If the business you work in is anything like other small businesses, then your role of office manager means you handle just about anything! So, along with managing office supplies, equipment, record keeping, furniture and reception, you’re also the de-facto HR manager in charge of all the HR processes.
And because of the enormous number of HR issues that can play out each and every day, thisarea probably tests your incredible people skills and multitasking flair to the max.
We know your job isn’t easy, so we’ve put together our top hacks to save you time managing your HR processes and help ensure things run like clockwork.
1. Don’t leave compliance to chance
Setting up compliant HR processes for hiring, managing and exiting employees is essential. It’s business 101. Likewise, having the right paperwork in place when you hire people on is critical.
For example, you need to provide your new hires with all the relevant information about your company, their new role and your expectations of them when they start. This includes having them read and acknowledge your code of conduct and other company policies as part of your onboarding process. Failing to do this means your employees aren’t bound by your company policies which puts your business at risk.
So, to minimise the risk of HR compliance fails you need to develop a library of up-to-date HR documents, forms and templates. The best way to eliminate most HR compliance risks is by using a purpose-built HR platform to automate and manage these key HR compliance requirements. Businesses of any size inany industry can really benefit from specialist HR tools.
2. Ditch the spreadsheets
If you’re still a slave to the HR spreadsheet, then you’re probably putting yourself under enormous pressure to keep it all up to date. But you don’t have to. While there’s a significant amount of data that you need to collect, record and analyse, you don’t have to do it on a spreadsheet.
There is affordable, cloud based HR software that you can use. So instead of having to manage multiple spreadsheets that are getting a whole lot wider and longer with each new data point, you can have a single source of truth for all your HR information right at your fingertips.
You’ll be able to access any HR data in just a few clicks, even when you’re on the go. As more of your competitors move to internet and cloud based HR processes and intelligence tools, it’s important not to be left behind. With a purpose-built HR system, you can make your life easier and organized.
3. Automate everything
With so much on your plate, where’s the sense in hanging onto old ways of doing things when there are much better, faster alternatives? From daily tasks like managing employee personal data, to weekly rostering, to half yearly performance reviews, you can slash the number of unnecessary HR administrative tasks you need to do to zero.
Take performance reviews for example, using HR software, you can keep a running log of notes on an employee throughout the year, to ensure you you’re appraising an individual’s performance over time – not just the immediate past. With automation, validating performance helps to ensure that the records are systematically updated to easily see how your people are performing. And all the chasing of managers and employees to complete their reviews is done via the system, so you don’t have to.
4. Integrate, integrate, integrate
If you want to claw back time in your day, using integrated tools across the business will enable you to cut out so much duplication, and double handling.
These days, modern business tools for HR, payroll, accounting, CRM, marketing, project management, and more, integrate to streamline all areas of the business. With integrated business tools in the cloud, you not only ease your administration workload but also help increase productivity and collaboration, and reduce the risk of human error. You’ll also be able to collect more data, and gain more meaningful insights for the business.
Switch to modern HR tools
Using a modern HR system like Employment Hero is a clear winner over handwritten records, and Excel spreadsheets. HR documents and templates are updated whenever the regulations change, and with all your files and HR documents accessible 24/7, you’ll never have to waste time hunting for pieces of paper again.
Far from it. There are much better ways to get your new hire off to a great start. And it’s far more likely that they’ll stick around for the long haul if they have a great experience from the get-go.
Workplace culture
Employees are more likely to invest themselves personally in a company’s success if they feel aligned with the business. And this starts by understanding the culture. It’s essential to get your new employees involved in your company’s culture on day one. The best way to do this is for new starters to spend time with employees from different areas of the business with various levels of seniority.
Likewise, implementing a buddy system ensures your new starter has someone to talk to, which is so important in the first nerve-wracking weeks of a new job.
Mission, vision and goals
If you want your new starter to embody the company’s mission, vision and values, then you need to share this as part of your onboarding process and show them where the business is headed. It’s equally important for everyone to understand their own goals and how they relate to the big picture. Communicating the goals of their role during the onboarding process will help new hires focus their efforts towards achieving them.
People
Getting to know all the new faces and personalities in a business can seem daunting at first. Your role is to help new employees settle into their new team and get to know the clients, colleagues, managers, etc. they will work with so that they become recognised and integrate naturally.
