Plumbing Africa Plumblink's first hundred stores | Page 14

our customers. For this reason, our people
in the busiest stores tend to be the most
knowledgeable. Our staff retention is very
good, helping with skills transfer.”
‘Seaweed’ MacFarlane with his Bidvest award.
“The expertise in the market has diluted
over time as the market has grown, and
many customers, including plumbers, are
not familiar with these relatively simple
solutions. Even with our own expansion,
we have taken on so many new staff –
having grown from around 600 staff to a
little over a 1 000 – means that we become
reliant on proportionately fewer skilled staff.
Nonetheless, our customers expect us to
be knowledgeable and so we try to train
our staff on products as much as possible
to pass on their knowledge. It’s a two-way
street and our staff also learn a lot from
Staff retention is facilitated considerably
by the rapid growth of Plumblink over the
past decade. In an independent merchant
setup, explains Chandler, a picker is
more than likely only ever going to be a
picker, but when a group is opening 10
to 12 stores a year, almost anyone with
ambition and ability can expect to be
promoted at fairly regular intervals, from
picker (or general assistant) to a counter
sales person, then to second-in-charge
and finally possibly, a branch manager as
example. “The opportunity for growth in our
business is considerable: it keeps people
motivated when everybody is moving up
and they can see a career path. This model
isn’t static as we continually promote from
within as a rule.”
Chandler himself started right at the
bottom as a general assistant/picker many
years ago, and has considerable empathy