Let’s see:

1. They don’t pay enough;
2. Very little career pathing is offered;
3. Scheduling is out of their control;
4. Since the pandemic, they have to worry about their own safety as well;
5. If we’re honest, the retail store P&L model is built on the presumption of a large staff of part-time, transitory workers that really do leave before they have to be given raises. That’s why nothing has ever really been done about it.

I have been saying this for a long time. Store associate turnover is not an accident. Now people aren’t even bothering to take it as a transient job. It’s easier and safer to be an Uber driver, really.

The problem is (and I’ve also been saying this for a long time), I don’t really know how to fix it. Walmart is trying by paying in-store associates more, in exchange for implementing more self-checkout. Many consumers don’t like that either. This is a borderline intractable problem.

There are lots of issues with hiring, one of them being the ongoing pandemic which makes many nervous about working in public facing environments. On top of that there are the usual issues with pay and benefits relative to the effort required for the job. However I’d say the biggest issue isn’t necessarily with hiring per se, it is with retention. Good retailers should look to retain their talent by making work emotionally as well as financially rewarding. I visited a lot of grocery stores over the weekend and spoke to workers there. Out of them all, the two that were fully manned and had fewer labor issues were Wegmans and Market Basket. Funnily enough, both are known for treating employees well and inspiring loyalty among their teams. Go figure!

In contrast to the part of the industry that has to fight a labor shortage and is known not to treat its own workforce well enough, I recently heard the quote: “It is easier to get into Stanford than to get hired by Apple.” (Labor shortage be damned.). One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.

Retailers face many hiring challenges, but two are at the top of the list: pay and safety. Pay has always been problematic, with many retailers still paying relatively low wages. This remains a challenge that is exacerbated by upward wage pressure from other segments struggling to find workers, like hospitality. Safety became a concern since the pandemic first struck and with the Delta variant gaining momentum, the health concerns related to interaction with the general public will be a barrier for many workers. I think that the pay increases and education funding incentives now being offered by some of the leading retailers like Target and Walmart are a step forward.

The biggest challenge in retail hiring today is hiring authentic brand ambassadors who can truly represent a brand. Although gig workers could fulfill a certain skillset or knowledge required in product creation, design, or data analytics, the sales floor requires more than a skillset – it requires commitment.

Many part-time workers are great brand ambassadors and need the flexibility that a full-time role doesn’t give them but I could argue that a gig worker may only care about flexibility and could be a flight risk.

A compounding problem requires a compounding solution. Let’s start with the three Ts: Tools, Talent, and Training.

1. In terms of talent, are the multi-site leaders and store leaders developed to effectively induct and develop new hires that have met the criteria and standards of the brand?
2. In terms of tools, does the organization provide its team and prospective team the tools and resources to onboard efficiently, remove friction from the onboarding cadences, and maximize that team member’s “time to productivity”?
3. In terms of training, does the organization provide that team member with another 50-page PDF or tattered employee handbook that hasn’t been updated for the past 5+ years? Or do they provide dynamic and measurable, video-based induction content that can inspire, as well as set the standards of what teams must *know and do* on the shop floor?

Retail labor challenges have been with us for a long time. Solving those challenges isn’t going to happen overnight. There was a time when working in a store was a way to make a decent living, but that’s long past. Whether it can be again – or if retailers even want it to be – remains to be seen. But there are too many other options today – no one wants to be underpaid, part-time, and without a career path.

Great article, with solid points made.
Paula Rosenblum nails it too with her comments! There is no easy answer for the “swamp” that so many retailers created over the years. Treating staff as an expense, and a disposable one at that, created an overall poor brand for a retail career. Yet there’s an ever-increasing number of retailers that not only view their staff as valuable assets, but also treat them as what they are — humans!

A living wage is a starting point. Having better managers in place that know how to create an amazing work experience is essential. Training, coaching, rewards, recognition, advancement opportunities — there’s a long list of things that need to be in place if retailers stand a chance of attracting and keeping staff. But for those brick-and-mortar retailers out there, if you don’t recognize the immense value of your front line teams now, you likely never will.

We’ve all heard the motivational speaker’s story (originating in 1671) about the brick layer who, when asked what he’s doing replied “I’m a cathedral builder. I’m building a great cathedral to The Almighty.”

That is a good parable about the power of purpose. So how does the story of a person working in retail end when they are asked what they are doing?

It’s great to say that applicants deserve a better candidate experience. But it seems that the applicant has to actually want a job in retail to begin with. With gig and WFH opportunities as competition, the on-the-job experience is the real filter. There is nothing easy about working in retail, at any level. But the recent pay and benefit enhancements announced by Target give the overall on-the-job experience there very high marks.

Bottom line – pay more. There is now a lot of competition for people in the services industry, and compensation increases seem to be moving faster than any planned increase in minimum wage that has ever been discussed. This is going to make it really hard for retailers to hire, but on the other hand it’s going to significantly increase the spending power of these better paid workers/consumers, which will increase sales/profits for retailers to afford better wages. I think these changes are going to be structural and it is a bit hard to predict the end state.

I’m noticing all the references to “pay more” which, of course, is good advice. Pay does help people reach the bottom Maslovian rung. The other mechanical job necessities suggested are also solid.

What is missing, it seems to me, is PURPOSE. Might it be possible to elevate the role of retail in our quest for happiness, fulfillment and the greater good? Or is retail doomed to be a job until you find something you really want to do? I hold onto the belief there is more. We have to look higher.

There are a lot of people being paid extremely well who still lack joy and fulfillment. True, being rich and miserable is better than poor and miserable. Retail’s challenge is to put all the ingredients together: purpose, pay, passion, performance and, ultimately, profitability. If I could have made those words cyclical, I would have.

I have spent almost 40 years focusing on hourly hiring. Until this year, I have said that recruiting hourly employees is marketing with a rotten budget in the retail and hospitality space. All that has changed; look at the money that the leaders are now spending in the retail and hospitality sectors. They have gotten the message, and things are changing. Now Hiring signs are giving way to signs that could now say, “Life is too short not to work someplace AWESOME.” Benefits are changing. Scheduling is changing, Training is changing, Management has got the message, and they are beginning to recognize that employees are investors. They are deciding on how to invest their time. If they don’t get the return, they are ready to find a new place to invest.

The biggest impediment to hiring is the nature of most retailers in offering a transient job rather than longer-term options to grow into the role. There are exceptions however. I love to use the Costco example. Why? Because they treat their employees well. Lots of perks, benefits, recognition, and even career pathing within the store and the corporate environment. And of course, decent enough pay to make a living for a small family.

Although turnover is a major challenge at many retailers, the best retailers are able to hold onto their employees. What happens then? You no longer have cashiers assistant but a senior cashier with experience in managing the store when the GM is on vacation. The retailer able to reduce turnover will have more efficient operations plus lower overall costs in the long run — even with higher salaries.