Onboarding is a process
If you’re going to ace first impressions, you need to start your onboarding process well before day one. Beyond the onboarding pack, it’s important to think about how you’re going to immerse your new starters into your company culture and instill in them the knowledge and behaviours that will lead to their long-term success.
So, rather than thinking of onboarding as a one-day orientation, think of it as a continuum: a process that lasts anywhere from 3 to 12 months. Here’s some practical ideas to help you to create an onboarding process that helps your new employees get off to a flying start.
Onboarding Checklist. Before they start.
Work Space
Prepare their work area/office space and equip it with supplies.
Order appropriate access keys/security cards and make sure they work.
Order business cards.
Arrange for parking, if required.
Technology Access
Order technology equipment (computer, iPad, phone) and software.
Set up their system in advance and assign them to a printer
Arrange for access to common drives.
Add their name to relevant email lists.
General communication
Share the news about the new starter with everyone in the business so everyone’s ready for their introduction. It’s a good idea to share something personal about your new hire such as their love of coffee or their favourite footy team. In this way, other employees have something they can use to break the ice with them when they meet.
Assign a buddy or mentor the new hire can rely on to show them the ropes and answer their questions, even show them the best place to grab lunch.
First Day
Have a small gift waiting for them such as your company t-shirt, mug or keychain.
Give them a tour of the office or workplace and introduce them to key team members.
If you haven’t already given them the Onboarding Pack before they started, make sure you present it on their first day, and give them time to complete the paperwork over the week ahead.
Meet with them and their manager to explain the expectations of their role. The new starter needs to know what they’re supposed to be doing, and how that contributes to the company bottom-line.
Have their manager assign any straightforward tasks.
Take them out for lunch with their manager and buddy or mentor.
First Week
Introduce them to employees from different areas of the business and have them shadow them so they can experience the business from many different aspects.
Meet to check they’ve signed the paperwork and have accessed, read, and acknowledged your company policies.
Check-in with them and their manager regarding any first tasks.
Have their manager assign them their first project.
Currently, Yarrow Plumbing has five plumbers in the field and two admin staff. Their point of difference? No dig plumbing. It was 13 years ago that Dennis identified the enormous benefit for both the plumber and client when using an alternative method instead of digging up pipes to perform work. This was especially the case when the pipe was under a house or a driveway.
We’ve all heard the story…
Plumber: “I’m afraid you’ve got a broken pipe.”
You: “Oh, that doesn’t sound good. Can you fix it?”
Plumber: “Yes, but it means digging up your driveway.”
No Dig plumbing is Dennis’ speciality. He’s been known to fix pipes where everyone else shook their heads. One such scenario was when an eight story apartment block had just been completed only to realise a large pipe underneath had completely collapsed. Dennis worked tirelessly for a week, in the end he was able to repair the eight metre length of crumpled pipe using his No Dig method, some ingenuity and some persistence.
The simPRO savings
Dennis attests that simPRO saves him at least 20-30% in operational costs. Pre-Builds and Take Off Templates enable Dennis to complete a quote in only 5 minutes. And to top it off, all stock and material is accounted for and sold on. Nothing ‘goes missing’.
“simPRO saves me around 20-30% when you account for the time saved and materials accounted for,” Dennis Yarrow, Yarrow Plumbing
After ten years of using simPRO, not being tied to the office is a given. Every school holiday Dennis packs up the caravan and spends a minimum of one week with the family.
Then there are the Scripts in Connect for the guys in the field. Quality is ensured and time is saved. Dennis has provided a wide range of scripts for staff in the field to add descriptions to jobs which appear on invoices. By utilising pre-existing scripts, staff can choose the most appropriate scripts. It saves the guys in the field a load of time and ensures that what appears on the invoice reads well.
Managing staff to their capabilities
In the early days, Dennis managed a team of 50 plumbers under trying conditions in Papua New Guinea. A big take-away Dennis learned from managing such a team is to ‘manage to their capabilities’.
“All staff have strengths and weakness. I like to assign jobs accordingly. It means we look professional and doesn’t put unnecessary stress on anyone,”
Together with his years of experience and his role as a councilor on the board of Master Plumbers Association of Queensland, Dennis is well versed in the industry.
