time on quotes that don’t win business? Before allocating resources to a tender process, it’s vital to qualify every opportunity.

Make sure that you’re focusing on those contracts you know you’re best placed to win. The most successful contractors are the ones who know best about finding the right fit contract.

At durhamlane, we’ve created nine business mantras which help us and our clients to work more effectively and focus on where we can be most successful.

Business fit. Business value. Developing long-term relationships. is our first and possibly most important mantra and it’s where your journey will begin.

Business fit

Don’t rush into a bidding process. The buying party is looking for a reliable partner – somebody who can solve their problem – so take the time to really understand all the issues that have led the buyer to look for outside help.

If you don’t think you can genuinely help them, then don’t waste your resources. Focus on a different area.

Business value

Naturally, your customers are seeking a solution that adds more value to them than they have to invest.

Make sure the value of your offering, and the expected returns, are presented clearly and the benefits to your customers are evident.

What value do you think you can add? Based on your research, where do you think you can make the biggest difference?

Tendering is not just a form-filling and box-ticking exercise; it’s about selling your services. Highlight any other sectors or relevant experiences that you’ve had and demonstrate how you have helped other clients.

Developing long-term relationships

Business fit and business value are imperative principles to win new customers. Yet you should also recognise the cost efficiencies to be gained by sustaining long-term relationships with your customers. In fact, nurturing clients for the long term is proven to be eight to ten times more cost effective than simply securing quick wins.

To sustain relationships on a long-term basis and create customers for life, you need to start thinking about being a ‘partner’ to your customers. If you think of it that way, you’re more likely to add value and nurture a mutually beneficial relationship.

As a partner, you think more long-term and you are more proactive. You start to understand what your client really needs to be able to achieve their goals.

By keeping the Business fit. Business value. Developing long-term relationships. mantra at the core of what you do in your business, you’ll be able to improve your resource allocation and create more value for your customer in the long term.

So to help you better understand the topic, and, more importantly, enable you to improve the culture in your company, we caught up with Retail Culture Consultant Beth Boyd.

Beth helps retailers drive employee engagement and workplace happiness through building a culture that retains and recognizes top performers and attracts top talent. She’s also the Founder & Editor-In-Chief of the Excellence In Retail Blog, a resource that covers topics such as retail leadership, workplace culture, and training and development.

In addition, Beth is a retailer herself, and she owns a pop-up retail apparel concept in high traffic tourist locations in the Northeast market.

Read on below to see what she has to say about retail workplace culture and what merchants can do to improve.

Recognize what culture is… and what it isn’t.

It’s difficult to take meaningful action on something if you don’t have a solid definition of what it is, so before jumping into tactics, let’s first define what organizational culture is, exactly.

According to Beth, organizational culture “is not only the ‘what’ of the organization, but the ‘why’ and everyone is invested in it — both as individuals and collaboratively.”

In other words, culture is a shared purpose and passion for the organization’s vision and values. People who are part of the team have “a cohesive interest in achieving its goals and objectives.”

Beth also clarifies what organizational or workplace culture is not. “Retailers need to understand that ‘what got you here, won’t get you there,’” she says. “Culture is fluid — it’s also not as cut & dry as most retail executives believe. It’s more than pay, benefits, flexibility; these things are nice but they’re not everything — not even close.”

Ensure that your mission, vision, and values are concrete.

Now that we have a bit of an understanding of what culture is, what can retailers do to promote a strong workplace culture?

Beth’s advice is to start by ensuring that your company’s mission, vision, and values are concrete. “Mission statements and values need to be real things that organizations speak to and hire to. They are not — nor will they ever be — lived or ever even referenced to if they are simply a poster on the wall or a page in a manual/handbook.”

Put it simply, your mission, vision, and values shouldn’t live in a handbook. They must be brought to life by your team. That’s why it’s so important to hire employees who embody the things that your company stands for.

“People who share a passion for the vision and values of the organization and who are compelled by its purpose… will make a tremendous difference,” she adds. This is especially true when it comes to leadership positions.

