Need help with employee

[fast14riot]

I manage a retail petfood store, and I have an employee that I am having difficulties training. She has procedural stuff down and is generally a good worker, but is extremely quiet. She avoids people, rather than helping them and has a habbit of just lurking around the store. She is fresh out of high school and this is her first "real" job. I consider myself a good manager, my employees respect me and like me. I try to remain open and accepting of any issues that can affect work performance and will help my team any way I can. I am trained in multiple sales techniques, and have been pretty successful with training most any employee I have had. This one is poving to be beyond my abilities so far. She has been here almost 6 months now, so I have run through most all of my play book. Roll playing, shadowing, mystery shoppers, creating an ongoing dialog, opening lines, pretty much the works.

I have been focusing on getting her to talk to people, about anything, find out their pets name, etc. She quickly looks for an out and takes it. Here is an example; I have a 10x10 rule for greeting customers, withing 10 seconds or 10 feet you acknowledge the customer. Many times I see her just look up, take notice, but never say anything. I had a customer come in during a coaching session with her, I asked "Can we help you find anything?" Customer says, "No thanx, I've got it." This is where my employee has found her out. I then go back to coaching and begin the dialog of follow up and she responds with "they know what they need." So I have her shadow me to the customer who is standing there staring blankly at a shelf and follow up. I ended up getting the customer a better product that will save them money in the long run and work better, all using very basic knowledge that she has.

So help me break through this wall to have this employee take ownership of her position, I'm running out of ideas! She also has no fears of public speaking, which I found odd considering her behavior.


Thanks!

-Xander

 

[PMT]

WOW, thats tough, but when I was in retail, I had the same trouble when I hired one of my fraternity brothers, was all I can do to get him to acknowledge people, something that comes naturally to me, its a personality thing, when I did tell him to greet people, he was horrible at it, his "hello" sounded so forced and fake, she may have a deeper issue. Is there anyway you could find things for her to do more towards her personality? like stock room, receiving, stocking shelves, or cleaning? could work out best for you and her depending on your stores needs, pet shops should be happy places to work, just my 2 cents

 

[Go West Young Man]

Is she shy, or just disinterested in people? That can be a weird age for girls, she just may not have the social graces figured out yet.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Retail sales probably is never going to be the best match for her skill set and/or personality. After 6 months it is high time to either try her out in another role, or let her go, I think. At this point I would definitely sit her down and ask her if she really wants to be working as a retail clerk in your store or not, and if so, be very blunt about what is expected if she is to still have a job with you next week.

BUT...

Another thing you might try. Next time you get a new hire, have HER train the new guy. Have HER demonstrate and set an example. It might provide some insight into her thinking and it might spur her on to greater effort. Worse case is you fire her anyway and spend an hour or two retraining the new hire. Maybe have a nephew or a neighbor's kid fill in as a sham new hire for this exercise if you don't anticipate actually hiring someone for real any time soon.

 

[cb91710]

Ya... definitely not sales floor material, at least not at this point in her life.
If she's smart but just not talkative, I'm sure she'd be good on the register or stockroom, maybe work her into more of an administrative assistant role where she has less contact with the public directly.

 

[Commander Quan]

Is there another staff member, perhaps a female older than her you can pair her up with for a while? Have her do everything the other one does. If she's a wallflower building a rapport with the other staff member may help her feel safe, and then gradually have the other staff member encourage her to do direct tasks on her own.

 

[Matt555]

Hmmm.....you are a good manager simply for the fact you have not fired her already (and I am not encouraging it or suggesting it....that is obviously your decision in the long run). All I am saying is that I have had many retail jobs when I was younger with real hard *** bosses. If I would have exhibited any of that behavior, I would have been fired after the first warning.

None of what you are asking her is difficult or unreasonable. Most of my managers required customers to be greeted right away or if you pass them in a store as well. And helping customers is pretty standard stuff. She may find she is just not up for it and need to find a different job either in a backroom or something like that.

Hope it works out and like I said, you are a good man not for firing her right off the bat for being seemingly incapable of following simple directions.

 

[CharlieFoxtrot]

Can you find something that plays to her strengths? Every organization has supporting roles and not everyone can be on the front lines. You could wait it out to see if she will snap out of it but that may never happen.