It’s not unusual to rush from meeting to meeting, extinguishing fire after fire. You’re always checking your e-mail and making countless phone calls.
But there’s a big difference between being productive and just being busy. And if you’re always busy being busy on admin-based HR tasks with no time for strategic HR thinking, it probably high time you made a change.
Here are four telltale signs that you need a new HR system.
Sign 1. Onboarding is all paperwork
The onboarding of new employees is a crucial time to time to give your new hires a thorough understanding of your company’s history, culture, and mission, and how they fit into the bigger picture and can contribute to the greater success of the company.
But, in too many workplaces, onboarding is all about paperwork. And much of a new employee’s first day, is all about completing one document after another. This includes:
Signing a letter of engagement;
Acknowledging your code of conduct;
Filling out the tax declaration form;
Completing their superannuation choice form; and,
Giving us their bank account details.
For new starters, it’s dull, and it’s tedious, and for some, it’s a real let down. But it doesn’t have to be this way when you enable new hires tocomplete onboarding essentials online, allowing them to fill out and sign all of their onboarding paperwork well in advance of their start date.
Tip: It’s important to make an employee’s first days, weeks and months, memorable for all the right reasons. By streamlining your onboarding process with an HR system, you can save yourself so much time, free yourself up from tedious paperwork, and make your new starter’s time with you more productive and enjoyable from day one.
Sign 2. The data you need is always hard to find
If you’re still filing everything away in paper files in a bank of filing cabinets, it’s not only inefficient, but you’re probably putting the business at risk. Paper-based filing systems are only as secure as the people who have access to the office where they are located.
Even if you’re the holder of the key, when bulky filing cabinets start to fill up with overflowing manila folders, it becomes difficult to keep the information organised. If you face an underpayment claim, or are undergoing an audit by a Fair Work inspector, think of the time it takes to hunt down those important documents. It can be seriously stressful, and seriously time consuming. And with no audit trail, who can say that it hasn’t been altered?
Tip: With cloud HR software, you can free up your day and have meticulous files at your fingertips whenever you need them. In fact, online HR software like Employment Hero can save you an enormous amount of time across a range of HR tasks. As all yourHR data is encrypted in the cloud, you’ll also have peace of mind that everything’s secure from login to logout.
Sign 3. Human errors keep tripping you up
Sometimes, the sheer volume of paperwork and duplication from manual processes can be simply overwhelming and keeping you away from doing more strategic work. Spreadsheets are probably a large part of why you’re always busy doing busy things. They are also notoriously prone tohuman error.
With manual data entry, any kind of formula mistakes can seriously mess with everything from managing holiday allowances to your payroll calculations. And it can take ages to unravel it all when something goes awry.
Tip: If you’re still doing payroll manually or keeping data in spreadsheets, it’s high time for an upgrade. For many businesses, the answer lies in having a single platform with integrated HR, rostering and payroll which eliminates the need for data double-handling.
Sign 4. You’re busy being busy updating HR files
Employee self-service is all about helping employees and managers build a more self-sufficient work environment. HavingHR self-service functionality is a must as it allows your colleagues to perform routine HR tasks themselves, rather than relying on you to do it for them. This includes updating their personal details, as well as acting as viewing and acknowledging workplace policies and other HR documents.
By reducing your employees’ reliance on you to perform day-to-day support tasks, you cut costs and response times while improving efficiency, productivity and compliance.
Tip: With a cloud-based employee self-service system, your employees can access the system from home. They can view work schedules to see when they’re rostered on, view payroll information, and request annual leave, all without calling on you.
Free eBook
If you’ve recognised some of these telltale signs, it’s a good time to start thinking about the right HR software for your business. For help doing this, download our free eBook, The HR Manager’s Ultimate Guide to Choosing HR Software. It’s a step-by-step guide on documenting your requirements, shortlisting your systems and ultimately choosing the right HR software for you and your business.
Employment Hero is Australia’s first all-in-one cloud HRIS offering a comprehensive HR software, payroll system, and employee benefits platform in one easy solution. Trusted by Australian businesses, Employment Hero is about making rostering, onboarding, performance management, time tracking, payroll, and award interpretation a snap. Employment Hero’s HRIS also integrates with Xero, MYOB, KeyPay, and Accountright Live. Stop wasting time with spreadsheets, and request a demo today.
Employees who feel part of a team where people have their back so to speak, and are there to support them, generally feel a lot happier and more positive to their work. Happy, positive people are more proactive and work harder. So this would be a great thing for the company, as you can imagine. But how do you promote teamwork in the workplace where individuals have been used to operating under the premise ‘every man for himself’?
Reward teamwork
Recognition or incentives to promote teamwork is very effective. When teamwork is made to be a focus and a key objective with rewards for when it is achieved, then a clear message is sent and staff can appreciate the importance of it. As with all things, changing an inherent culture that is years-strong can be a tricky business but if you stick to it, with time, change will happen.
Know the person not the employee
It is much easier to feel part of a team and trust your team members when you know them as a person and what makes them tick. Certainly, it is very important to have clear boundaries between work and home for work-life balance, however this should not necessarily extend to bonding with your colleagues. Encourage social activities as a team and bonding outside of work where each man or woman is on a level playing field and comes as a person with a background, interests and passions. In doing so, you will find that the team will function better together and will achieve more success in their work.
Define an objective and individual roles
Now that you have promoted teamwork by incentivising it and creating the opportunity for bonding outside the workplace, it is time to focus on what the team must achieve. Teamwork is a lot more achievable when goals and objectives are clear to everyone. Therefore, it is imperative to define a project focus as a team and then identify individual roles and what each person will achieve with respect to their strengths. In doing this, team members will grow to understand each other’s deadlines and responsibilities, which creates both understanding but also a level of peer pressure which keep the less focused people on track.
A growth spurt can stretch staff time very thin and it can be very stressful, so making it easier for your team to get the work done should be a focus for growth. Implementing an automated, specialised inventory management software package will reduce the big and small frustrations in day-to-day inventory control, and it will let your staff focus more of their energies on growing the business.
Welcome all ideas
Effective communication is the key to any great partnership and the same is true of a team. Encourage good communication by having an open, non-judgemental platform for ideas so that people will feel supported to speak up and voice their ideas. In conjunction with learning to communicate ideas effectively comes the need for effective listening so that those ideas may be heard. Some personalities will find this difficult to do, just as some will find it difficult to voice their opinions appropriately but both should be encouraged in an open and professional manner.
Make every minute count
One of the surest ways to exacerbate the workforce is to utilise their time with unproductive meetings. This is a common occurrence in many workplaces and places more pressure on staff as they have to achieve the same amount of work in less time while the time they had was spent in futility. In fact, a survey conducted by Microsoft Office revealed that professionals spend approximately 3.8 hours in futile meetings. It is not realistic to expect a team to function properly without team meetings, however an investigation into the operational management of Whole Foods Market showed that ensuring status reports are written and distributed prior to the meeting allows colleagues to be up-to-date with the status of projects and endeavours prior to the meeting so that each hour spent as a team can be used effectively for strategic decision-making.
No-blame game
It is inevitable that with many personalities working together, there will be issues. However these can be used a strength and do not need to spell disaster for the team, they simply need to be managed effectively. Encourage direct communication between individuals so that issues are dealt with quickly and efficiently. Foster a no-blame environment so that the focus remains on the individuals finding a solution that is acceptable to all parties involved. Ensure all disputes are clearly and respectively dealt with while being documented every step of the way. By encouraging staff to resolve things themselves with the objective to be a well-functioning team, you are empowering them and creating a respectful, open and collaborative environment.
Here are some things you may want to consider in your business to engage and meet their expectations.
Tech-Savvy
They want technology to work. If you have customer loyalty apps, make sure they function well and aren’t flaky. If you’re going to use software, make sure it’s good. People expect it to work. The same goes for your website and Facebook page because millennials will be logging on to look for your menu, opening times and location. It’s all about forward thinking. This generation demands good quality so make sure your products are of a high standard, too.
Eco-Thinking
Plastic straws are out! Look at ways you can incorporate eco-friendly options into the business, as well as sustainable menu choices. Consider adding vegetarian, low-carb and health-conscious items to meet a broad range of tastes and lifestyles.
Low-Alcohol Alternatives
People are looking for far more drink options than beer and wine. Health conscious millennials wanting to limit their alcohol intake, also expect good-quality alternatives.
