TRRAIN founder BS Nagesh shares his views about how to reduce the attrition rate among customer-facing staff. The Indian retail sector is grappling with a high level of attrition rate at the store level. retailers need to invest time and energy in creating and retaining skilled, loyal, and efficient employees and recognizing their valuable contribution to the bottom line of the organization.
The retail industry in India is again in a gloom-and-doom mood, what with the economic slowdown and the very high attrition in the “retail associates” cadre at the store level. At the recent Retail Leadership Summit of the Retailers Association of India (RAI), I was asked by one HR manager how he could arrest attrition. I didn’t have a ready answer then, but after seeing the feedback from our first TRRAIN retail award winners, I seem to have a way forward.
Why is it that retailers are not able to retain their associates in the job for more than 60 days? Why is it that they cannot pay enough compensation for the role? Is the job of selling a Rs 2,500 garment or a Rs 100,000 jewelry item less skillful than driving a car or cooking a meal? I believe we in the industry need to define the role of retail associates more sharply, understand better their impact on our business, and apprise them of the contribution they make to the bottom line. We need to recognize them for the efforts they make and the stickiness they create with the brand and the consumer. We need to celebrate their achievements and appreciate their good work.
We at TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers and Retail Associates of India) did not realize the impact of our awards and the Retail Employees Day celebrations until the time we got feedback from our winners as to how their company and neighborhood celebrated their success. For me, the ultimate success was when at the recently concluded ET Retail Awards, Jitendra Kalyani – our TRRAIN gold winner – was honored amongst the CEOs of retail.
Our Soldier of Retail got his medal along with the Generals of retail!
How many times have we heard the line: “… and the award goes to …”? Whenever we heard this phrase, it was mostly for felicitating the Who’s Who of the retail industry, recognizing their efforts in their respective fields. But did anyone pause to think that without the support of the front-end retail associates, reaching the sales targets would not have been possible? After all, it is they who face all kinds of customer grievances and still keep smiling.
TRRAIN, formed with the vision of “empowering people in retail,” organized the first-ever customer service excellence awards, called TRRAIN Retail Awards last year. At the ceremony, 12 retail associates were felicitated as regional winners while 3 associates emerged as the top national winners. There were also three special jury awards given in the course of the evening. It was a night when the best retail associates in India were honored for setting new benchmarks of customer service excellence in the Indian retail industry. Not only that, the shop owners and store managers where the winner worked also got to attend the ceremony and receive gifts for encouraging service excellence at their outlets.
The winners of the TRRAIN Retail Awards 2011 had never thought that such a time would come in their lives when all the camera shutterbugs would be waiting to capture them receiving the award and that they would be treated on an equal footing with all the other big guys of Indian retail attending the awards ceremony. Varun Iyer from Globus, one of the regional award winners, said: “It is a very proud moment for me. There is hope. I often thought we will never get respect in the society. People do not treat salesmen well. Now I feel the world is opening up for us. I do not care if I win – I am just happy to be able to come to a place like this and be with people who I always thought were very far from me.”
Almost a month after the awards ceremony, TRRAIN went back to the winners and their HR department to discover what was the impact of the awards received by the retail associates. The feedback received by us was amazing.
The Shimoga district in Karnataka now has its own home-grown star in Sunil R Shet. He was covered by many local newspapers who carried his picture, and therefore people in the district recognize him. While he is traveling in the locality, people stop him to offer their congratulations. Says Shet: “I feel like a star. My life has changed so much. Overnight, I have become someone from being just another salesman in Shimoga. I never expected this kind of thing could happen to me!”
One of Shet’s customers, who had relocated to Bangalore, specially came down to the town after reading about him in a newspaper and threw a small party for him! Shet was pleasantly surprised when executives at the bank where he went to deposit his wining cheque asked if they could have a picture clicked with him. Tapasi Chakravarty from AM Mobile, Kolkata, is her mom’s hero after winning the regional award. Says the mom: “If you have a daughter like her, you don’t need a son! Tapasi has made me very proud.” Ever since Chakravarty went back home winning the award, her mother has been calling up every one from her family and friends to share the good news. Adds Chakravarty: “I will never forget this experience. The way we were treated by the TRRAIN members was amazing. We never thought we could get so much respect and care from anyone. I have kept my trophy near my bed. Every morning when I wake up and look at the award, it inspires me to get back to work and achieve another milestone.”
Chakravarty received gifts like an iPod from her brother as well as gift vouchers, and a watch from her organization. In a picnic organized by her company for employees and their families, she was called out and appreciated by the top-line management. Chakravarty also received an appreciation mail from Nokia. For her, it was an experience straight out of a fairy tale book!
“Dream world” is how our national gold winner Jitendra Kalyani calls his life after winning the award. “My life has completely changed,” he told us. “My importance and respect at the workplace has increased manifold. I had never thought I would attend a function as big as the awards night.” On December 15, 2011, at Big Bazaar in Nashik, an event was organized at the store level to congratulate Kalyani on his achievement. His family was also invited to be a part of the celebrations. There was a cake cutting ceremony, followed by the manager’s speech and Kalyani sharing his experience of the awards.
Our firm belief at TRRAIN is that retailers have to recognize, appreciate and glamorize the role of their retail associates. Our journey of identifying, nurturing, and celebrating the real heroes of retail has just begun.
*This article was originally published in February 2012 issue of Images Retail.
