The replacement of staff costs businesses a significant spend. To this end there have been some interesting studies on the precise cost of replacing staff according to industry. Today we look into the field of retail and how we fill these sorts of positions more effectively for our clients.
One Fifth of Annual Salary Goes on Staff Replacement
American Progress released some fascinating data on the cost of staff turnover – mainly that the typical cost of turnover is 21% of an employee’s annual salary and higher for niche skills such as those of physicians.
When it comes to the retail industry, or jobs where annual salary is £20,000 or less – that figure goes down to 16% of an employee’s annual salary, and takes on average £2,354 to find, hire and train a replacement employee on an hourly rate of around £6 – £7 per hour. However, in retail – where turnover can be high – these costs can mount up fast.
1. Begin with the Customer
By knowing your customer you can glean insights into the type of person they would interact best with (and hopefully buy from!) within retail. This can help frame your candidate search and is something we actually believe is applicable throughout all recruitment, not just retail. Some questions you might consider are:
• What are the primary demographics of my customer?
• What are their hobbies and tastes?
• What sort of person would they empathise with and enjoy being around?
2. Go to the Hire
Although by no means exclusive, millennials often occupy retail positions. And to this end, ecommerce and retail recruitment often targets this demographic.
By going to where your candidates are likely to be, you can gain a bigger reach – and a more suitable range of applications. Additionally, if you have a precise picture of the type of candidate you wish to attract – you can go straight to them. Forums, specific job boards, recruiters such as ourselves with huge reach, social media and university campuses all serve their purpose in capturing millennial footfall should this be your target – and the perfect candidate.
3. Technology Trumps
If you’ve been to the Apple Store you’ll notice it’s teeming with tech wizards around millennial age all behind the counter – and they seem to be enjoying themselves! We’re in an age of tech, and should the option be there, affordable POS systems, could entice them, retain them, and drive turnover cost down.
Flexible Working
Finally, something we see growing demand for. Although retail is governed by largely 9-5 hours, if there were job sharing options or flexibility incorporated this could prove a draw for candidates particularly if other competitors do not offer this. Consider the perks you can give that will stop your ideal candidate from looking anywhere else.
Clients come to RR having seen how recruitment costs can spiral, particularly in retail, and we help them to hire and retaining great retail staff eith our prices being some of the lowest and the best value available. Talk to us about pipeline recruitment if your industry has notoriously high turnover.
Castle Hill House