This is where bar staff can get creative with the mock-tail menu; the combinations are endless.
They want an ‘experience’
Expect millennials to sing your praises if they have a good experience, but conversely, they won’t hold back if they’re not impressed.
Think about the music you’re playing, the general atmosphere, staff interaction and overall vibe.
Keep these suggestions in mind, adapt, and ensure the business is changing to meet the ever-changing market and demographic.
And, most important of all, know your demographic. If your customers are not millennials, you’ll need to look at the specific needs of their generation.
No one ever starts a business with the intention of spending most of their time tied up in the administrative tasks that come with operating one. But the truth is, the more successful your business becomes, the more people you hire, the more staffing demands and HR tasks multiply.
Taking care of HR tasks like managing holiday requests, finding someone to cover parental leave when one of your employees leaves to have a baby, or managing overtime – not to mention staying on top of employment law changes and keeping your policies up-to-date – can feel like your full-time job, particularly when you don’t have an HR manager.
Of course, along with the day to day HR tasks, there’s also a number of strategic HR issues to get your head around if you want your business to thrive. And this is really difficult without an HR manager or consultant to call on.
For instance,
Are you doing enough to develop your culture and create an employer brand that will help you attract and retain top talent?
What about your benefits package? Along with an attractive salary, offering attractive perks, career development opportunities, and flexibility are so important if you’re going to attract and retain great people.
If you’re spending more of your time on managing your workforce, rather than strategically growing your business, then it’s time to get some help.
Here are four telltale signs you need to hire an HR manager to help scale your business.
Sign 1: You’re spending way too much time on HR admin
When you employ people, there’s a stack of HR tasks that go with them. And HR issues have a habit of being very time-consuming.
Whether it’s trying to learn about employment law or the latest updates to awards and rates of pay, or trying to hire a new designer or office manager, these HR activities pull you away from revenue-generating activities.
The more time you spend on HR admin, the less you spend on developing your business (which is why you went into business in the first place!).
Sign 2: HR issues are keeping you awake at night
As a business owner, it’s highly likely that the skills you’ve used to grow your business are based on your area of expertise and not on any formal HR training.
As such, there’s probably a big knowledge gap in HR rules and regulations governing everything from hiring practices, to what you need to pay your people, applying and enforcing workplace policies, meeting training needs, and tohow to fire someone in a legally compliant way.
As Australian employment law is complex and ever changing, it’s difficult to keep up-to-date and fully compliant if it’s not your full-time job. But there are hefty penalties for getting it wrong, and ignorance is no defense.
Sign 3: Your Excel spreadsheets have reached their limits
While your spreadsheet may have been perfectly adequate for your HR needs when you started out, you’ve probably outgrown it without even realising it.
Remember, the humble spreadsheet wasn’t designed specifically to manage HR needs. When the amount of HR data you’re handling becomes unwieldy and spans multiple spreadsheets, a huge amount of unnecessary duplication and human errors start to sneak in. Which in turn encroach on even more of your valuable time.
Sign 4: Payroll is becoming a nightmare
Payroll processing is time-consuming. You need to keep track of new hires or terminations, penalty rates for overtime or weekend work, annual leave entitlements, benefit deductions, and so on, not to mention the record-keeping demands that keep you compliant.
All this can be a massive time drain when you’re not a payroll professional. The more time you spend on this task, the more time you’re not spending on generating sales, prospecting new opportunities, and delighting customers.
What if you can’t afford to hire an HR Manager?
In an ideal world, you’d leave HR and payroll to the experts. But unfortunately, you just can’t afford to right now. What do you do then?
Thanks to technology, reducing time spent on HR admin doesn’t necessarily mean hiring someone. Instead, you can use cloud based HR software to automate a lot of the manual, error-prone tasks that take up much of your time.
With an HR platform in place, you can choose to hire someone to help on a part-time basis, given all of the basic HR tasks are automated and taken care of via the system. Plus, a solution with an employee self-service functionality will dramatically reduce the HR workload. This frees you up to meet customers, and work on things that inspire and motivate you to grow your business – without having to increase your headcount.
If you’d like to see how HR software can benefit you, check out Employment Hero (you can sign up for free).
Having robust HR tools and processes are absolutely essential, but you need more than just someone doing payroll tasks, or advertising vacancies online.
If your business can’t justify full-time HR resources, don’t worry, you’re not alone. According to research by the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), just 29% of companies with fewer than ten employees, and only 47% of small businesses with 10-50 staff have just one person in an HR role.
No dedicated HR
In many small firms, HR tasks become the responsibility of the business owner or someone like the financial controller. Yet even if you’re the most seasoned entrepreneur or have tasked your highly-experienced finance manager tooversee HR related matters, this is a lot to take on without professional HR experience.
With the complexity of the Australian employment landscape, the devil is in the detail. And you can inadvertently put your business at risk if you’re not on top of thelatest employment rules and regulations. As an employer, just consider some of your legal obligations around paying staff:
Paying your employees correct wages under the applicable modern award
Applying any penalty rates for overtime or weekend work
Issuing accurate pay slips
Sending PAYG tax instalments to the Australian Taxation Office
Choosing a default super fund
Paying superannuation contributions into your default super fund or your employees’ nominated funds on or before the due date each quarter
Keeping appropriate records
HR tools to help you work smart
Get any of this wrong and you could be facing backpay liabilities, along with stiff penalties for breaching workplace laws. And add to this a good dose of reputational damage for underpaying employees which could take years for you to put right.
Of course, you don’t have to do this all on your own. There are various HR tools and other options available to help you nail your HR requirements, including:
An outsourced HR consultant
Customisable templates for employee contracts, HR policies and other HR documents
An HR hotline
An all-in-one HR, payroll and benefits platform
Outsourced HR
With outsourced HR, you get access to professional HR talent with the exact expertise you need, when you need it. And you can forget about compliance headaches because skilled HR professionals are totally across all the latest developments in employment law and the rules and regulations around hiring, managing and terminating employees. A good outsourced HR professional an also help you set up HR systems and processes in-house and evaluate and implement modern HR tools and HRIS solutions for your ongoing HR management and recordkeeping.
Customisable HR templates
Downloadable customisable HR templates, forms, policies and documentation are a great foundation for any growing business, bringing uniformity and consistency to HR practices. But they still need to be tailored to your business, and are not a cure-all for all HR requirements.
HR hotline
HR hotlines are typically provided as subscription based services. They are staffed by experienced HR consultants who can answer your queries on specific HR matters, and give you guidance on handling everything from onboarding, award interpretation and employee entitlements such as wage rates, annual leave, and superannuation. They can also help you manage poor performance, or follow due process in dismissals, and redundancies. However, as with most things in life, prevention is better than cure, so using a hotline before you fire someone is much better than contacting them after you’ve received an unfair dismissal notification from Fair Work Australia.
All-in-one Human Resources Information System
By automating HR tasks with anHRIS solution, you can save time, create efficiencies, and minimise risk across the business. You’ll eliminate slow manual processes and spreadsheets and the errors that go with them, freeing your staff to work on more strategic, income-generating projects. You’ll also have up-to-the-minute reporting tools that provide valuable insights to help you steer your business. With employee self-service functionality, your employees can access and update their own records which not only ensures greater accuracy but it also reduces the HR workload.
Of course, for an all-in-one HRIS, you can’t beat Employment Hero. The HR tools on the Employment Hero platform help you handle everything from recruitment and onboarding through to performance management and termination in a structured, systemised, and compliant way. Plus, everything’s easy to access 24/7, and documents are automatically updated so there’s no need to manually update them.
Request a demo
To see for yourself how Employment Hero can ease the stress of managing day-to-day HR tasks, and free up more of your time to work on stuff that really matters,request a demo today.
Employment Hero is Australia’s first all-in-one cloud HRIS offering a comprehensive HR software, payroll system, and employee benefits platform in one easy solution. Trusted by Australian businesses, Employment Hero is about making rostering, onboarding, performance management, time tracking, payroll, and award interpretation a snap. Employment Hero’s HRIS also integrates with Xero, MYOB, KeyPay, and Accountright Live. Stop wasting time with spreadsheets, and request a demo today.
As margins get tighter, professional development for your staff is a great way to give your business a competitive advantage. Increasing your employee’s skillset should improve competency and efficiency on the job, boost sales and create an environment that encourages repeat customers.
