Retention of retail staff is a challenge!

K Pandia Rajan who founded Ma Foi Management Consultants Limited, a firm that provides integrated and professional HR services to clients worldwide, has felt the HR issues related to the Indian retail industry very closely. The company is now known as Ma Foi Randstad and Rajan is the CEO. In an interview with Varun Jain, he shares the ‘ins and outs’ of the HR department pertaining to the retail industry.

 Varun Jain (VJ): The industry insiders say that the retention and motivation of staff has become a major concern for the retail industry. What is your perception about the same?

K Pandia Rajan (KPR): Retention of sales and service staff has been a bigger challenge for retailers. The organised form of the industry being at a relatively nascent stage, the trained talent pool available is limited, many retail players look at hiring from competition. Many a times, organisations do not invest time and effort to develop proposition of an employer brand. Thus, strengthening that for recruitment becomes a challenge. Organisations should not only determine the value propositions, they should define competencies for various roles and train their managers to assess applicants against those competencies.

VJ: What is the attrition rate in the retail industry? In general what do you think are the reasons behind high attrition rates in retail?

KPR:  In 2009, attrition was over 25 per cent while this year it has gone up further. It’s higher at the front line and junior levels. Some of the reasons are

• Performance pressure vis-à-vis a slow market.
• Cross industry movement not successful in a few cases due to absence of role mapping and competency based hiring.
• Talent scarcity for certain critical skills such as planning, merchandising, retail operations giving way to compensation spirals.
• Lack of clarity on the government regulations’ front leading to confusions of role growth, especially at the senior levels. 

VJ: Do you feel there is a dearth of talent in the market?

KPR: Talent is available from related industries (FMCG / Apparel / Durables) ready to migrate; right level of experience to clearly discern the “do’s” from “don’ts” is relatively scarce. In a market aspiring for quick successes – in a business which is returning profits only after right scale and time, adequate experience is of critical importance.

VJ:  Do you also train the staff before supplying them to the retailers? If yes what sort of training do you provide?

KPR:  Ma Foi Randstad’s training division provides various training programs based on the specific requirements of the employer. The programs include customer service, sales, grooming, health and hygiene, safety measures and work ethics.

VJ: Have you formed any tie-ups with the institutes offering education on retail?

KPR: No, we do not have any such tie-ups.

VJ: What are the other issues faced by the retail industry with respect to HR?

KPR: As mentioned earlier, employer brand proposition, competency based hiring, flexible and regulated staffing and increasing employability are the concerns.

VJ: What level of employees do you provide---entry level or managerial level etc?

KPR: We have been recruiting for our clients across all levels and functions like value/ premium and luxury retail formats.

VJ: For recruiting a right candidate what factors should a retailer keep in mind? What are the qualities that are essential for joining the retail industry?

KPR: The key factors that needs to be considered are, ensure that the candidate has customer orientation, service-centricity, sales focus and integrity. Other qualities include presentation ability, language skills and adaptability.