 

[fast14riot]

Thanx for the suggestions guys. As far as finding another role fo her, this is a fairly small store and everyone does everything. She is not strictly a sales person, but she does cashier, clean, stock (what she can, she's barely 100lbs lol), just general customer service. We all do.

I have one more tactic I normally reserve for disciplinary actions, that I think may work without having to resort to a write-up or termination. When I have an employee not doing their job, either habitual goofing off and slacking or flat out insubordination I will scedule them for a 2 hour non-working shift. I have a face to face in the office with them, first 30 minutes is letting them talk, how they are doing, any issues they have, concerns, personal or not. Then I ask them to write out their job description and responsibilties, very detailed and what they understand their job to be. I don't pull out the binder or anything, I don't make it a test, I just talk very casually and constructive about what they wrote and bring up the details that need work. Also if anything is left out. More of a therapy session. This will normally bring to the surface what the issue is. I then correct and edit their job description to meet what is expected and make them sign it. It then becomes documented training material and they are held to it strictly for the next month and with a review afterwards including a performance evaluation. Sometimes it results in termination, other times it allows an employee to realize the err of their ways.

I'm guessing she is struggling finding her place in the world, starting her first semester of community college, going from top dog as a senior back to a freshman, it was tough on many of us. I don't like to adhere to "sink or swim" management, I'm very family or team oriented. I can't do my job without her (or others) and she can't do hers with out me. She is actually quite smart, has excellent product knowledge, and will do any task I give her. I hope I can give her the tools to be successfull here or anywhere she goes.

One other componant to the equation, which I have no idea if it is even an issue, is she is a young african american girl and I am a (young) middle aged white male. I make no joke about any forms of racial or any other type of situations at the store and all my employees are very good about it, but I just can't help but wonder if this is something that is putting up a barrier between us?


What do you guys think?

-Xander

 

[cb91710]

I will scedule them for a 2 hour non-working shift.

Unless something has changed, 4 hour minimum pay in California, even if they are only present for less.

 

[cb91710]

One other componant to the equation, which I have no idea if it is even an issue, is she is a young african american girl and I am a (young) middle aged white male. I make no joke about any forms of racial or any other type of situations at the store and all my employees are very good about it, but I just can't help but wonder if this is something that is putting up a barrier between us?

Noticing your location, I have to admit that did cross my mind.... not in relation to you, but in relation to her own perception of her "place"
There could be a local cultural issue with her shying away from eye contact and approaching people.

 

[Matt555]

One other componant to the equation, which I have no idea if it is even an issue, is she is a young african american girl and I am a (young) middle aged white male. I make no joke about any forms of racial or any other type of situations at the store and all my employees are very good about it, but I just can't help but wonder if this is something that is putting up a barrier between us?


What do you guys think?

-Xander

Unlikely in my opinion. But then again, I try to live my life as colorblind as possible while not everyone else does.

And you are right about it being a tough time. Especially if all of her friends moved off to college and she stayed behind for community college. This can cause major resentment and problems for kids at that age. Also, some kids simply resent the fact they have to work. You said this was her first job. Maybe she just does not like working? Lots of kids are like that now and it drives me crazy. I started working at 15 years old. Nowadays kids have everything handed to them as if it is owed to them and have no work ethic.......but I digress. I have no clue if that applies to this young girl.

 

[fast14riot]

Unless something has changed, 4 hour minimum pay in California, even if they are only present for less.

If she is scheduled for a 2 hour shift with proper notification, 2 hours is minimum pay. If she shows up on time for a normal shift and is sent home short of her normal shift (less thn 4 hours) she is entitled to 4 hours pay.

I will say that I do not do the book keeping and it is all handled fully legally by the accounting dept.


-Xander

 

[fast14riot]

I am baffled. Tonight I had her close with me, slow evening so just her and I. I feel we have a pretty good report, she is using more than one word answers gets my jokes and laughs. I try to keep myself in one "roll" as a manager, but I have had employees in the past who got too comfotable with my style and completely stepped out of line as if I was their buddy sitting next to them at th bar. I'm pretty laid back and open with my team, but I have terminated my own brother in law, and that sent shockwaves through the team.

