THERE IS A HELL! - - - IT IS CALLED RETAIL THERE IS A HELL AND IT IS CALLED RETAIL! | Page 23

23

guarantee that in a retail environment there are plenty of opportunities to remove
irritations and show the employees that the boss is listening.
What can managers in other cities learn from the Chicago and New York retail
employee walkouts, and what can they do if they see signs of mutiny in their own
retail environment?
 When a manager sees that something is wrong in the workplace, the first thing they
should do is look in the mirror. Most problems in the workplace are caused by conflict
that has occurred due to a manger's inattention to details, including not being in tune
to employees who are dissatisfied for any number of reasons.
Instead of seeking an answer by pointing the finger at a troublesome or non-productive
employee, managers should ask themselves, 'What is the cause of these troubles?' If we
leave aside the low pay issue, the causes of employee dissatisfaction almost certainly will be
things that a Power of One boss can change and remedy.
The above three examples are held true, I once worked at a World Resort where the
expectations of the frontline worker were high and the pay in exchange was low. Even
though tens of thousands of employees were working for the same low wages, the
motivation, performance, and morale levels in their work environments were definitely not
the same. What made the difference every time was the quality of frontline managers and
team leaders who either used their "power of one" for elevation or destruction of workplace
engagement.
Not all employees can be motivated in the absence of the pay that they consider to be their
"minimum." But not all employee dissatisfaction can be eliminated with an increase in pay
either. The best that frontline retail managers can do is to create the highest level of
employee satisfaction possible and support their employees on the frontline in achieving
some kind of daily successes.
Workplace engagement may not completely mitigate the National Minimum Wage issue, but
it will keep the best frontline workers reporting to your workplace. When you've got the best
retail or restaurant workplace in town and your employees know it, they won't want to deal
with the alternatives waiting for them if they walkout for good.
This is about common sense. People should be nice to each other, be honest, be restrained,
be professional. And yet............
And yet……….. the behaviour of many retail managers is atrocious. The section that now
follows come from personal experience or from the experience from associates,
acquaintances and colleagues

dodie ste®eo p®odu©tion ™

Page 23 of 36