RETHINKING STAFFING

July 30, 2018

With retail leadership comes a number of difficult, day-to-day decisions, particularly related to hiring practices and determining how to best deploy staff. To reduce salary expenses and associated benefits costs, retailers have traditionally relied on part-time staffers – a strategy that comes with a significant downside.

As clearly demonstrated in the most recent report from the NACS/Coca‑Cola Retailing Research Council, full-time staffers bring many benefits that could outweigh the added costs. The report, People Power for C-Stores, examines how to better engage employees to drive improved business results.

One clear finding is that full-time staffers are far happier, more engaged and more energized in their jobs. As a result, they tend to stay with companies longer – increasing the opportunity for improved sales, profits and customer loyalty. That could explain why companies surveyed for the report say they are increasingly willing to hire more full-time staffers.

The tradeoff is clear: Full-timers will cost more, but engaged employees can pay off in countless other ways – beyond simply reducing turnover, which itself can be cost-saving. If nothing else, the report should lead to productive discussions about measuring the costs and benefits of full-time staffers.

The report can be downloaded for free here: