As the Great Resignation maintains its hold on today’s labor market, retailers are facing historic obstacles to employment and business continuity.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, retail jobs are among the most common occupations nationwide, with more than 9.8 million people employed within the industry. But in 2021, the Department of Labor recorded the largest one-month exodus of retail employees in more than 20 years.
So how do retailers combat the churn of turnover to keep their organizations afloat?
Creating a more robust employee experience is essential to effective recruitment and talent retention in the retail industry. However, before you build the right strategy for your organization, it’s important to understand which factors contributed to the industry’s current strains.
Retail turnover
For more than two decades, the retail landscape has become increasingly competitive. Retailers face mounting obstacles to their success due, in part, to advances in consumer-facing technology and overarching global events, including:
- the rise of e-commerce
- livestream shopping
- brand-specific apps
- supply chain shortages
- public health restrictions
In addition to the evolving retail market, employees across industries are leaving their jobs in droves. In an IBM Institute for Business Value survey, 1 in 5 employees said they voluntarily changed their employers in 2020, with millennials and Generation Z making up more than half of that group.
And according to a 2021 report from Deloitte, 72% of business leaders agree upskilling and reskilling is key to addressing new challenges — including the Great Resignation — but only 17% felt they were ready to meet this need. So how do retail employers address the need to drive development, enhance engagement and reduce turnover?
Today’s employees, including retail workers, expect a workplace environment that goes above and beyond the status quo.
The employee experience
Better retail HR technology can help you take your employee experience to the next level.
As consumers, we expect intuitive tech to help accomplish daily tasks, and so do employees. Creating a culture that includes tech solutions to meet your workforce’s needs demonstrates your commitment to improving their day-to-day experience.
In fact, the right tech benefits both retail employees and HR staff by providing engagement, communication and streamlined processes across both brick-and-mortar and online spaces.
The right tech
In a survey of business executives, the IBM Institute for Business Value found that 59% of organizations saw accelerated digital transformation during 2020. But not all tech is created equal. To meet the changing expectations of today’s workforce, you need the right tech.
Competition for talent means you need the power to quickly find, hire and onboard retail employees. Consider a single software that gives you the ability to track applicants, perform background checks and complete onboarding all in one place, allowing you to confidently pick the best representative for your store. When you make the hiring process more efficient — for both your HR staff and new talent — you’re building a foundation for employee retention from the very beginning.
The right HR tech moves with your workforce. A software accessible anytime, anywhere allows your team to easily clock in, view schedules, request time off and even verify their own payroll before payday, all while on the go, between meeting customer needs on the salesfloor. A secure HR and payroll app should also help facilitate timely performance reviews, actionable feedback and an environment for employees to ask and find answers to important questions — such as how they can improve their customer service.
When you equip your employees with tech that simplifies everyday tasks and empowers them to take control of their own data, the employee experience soars, strengthening retention and building a better future for your retail organization.
Interested in learning more? Visit our webpage to see how Paycom’s comprehensive mobile app houses the HR and payroll tools you need to keep your retail organization competitive.
DISCLAIMER: The information provided herein does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional legal, tax, accounting or other professional advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation and for your particular state(s) of operation.