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Will raising prices be necessary to offset the cost of higher wages?
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher and retail expert Zeynep Ton studied Costco, Trader Joe's, QuikTrip (a U.S. chain of convenience stores with gas stations) and Mercadona (Spain's largest supermarket chain) and found that the strength of those four retailers defy the traditional argument that retailers have to raise prices — or lose money — in order to pay higher wages. Rather, these companies treat the money spent on workers as a strategic investment and design operational systems that enable their workers to be more productive. That allows all four to pay better than their competitors while also offering low prices and pleasing shareholders.
"They have high productivity, great customer service, healthy growth, and excellent returns to their investors," Prof. Ton wrote in Forbes. "They compete head-on with companies that spend far less on their employees, and they win."
Source: quiktrip.com/Jobs
Many retailers have also attempted to find labor savings by employing software that uses algorithms to make staffing more efficient — a practice known as "just-in-time scheduling."
But there's still plenty of other wasted energy when it comes to recruiting, hiring, and scheduling store employees, said Steven Kramer, founder and CEO of WorkJam. The year-old Montreal-based company has developed software that uses data from employees and the retailer itself, store by store, to help companies more strategically hire, pay, promote, and schedule workers.
Right now, those processes can often be cumbersome, fail to be based on good data, vary from store to store, and create havoc and expense for both employees and the store, Mr. Kramer said.
WorkJam has a free app that allows employees to look for retail, restaurant, and other hourly jobs. Workers who have earned badges for credit-worthy job performance measures like punctuality or good customer service can carry those badges to their next job interview.
Indeed, Mr. Kramer said that worker empowerment is a Millennial concept that actually has its place in a well-run store or e-commerce operation as long as it's based on data factors that are meaningful to employers' needs.
"Employees want more control and more collaboration," he said. "Giving certain employees more say in their schedules, for example, so they can trade shifts with peers without consulting with a manager, could cut down on costs. The amount of texting and phone calls that happens between managers and employees is amazing. And I think in the end happier employees make for better employees as well."