“Executives who live and work with the organization’s vision & values and who make decisions are aligned with those things are easy and inspiring to follow,” shares Beth. “When there is a disconnect between the actions and words of a retail organization, that’s when things start to crumble.”

How can you determine if you’re hiring people who believe in your values? Beth suggests asking interview candidates to explain “if and how they share the organizational values.” If the interviewees can’t articulate some of those common values, it’s best to move on.

Be transparent.

Beth emphasizes that importance of transparency when creating a strong retail workplace culture.

Doing this starts with hiring.

“Bring transparency to the hiring process,” she advises. According to Beth, retail companies can do this by including testimonials from existing employees and even allowing candidates to ask questions to the people they will be working with.

Once employees are on board, keep them in the loop with the company’s priorities and desired results. Don’t just tell them to do something — communicate why they need to do it.

“Retail — especially at the field level — needs transparency. [Employees] need to understand the goals and objectives of the initiatives they are being asked to embrace to and the priorities of those aims.”

Conduct stay interviews.

She also recommends that retailers conduct stay interviews, which are one-on-one touch base sessions with employees. “During these [stay interviews], topics such as performance are discussed, and their thoughts and feedback on work are collected.”

You should also use these meetings as opportunities to plan a career path for your staff.

According to Beth, instituting these programs in her workplace lowered field turnover from 67% to 22% in the first year.

Learn from other retailers.

When asked to give examples of retailers with great workplace cultures, Beth named three companies: The Container Store, REI, and Nordstrom. We did some research on what makes their organizational cultures so great and found insights that every retailer can learn from. Check them out:

The Container Store (TCS) – TCS is known for their “people first” culture. Founder Kip Tindell famously said, “We put employees first, radically… if you take care of them, they will take care of your customer better than anybody else.”

TCS has demonstrated this time and time again. Not only does the company pay employees 50 to 100 percent above industry average, but they also offer more training. According to TCS, “first year, full-time employees receive 263 hours of formal training compared to industry average of 8 hours.”

It’s not just about perks, though. TCS genuinely loves their employees, and they’re not afraid to show it. They’re committed to hiring people who meet their values because they believe that great people stick around when they’re surrounded by other great workers.

Because of this, TCS is consistently part of “Top Places to Work” lists and their turnover rate is less than 10% — a low figure, especially in retail where the average turnover rate is 70%.

Recreational Equipment Inc (REI) – Much like other companies that are loved by employees, REI also offers competitive pay and great benefits.

What’s more, REI makes sure that workers have the time and resources to enjoy the great outdoors… and company merchandise. Fortune reports that the retailer “gives employees two annual ‘Yay Days’: paid-time-off to go outside and use the outdoor gear they sell for such activities as hiking, biking, climbing, camping and skiing.”

REI employees are also incentivized to stay with the company and contribute to its success. According to Fortune, “REI funded $60 million in its incentive plan and profit-sharing contributions, including giving every eligible employee an automatic 5% company retirement contribution into their 401(k) and an additional 7% profit-sharing contribution.”

Nordstrom – Nordstrom is known for its culture of empowering staff members. As Mary Porter, the company’s Director of Talent Acquisition told the NRF, “every Nordstrom employee (whether they work on the sales floor or in a support position) is focused on making people feel good, and our culture is centered on creating an environment where our people feel supported and empowered to do just that.”

One of the ways Nordstrom does this is by encouraging their staff to work as if they’re operating their own business and “do what they feel is right to build lasting relationships with their customers.”

Nordstrom demonstrates this through things like having no fixed return policy. Rather than giving employees rules on how to accept and process returns, the retailer encourages them to do what they think is best.

“We don’t actually have a return policy for purchases made at Nordstrom stores or at Nordstrom.com,” they state on their website. “We handle returns on a case-by-case basis with the ultimate objective of satisfying the customer. We stand behind our goods and services and want customers to be satisfied with them. We’ll always do our best to take care of customers—our philosophy is to deal with them fairly and reasonably; we hope they will be fair and reasonable with us as well.”

