Announcing Kronos Retail Labor Index
September 8, 2009
The following guest blog post from Robert Yerex, chief economist at Kronos, introduces the Kronos Retail Labor Index being announced today:
The most interesting part of my job as chief economist at Kronos is working with the huge data sets made available through our hiring system. Based on application and hiring records from 69 of our retail clients, we have created a metric called the Kronos Retail Labor Index. Over the last three years, this Index has been a leading indicator of not only the retail economy but the U.S. economy overall. The Index is a measure of the relationship between the demand for, and supply of labor front-line labor in the retail sector. The jobs being filled are the front-end of the consumer-retail supply chain. Retailers can make changes at this end of the chain more easily and more quickly than anywhere else. As such these employees are figuratively the “canary in the coalmine” for the rest of the retail industry. Economists are always on the lookout for new leading indicators and this one has great potential. The Index is being made publically available for the first time today and can be accessed at: www.kronos.com/retail-labor-index. Going forward the Index will be updated on a monthly basis. I have had the chance to preview the Index with analysts and press, and the reception has been excellent.
Click here to listen to a podcast of my interview with Dr. Yerex and Steve Earl, director of product marketing at Kronos.
The Domino’s Effect - Presenteeism Among Food Handlers
April 17, 2009
While Domino’s has been in the news this week due to the unfortunate video hijinks of a couple of their workers in North Carolina, the issue of sick food handlers is one of serious and ongoing concern according to our board member, David Creelman who submitted the following food for thought:
Here is a big issue for organizations who have large numbers of workers who handle food (e.g. hospitality industry, food processing etc.) A ground breaking study by Toronto Public Health found that “between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of food-borne illnesses in restaurants can be traced to sick food handlers who transfer bacteria to diners through the food they prepare.” About 6% of Toronto’s citizens get sick every year due to sick food handlers — that’s a big public health issue.
This is clearly an HR issue since the main reason sick food handlers come to work is that they feel they can’t afford to take a day off sick.
No doubt this study will lead governments at all levels to get worried about companies who let sick food handlers come to work; so HR leaders had better be prepared to deal with the issue pro-actively.
The story on this study appeared in the Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/article/619941
Just to add a bit of colour to this story, if you are the sort of person who routinely eats in the world’s top 10 restaurants you will no doubt be aware that the Fat Duck in London recently had to shut down when many diners became ill. One suspected cause for the outbreak of illness was that customers picked up a bug from sick staff.
Climbing the Hourly Ladder - An Interview with Paul Facella
December 31, 2008
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Facella, a former Regional Vice President of McDonald’s Corporation and now CEO of Inside Management. He is author of Everything I Know about Business I Learned at McDonald’s (McGraw-Hill, 2008). During Paul’s 34 year career with McDonald’s, he learned a lot about growing his own career as well as how to motivate and develop others to do so. He was kind enough to share some of those lessons during our discussion and in a guest blog he wrote for us (below).
Click here to listen to a podcast of our discussion and read on to enjoy Paul’s blog below.
(Paul’s blog post is presented here as he submitted it to us)
The jobless figures for the U.S. economy in November were the worst in 34 years. With more than 9.5 million Americans now out of work–and rising–many job seekers are wondering if the American Dream is fading. Is it still possible in today’s economic climate to work hard, rise up the corporate ladder, and get ahead?
No doubt about it. As someone with firsthand experience, I encourage you not to lose heart in this tough job market. There are opportunities hiding in some of the least likely places–namely, in the hourly workforce.
Like four out of seven McDonald’s CEOs and three out of four senior-level managers, I started my stellar career climb at the bottom rung–as a crew member. That scenario is as likely today as it ever was.
But there’s a caveat. If you want to grow in a company, you have to find one that has aggressive talent development policies and is committed to promoting from within. McDonald’s, for example, has created more millionaires–including more women and minority millionaires–than any other American company. That’s because the company culture is based on rewards and recognition. If you work hard there, you will be rewarded.
Job seekers who are willing to work for hourly pay initially, want to learn and develop, are ambitious, and have a clear vision of where they’d like to be in three to five years are good candidates for such jobs. But don’t waste your time at the bottom unless you are confident that the company hiring you has your best career interests at heart.
So how can you find out which companies have the right stuff for career advancement? The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts out a detailed and excellent set of guidelines and resources, at http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco20046.htm, for finding out more about a prospective company before you say yes. Do as much homework as possible before an interview so you can be reasonably sure this will be a goal-and-growth-oriented job–not a dead-end job.
