Boost morale and keep hold of your assets

Boost morale and keep hold of your assets

Staff morale in many of the retail chains is at an all time low with consultants feeling overworked and underpaid. Employers are starting to realise the threat to their most valuable asset – their staff – and the implications of losing them. Diane Smith reports

OPerators are starting to introduce new initiatives in a attempt to stop staff resigning.

The move comes in light of LunnPoly staff complaining about working conditions (Travel Weekly August 21) and Going Places employees objecting to burdens such as cleaning duties.

Lunn Poly has started a monthly anonymous survey of its staff called ‘Your views’. A computer randomly selects a cross-section of employees from all over the company to participate in the survey. It aims to address trouble areas, dissatisfaction as well as new ideas coming from the shop floor.

Often staff potential and discontent goes unrecognised, prompting valuable staff to look for work elsewhere.

A Lunn Poly spokeswoman said: “The surveys are to look at what improvements can be made, shop opening times and when staff take their lunch breaks to see what works locally for that business.

“We have already called in a shop manager to interview a head of sales to ask him the questions everyone wants answered.

“It’s been a very busy year. We’ve been through a lot of change to build morale and make the shops pleasant places to work,” she added.

“We want to make it fun and enjoyable so people choose to be part of Lunn Poly. A lot of the Lunn Poly brand is about personalities.”

The operator had previously carried out in-depth research of staff every two to three years through MORI.

She added that Lunn Poly is also looking at how much more the regional sales managers can address staffing issues and help keep employees.

Travelworld has also changed its staff retention and recruitment policies, investing around £150,000 in new initiatives that were launched last February. It has already seen a 50% reduction in resignations.

Travelworld human resources director Kirsty Mellor said the main change at Travelworld is the introduction of a team of four human resource trainersto look after recruitment, retention, training and rewards.

All four trainers were moved to the new positions from within the northern England-based agency chain, owned by Going Places – two were already training managers with the company.

The initiatives also include a one-week induction course for new starters before they are let loose in the shops; prompt dealing of job applications; and welfare chats for staff experiencing problems at work or at home.

Mellor said the induction course is designed to inform new recruits about company policy, teach them how to use e-mail, the importance of customer services, basic travel geography and selling the Travelworld way.

To speed up the recruitment process, there is now one centralsource for screening potential candidates, contacting interviewees within 48 hours of receiving an application and interviewing candidates within days of receiving their job application, said Mellor.

Previously, managers conducted all of the company’s recruitment interviews. Now they are only involved at the second interview stage. The company has also been proactive in recruitment, distributing flyers to job centres and local colleges.

The welfare chats, conducted by the human resource trainers, are aimed at tackling the issue of staff retention and identifying training needs. Employees are even given home phone numbers for the trainers so they are able to discuss problems outside working hours.

“Before we didn’t have the resources to do that, which resulted in people leaving,” Mellor added.

Trainers are also responsible for recommending people for succession planning.

“If the company has identified someone who is ready to progress from an assistant manager’s role to that of manager, we will train them for a manager’s position and they can then be promoted when a position is available,” said Mellor.

Winner: Travelworld’s retention policy, launched in February, has already seen a 50% reduction in vacancies

Happy talk: new initiatives are hoped to boost staff morale