"Payroll is tight...we have to cut hours!!" How many times a day are managers saying this? It has been so drilled into our heads that payroll is the most controllable expense, that it has become just a way of life to be under the assumption that "we are cutting hours". What if I told you that you don't have to cut hours (necessarily)?
We need to stop looking at payroll like it is an expense we are trying to control, and start looking at it like an investment that we can manage. Most companies look for an "entrepreneurial spirit" in their leaders, which is ironic when they take their leaders strongest tool (the schedule) and constrict it to a point that it becomes a weekly robotic action. Most managers have felt forced to constrict their schedules to such a point, that the only thought that goes into writing it, is making sure there is someone there to open and close the store. Your schedule is your biggest tool for success! Look at it that way, and then look at every person you put on it as an investment in building your business bigger than it is now. Communicate to your people that you are investing in them (how special would that make you feel?!), and the success they generate will return itself in the form of more hours, and in some cases financial reward like increased commissions and bonuses.
Ok, so that sounds great, right? Here are some tips to putting together a schedule that is a tool that maximizes your potential investment.
1. Know your team's strengths and weaknesses, and be able to identify chemistry in combinations of your team members.
2. Know how to predict your business weekly, daily and hourly. Holidays are the easiest way to explain how things impact your business. Sometimes they fall in a different week, which can seriously skew how your prior year figures will match your predictions. You also need to learn to consider outside factors - construction, weather, movie releases, school schedules etc. I also want to make special note about predicting hourly, as this is where your entrepreneurial thinking gets a chance to shine. Being willing to go after a trend by adjusting how you write your traditional schedule is exactly the kind of investment I am talking about. I recently cut a night shift employee to add coverage to a spiking morning business. The investment paid off - morning business grew enough that I was able to add the night shift back as well as keeping the added morning coverage!
3. Understand that the schedule has more potential to detract from the moral of the store than almost anything else. You will be amazed at how incredibly loyal and willing your team will be if it seems they are getting everything they want when it comes to their schedule. You also need to be very upfront and clear about what your expectations are around the commitments your team makes towards their availability.
4. Communicate your goals in each schedule. In the example above, if I simply cut the night person, and added a morning person without communicating the reasons why, the night people would be mad at feeling shorthanded, while the morning people would be confused why an extra person is there...in both cases frustration and chaos are the likely results. Most schedules are now computerized and come loaded with information, make sure you not only learn that information, but also teach your team what that information means. In most cases, that information will provide your team with enough knowledge to know if your investments are paying off. Empower them to act accordingly.
If you follow these steps, it shows immediately that you are committed to the investment in your team and the time they have working in the store is also a deliberate investment. Your team will feel valued (like a successful investment) and you will be amazed at the things they can accomplish while they feel that way!! That's a potentially amazing result from a piece of paper you usually crank out before you go home every Monday!!
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