Everyone has had an experience in a restaurant, for example, where they could tell the staff were on-point. The food was delicious and on-time, the front of house staff were knowledgeable and attentive, and you were made to feel special – not just another receipt in the till. You almost certainly visited again, told friends and family about the great experience you had, or perhaps even posted a review online.
Despite the positive differences well-trained employees make to the day-to-day running of a business, staff training is often ignored by companies that see it as ‘time-consuming’ and ‘expensive’. Yet there are numerous training options around to suit the different needs of businesses, learning requirements of staff, and budget constraints. Some of these include:
external industry training such as conferences, seminars or workshops
online courses
job shadowing – great for people new to a role
in-house training – a session taken by a more experienced member of staff.
When choosing the right training option for staff, it’s important to make the decision based on what the business requires. What works for other companies may not work for you. Training doesn’t have to be expensive or take your employees away from work. Job-shadowing and in-house training provide ways to upskill your staff while they are still on the job.
Not only will quality training improve the performance of your staff at work – allowing them to take on new tasks and greater responsibility within the organisation – it will show that you value them. Happier, more engaged staff will be another bonus for your business.
Robbers and thieves can strike unexpectedly, and they can catch you off guard even if you already have an emergency plan in place. That’s why it’s important to periodically evaluate your procedures and improve them when necessary.
To help you do that, we’ve put together some retail emergencies that you might encounter and how to deal with them.
1. Armed robberies
The best way to “deal with” with armed robberies is to prevent them. Understand that robbers commit crimes because they believe that the payoff outweighs any risks. As the Beverly Police Department in NJ puts it, “A robber commits a hold-up because he or she believes that their profit will be worth the risk. By decreasing the possible profit and increasing the risk of apprehension, potential victims can reduce their chance of becoming a target.”
How exactly can you do that? Here are a few tips:
Know when, why, and how robberies take place
Let’s start with the when. According to the Portland Police Bureau, armed robberies usually happen during opening and closing times, as well as lunch breaks. Why? “Opening and closing periods are particularly vulnerable times due to low staffing and large amounts of cash on hand. Lunch hours are primary times for the same reasons.”
Also be wary that the holiday season increases the likelihood of robberies because of higher cash volume and large crowds that can preoccupy retail employees.
With that in mind, you can prevent robberies by taking some precautionary steps. The Beverly Police Department recommends having “several employees present when opening and closing the business.” These employees can:
Inspect the business for forcible entry before entering the business.
One employee searches the premises before admitting others. If all is clear, the employee entering the store first can signal the companion with some prearranged sign.
At closing make sure no one is hiding in the business.
At closing one employee can enter the parking lot first and can signal the companion with some prearranged sign if it is safe.
Practice safe cash handling
Robbers are after cash, so take the necessary cash handling precautions to minimize risk and loss. Here are some of the ways to do that:
Avoid having unnecessary amounts of money in your register. Only keep the amount you need to conduct normal business, and either put everything else in a safe or transfer to the bank.
Don’t make predictable trips to the bank. Change up the times of your trips as well as your route.
Have marked money in your register. Take five and ten-dollar bills then record their serial numbers and series dates. Place those bills in your till and include them in the money to be given to the robber. Do not use marked money in regular transactions.
Improve visibility
Having a checkout area that’s highly visible can discourage robbers. That why it’s best to:
Avoid fixtures or signs that can obstruct views of and from the register. These include large signs on your windows and doors, counter displays that are too high, and fixtures that block people’s view from the outside.
Cover your blind spots using mirrors or cameras. This will help you monitor the hard-to-see areas in your store.
Invest in good lighting both inside and outside your stores.
What to do in the event of an armed robbery
If an armed robbery does take place, stay calm and do the following:
Cooperate with the robber. Don’t resist, and don’t do anything that would put store employees or customers at risk. (Read: don’t try to be a hero.)
Avoid surprises. Robbers are generally nervous, so anything quick or surprising movements could put you and others in harm’s way.
Activate any silent or holdup alarms you have in the store.
Try to give them the marked money in your register.
Be observant. Take note of the number of robbers involved as well as their physical characteristics (e.g. height, eye and hair color, hair length, etc.). Also take note of what they’re wearing and any weapons used.
Call the police immediately after the incident. Provide time of the robber’s departure and give them a physical description as well as the method of travel.
Preserve the evidence. Keep clear of the crime scene and avoid touching anything that the robber(s) may have touched.
2. Flash mobs
No, we’re not talking about the fun, break-out-in-song type. This type of flash mob involves several people (sometimes up to 40 individuals) walking into a store to overwhelm employees and steal merchandise as quickly as possible. Here’s a video of retail flash mobs in action:
The strength of flash mobs lies in their numbers. When a crowd suddenly walks into a shop and wreaks havoc, it can be difficult to react properly. And in many cases, robbers walk out of the store before employees even know what’s happening.
So how do you prevent and respond to flash mobs? Here are some tips:
Work with law enforcement to monitor suspicious behavior
According to the NRF’s Effective Crowd Management Guidelines, retailers should work closely with law enforcement to spot and report potential flash mobs. For instance, if you or employees see unusually large groups of people in your vicinity, you need to alert the authorities right away.
Social media can also pave the way for flash mobs. People involved in these crimes may plan and coordinate using social networks, so keep an eye out for any mentions of your store or general area.
Responding to flash mobs
The NRF recommends that retailers re-position employees in the store to discourage flash mobs. One thing you could do is put associates in key areas or near high-value products (since these are usually the target of people who participate in flash mobs.)
And if a flash mob does take place, don’t attempt to fight back as this could lead to violence. The NRF advises that you “instruct employees and customers to retreat into a secure part of the store.”
In other words, stay safe and let your surveillance cameras and the proper authorities do the work.
3. Shoplifting
Shoplifting is also major problem in the retail sector, accounting for 38% of retail shrinkage. That’s a big chunk, so every retailer must take steps to prevent it. Here’s how:
Know the signs
Shoplifters usually exhibit the following behaviors:
Avoids eye contact
Spends more time looking at employees and exit routes rather than browsing the merchandise
Wears bulky clothing
Walks in and out of the store repeatedly without buying anything
Acknowledge each customer who walks in
Greet every single person who comes into your store. This lets them know that you’re aware of their presence, and it makes them less likely to commit a crime. But don’t just stop with a greeting. Continue to engage them as they look around.
“If they are looking at something, we may tell them something unique about that product in passing as we go to help someone else or restock a shelf. Ideally, we keep such pitches to one sentence, e.g., ‘that vase is handmade in Massachusetts.’”
“It allows the customer to ask any questions they have, and from the loss prevention perspective, it tells them we know they have it in their hands.”
When you spot someone shoplifting…
The right procedure for handling shoplifters may vary depending on the laws in your area, as well as the type of the store you have and where you’re located. That said, if you decide to confront a shoplifter, here are some best practices:
1. Establish shoplifting probable cause – You must first have probable cause if you plan to detain a person suspected of shoplifting. This means you or your staff must have witnessed the person take your merchandise and attempt to leave the store without paying for them.
2. Confront them – If you decide to confront the suspected shoplifter, approach them when they have exited the premises. According to security expert Chris E McGoey, it’s best to have additional personnel with you when you approach the shoplifter.
“A good rule is to outnumber the suspected shoplifter by a least one. The extra personnel usually prevents the suspect from fighting or attempting to flee. A female back-up is best if a female suspect is being detained,” he wrote on his website.
When you approach the shoplifter, immediately identify yourself. Always have a form of ID to show the suspect. If you have loss prevention personnel who aren’t in uniform, see to it that they have their badge or ID handy.
“The presentation of credentials should occur simultaneously with the words “I’m with ACME Stores, and I would like to talk with you about the ‘two bottles of ACME wine’ in your bag,” adds McGoey.
From there, aim to retrieve the merchandise before going back into the store so you can confirm the theft before detaining the shoplifter.
3. Escort them back into your store – Take the shoplifter back into your store. You may want to have more than one escort to keep them from running or endangering other people in your shop. Once inside, see if there are any other items you can retrieve, then tally the costs.
Final words
No one wants to think about being robbed or stolen from, but as a business owner, you need to think about these scenarios and prepare for them. The last thing you want is to be caught off guard.
Now, we’d like to hear from you. What are your procedures for dealing with robbery and theft? Let us know in the comments.