In other words, Nordstrom leaves each return situation up to the employee and encourages them to use their judgment and focus on satisfying the customer.

Your turn.

How would you describe the workplace culture in your stores? Share your thoughts in the comments.

But, whereas lots of companies bring culture front and centre in the recruitment process, it’s often thin on the ground when it comes to onboarding. Yet, just as it’s important in the recruitment process, culture needs to be the centrepiece of your onboarding program.

Culture and onboarding are tightly linked

A landmark study of senior executives and HR staffing and recruiting functions by the Aberdeen Group found that 86% of respondents felt that a new hire’s decision to stay with a company long-term is made within the first six months of employment.

Get onboarding wrong, and leave culture out of the mix, and your new hire will spend those first few critical months working out the fastest way to leave. How you handle the first few days and months of a new hire’s employment experience is absolutely crucial.

Employees are more likely to invest themselves personally in your company’s success if they feel aligned. And this starts by being immersed in your culture even before day one. This is as much about your company’s stated values and goals, as it is in the way people dress, or their behaviour at work.

So, if you’re relying on giving new hires a one-day orientation, with a stack of routine admin tasks, and a folder of forms to fill in, then it’s probably time you gave your onboarding process a makeover.

4 ways to shake up your onboarding process

1. Start onboarding before they start

Think about starting your onboarding program early. For instance, the moment they accept your offer – rather than their first day on the job. Most of the HR paperwork can be taken care of well ahead of their first day. Use the time before they actually start to know what they can expect on their first day, provide the names of their co-workers, and formalise their goals. This ensures your new hire’s first day is not focussed on administration, but getting to know their co-workers, and learning about what makes your business tick.

2. Use technology

Using employee onboarding software, you can cut through time-consuming new hire paperwork. This includes the offer letter, NDA, and tax forms. Technology also ensures you’re consistent and helps keep everyone connected throughout the process. Of course, you need to set up new hires’ desk, phone, computer and password logins well before they arrive. And ensure your onboarding collateral is infused with your company’s culture and values.

3. Make a lasting impression

Getting your new employees involved in your company’s culture as soon as possible is a critical part of the onboarding process. But culture isn’t something you pick up in a day. And it’s often the hardest transition for a new employee to make. A key part of the onboarding process is to match a new hire with an appropriate mentor to help the new hire understand and appreciate your company culture. Where you can, enlist the help of senior executives. There’s nothing like direct attention from the leadership team to engender loyalty in new employees.

4. Map out goals

Help your new employees understand team goals, priorities and what success looks like in your company. Include self-guided and guided tasks with self-guided tasks to be completed within a specific timeframe. Rather than expecting your new employee to jump in head first, there is immense value in having them listen and learn while still getting their feet wet. Done well, your new hires will fully understand their roles and how they fit in with the big picture.

Effective cultural onboarding helps new hires get warmed up and hit the ground running.

If you think your onboarding process needs a little fine tuning, you’re not alone. It’s one of the top three topics that business owners ask us for help with.

When you’re recruiting, identifying cultural fit in candidates is essential. There is a greater likelihood that employees will stay with a business when the work feels meaningful and the company’s values are in sync with their own.

But to identify cultural fit in your candidates, first you need to be able to articulate exactly what your company culture is all about. While this can challenge many business owners, a simple way of doing this is to list the top five characteristics that you think are critical to success in your business.

For instance, this could be anything from good communication, customer centricity, innovation, risk taking, entrepreneurial drive, integrity, collaboration, high energy.

These characteristics will typically capture the essence of your company culture in real work situations, as part of the everyday.

It’s also important to understand that hiring for cultural fit doesn’t mean hiring people who are simply variations on a theme. The values that make up your company culture should be reflected in a richly diverse workforce.

Make better decisions

To avoid wasting endless hours interviewing people who are the wrong fit for the role, and your culture, make sure you create a clear picture of the key attributes of the person, and the required skillset so you can screen applications effectively:

1. Does the candidate have the knowledge, skills and abilities for the job?
2. What past experiences have prepared the applicant for this job?
3. Will this candidate be sufficiently challenged doing this work?