I don't feel as if the race card is in play at all, I don't see people that way and don't act like it either. But I still feel like she is acting lik she doesn't belong. I always try to instill ownership of ones position to my crew, which builds a sense of pride and creates responsibility, something I realize many of these kids have never experianced before. Even my lowest level, newest member, least working employees have something in their day that they can call the shots in. I find that important. I offer all kinds of options and chances for her to make a decision about her work and she seems to be confused by it.

I am going to have to really get on a personal level with her and figure this out, but if this continues much longer I will have no choice. Its a shame, I really do take pride in starting new workers off on the right path in their working life, I hate to be the guy that fires someone from ther first job because they were shy.

I am open to any and all ideas that may help. I try to find her interests, I know what classes she's taking and how she's doing. I thank every member of my team after every shift every day. I try to be the boss I always wanted, but I am not afraid of being the boss that everybody hates. I hope she comes around real soon, but unfortunately getting fired may have to be the act that causes it.


-Xander

 

[oc_in_fw]

I am baffled. Tonight I had her close with me, slow evening so just her and I. I feel we have a pretty good report, she is using more than one word answers gets my jokes and laughs. I try to keep myself in one "roll" as a manager, but I have had employees in the past who got too comfotable with my style and completely stepped out of line as if I was their buddy sitting next to them at th bar. I'm pretty laid back and open with my team, but I have terminated my own brother in law, and that sent shockwaves through the team.

I don't feel as if the race card is in play at all, I don't see people that way and don't act like it either. But I still feel like she is acting lik she doesn't belong. I always try to instill ownership of ones position to my crew, which builds a sense of pride and creates responsibility, something I realize many of these kids have never experianced before. Even my lowest level, newest member, least working employees have something in their day that they can call the shots in. I find that important. I offer all kinds of options and chances for her to make a decision about her work and she seems to be confused by it.

I am going to have to really get on a personal level with her and figure this out, but if this continues much longer I will have no choice. Its a shame, I really do take pride in starting new workers off on the right path in their working life, I hate to be the guy that fires someone from ther first job because they were shy.

I am open to any and all ideas that may help. I try to find her interests, I know what classes she's taking and how she's doing. I thank every member of my team after every shift every day. I try to be the boss I always wanted, but I am not afraid of being the boss that everybody hates. I hope she comes around real soon, but unfortunately getting fired may have to be the act that causes it.


-Xander

As a white male, it is easy to say that you don't see people by their skin color. I know that I don't. If you are African American, it is much harder to hold that belief. We have come a long way, but there is still a lot of racism out there- some blatant, some hard for us to see. I am not trying to preach anything, I just want you to think about that for a little bit.

 

[HLS]

Heck, as long as she's getting work done, not stealing and is punctual just leave her alone. These days when I shop it's the guy that follows me around trying to help that makes me leave and not come back. Very annoying.

 

[Ron991]

Tell her that all sales is rather like being on a stage, and her performance on that stage will directly affect the bottom line on her paycheck. The better the performance, the better the take-home! Fairly simple....

 

[redrako]

Tell her that all sales is rather like being on a stage, and her performance on that stage will directly affect the bottom line on her paycheck. The better the performance, the better the take-home! Fairly simple....

+1

Xander, you sound like a good manager. You realize that your investment in employees will return itself many times over in other words, you appear to be a good motivator.

Having said that, it may be tie as part of your heart-to-heart talk to be frank with her about how her lack of engagement with customers is not acceptable in your organizations.

The thought that occurs to me is that if she is very shy, then to emphasize that this is like acting or role playing. If however on some level she doesn't like people or is alienated in some way, that's another matter.

Best of Luck

 

[MrDentini]

Does she have a pet? If not, would giving her a kitten help her love pets and consequently that kind of work?

 

[cb91710]

Heck, as long as she's getting work done, not stealing and is punctual just leave her alone. These days when I shop it's the guy that follows me around trying to help that makes me leave and not come back. Very annoying.

Agreed.
I don't mind being asked if I need help, but when I indicate that I know what I'm looking for, or "I'm fine", I prefer to be left alone... but that the employee be aware of me and available if I indicate that I have a question.

Sounds like she's not quite there though... I'd be perfectly fine with her looking for the "out" and leaving me along, but I do expect at least a "Good morning" when I get within 10ft of someone... and it sounds like she may not be available for me after I let her know that I don't (yet) need assistance.