Then add another layer of questioning to evaluate how the candidate fits your culture:

1. How is your company’s work meaningful to the candidate?
2. Are the applicant’s values in harmony with the values of your business?
3. Will the person naturally perform in ways that are consistent with how we do things here?

For instance, if collaboration is a key to your business, people who have a genuine belief in the value of collaborative work will be a stronger cultural fit than those who are more comfortable working independently.

A bad hire can do damage everywhere

Recruiting people who are the wrong fit for your business comes with significant costs. Along with your wasted hiring budget, the bad hire may contribute to:

• Lower employee morale
• Dissatisfied customers
• Lost sales
• Reduced productivity
• Brand damage

The old saying about one bad apple ruining the barrel, also holds true in the workplace. If ignored, just one bad fit employee could impact your entire workforce.

Think about your other employees who have to pick up the slack and juggle increased workload and pressure because of the bad hire. This itself could increase absenteeism and turnover across your business.

So, weeding out potentially bad fit candidates in your recruitment process is absolutely essential. See how you can use behavioural interviewing techniques to give you an important predictor of candidates’ their future behaviour.

However, if you are having to deal with an employee who is a bad cultural fit, your best line of defence is having rigorous HR documentation, processes and recordkeeping. This is where well-written employment contracts, robust workplace policies and a strict performance management process are priceless. For more on this topic, download our free white paper on How to Manage a Toxic Employee.

The topic of good management has been covered over the ages in thousands of different books.

Here, we’ve selected the most recent (with the exception of one important classic) and most effective titles to get you on the path to being the best manager you can be, or to simply brush up your management knowledge.

Ego is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday (2016)

In this modernist book, Holiday dissects traits of leaders throughout history, explaining how ego is a barrier to success, personal growth, and achieving great work.

The book is broken into three segments: Aspire, Success and Failure. It’s peppered with many examples, explanations, and excellent quotes from leaders throughout history. In particular, the book highlights examples where great leaders and mentors have put their egos aside to do amazing things.

Holiday’s major premise in this book is that the narcissist is his own greatest enemy, and that we must always remain ‘students’ – always learning, talking, doing and realising – to progress, grow, succeed and be the best leaders we can be.

Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and Be More Productive, Kevin Horsley (2016)

Author Kevin Horsley broke a world memory record in 2013, and in this insightful novel, he teaches readers how to use memory strategies to learn faster, be more productive and achieve more in less time.

The book explains clear and detailed methods on improving memory and establishing techniques to enable people to grasp and communicate information effectively.

The techniques are invaluable to managers who wish to operate effectively and efficiently.

Learning Leadership: The Five Fundamentals of Becoming an Exemplary Leader, James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner (2016)

Kouzes and Posner are the bestselling authors of The Leadership Challenge and their new book examines a fundamental question: How do people learn leadership? How do they learn to become leaders?

This book is a comprehensive guide to unveiling the inner-leader in everyone, and building a solid foundation for a lifetime of leadership growth and mastery. It offers a complete framework to help individuals of all levels, functions, and backgrounds take charge of their own leadership development and fulfil their potential.

Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, Daniel. H. Pink (2011)

In this book, Pink boldly states to forget everything you thought you knew about how to motivate people – at work, at school, and at home. In his paradigm-shattering book, Drive, the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today’s world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

Along the journey, Pink highlights companies that are applying new approaches to motivation, and introduces us to the scientists and entrepreneurs who are revolutionising how to make the most of motivation.

How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie (1936)

A 60-year-old, must-have classic.

For managers, employees – indeed, anyone in business.

Since its release in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 15 million copies. Carnegie’s first book is a timeless bestseller, packed with advice that has carried thousands of now-famous individuals to extraordinary success in business and their personal lives.

Carnegie’s principles will guide you to achieve maximum potential in the complex and competitive modern age.