In your job interview, ask such questions as: What percentage of your mid- to senior-level managers are promoted from within? What programs and policies are set up for helping high-achieving employees develop new skills? Is mobility at your company limited, or could one apply for jobs for which one qualifies elsewhere in the company?
What types of companies have the peachiest low-end jobs that are likely to lead to bigger and better positions? One rule of thumb is size. Large Fortune 500 companies usually have well-developed promote-from-within policies and are dedicated to career advancement for their lower-end employees. Some of the names that consistently come up, in addition to McDonald’s, are Walgreens, GE, FedEx, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and LL Bean. Each of these organizations has a track record for fast-tracking low-rung workers, such as store clerks, drivers, and low-end office workers into managerial positions. Also, the US military is well known for recognizing exceptional smarts and talents and promoting promising people quickly.
The take-away message is this: If you’re discouraged about the job market, don’t forget that a great job may be staring you in the face. Bottom-level jobs are not always dead-end jobs. In the right organization, they are a first stepping stone to rich career opportunities ahead.
What was your best hourly job? What did you learn from it?
KronosWorks 2008 Opens with a Tingle
October 20, 2008
From the land of the divine rodent (Orlando), KronosWorks 2008 opened with a tingle this morning – Jimmy Tingle, that is. Tingle, a well known Boston area comedian, emceed the morning session in Orlando and left the crowd wanting more of his “Jimmy Tingle for President” routine. He introduced and interviewed Aron Ain, CEO of Kronos and Peter George, SVP of Products and Engineering at Kronos.
Ain laid out the Kronos strategic goals for 2009, focused on the continuing expansion of Kronos workforce management solutions, continuing globalization of Kronos from a product and service perspective, as well as ongoing investments in field recruiting solutions. George pledged to shift the development priorities for the products toward improvements that will make the products easier to own from an implementation, upgrade, and user perspective.
The tenth annual Kronos Best Practices Awards were awarded to BJC Healthcare, Catholic Health East, Ceradyne, Shooting Star Casino, Somerfield Stores, and Wabash National Corporation. Winners are recognized for their innovative use of Kronos products.
On a lighter note, Kronos announced the grand prize winner of its “How do you Kronos?” video contest. The winning entry, titled “Life before Kronos“, was submitted by Aztec Shops LTD at San Diego State University in San Diego, CA.Submissions were judged on their creativity, originality, and how well they described the experience of using Kronos software. Along with the Grand Prize winner, who received $10,000, there were second and third-place prize winners who won $5,000 and $1,000 respectively. “The Kronos Show“, submitted by Carl Truesdell at The University of Central Florida, took second place, while “Kronsters, Inc.“, submitted by Michael Ellerbeck at National Frozen Foods Corporation, took third place. All of the videos submitted are available to be viewed at: http://videocontest.kronos.com.
The keynote speaker this morning was Malcolm Gladwell, well known author of “The Tipping Point” and “Blink”. Gladwell spoke about “The Intuitive Manager”, exploring the notion that the best and most effective managers are often said to be intuitive, in the sense that they have the confidence to act on instinct. Gladwell provided the attendees with insights about how to sharpen and protect their capacity for intuitive judgement.
Other popular sessions with attendees today included “ROI: How to Make the Business Case for Labor Management” by David O’Connell, senior research analyst, Nucleus Research as well as customer sessions delivered by ResCare Inc., Holy Cross Hospital, Dresser-Rand, Discount Tire Company, Cleveland Clinic, Seminole Gaming, and Ceradyne.
The View from the Ground Floor - Back to Work vs. Back to School
August 29, 2008
As the long Labor Day weekend beckons, many of us pause to reflect on our work, where we are in our careers, and how happy we are in our jobs. I don’t know about you, but at this time of year I often experience vivid memories of what it was like to go back to school - new clothes, blank notebooks, endless possibilities for the year ahead. In today’s post, our 0-1 year post college Marketing Specialists reflect on what it’s like to make the transition to the corporate environment for the first time.
Hello from the Ground Floor!
For the second installment in the series, we wanted to share some of our initial perspectives and first impressions of life in the working world. We’re each going to take a paragraph or two to describe how the 9-5 life compares to our past experiences, and what we foresee for ourselves in the not-too-distant future. And, as always, we want everyone to chime into the conversation. If you’re just entering the workforce, what are your initial impressions? What are you looking forward to? What challenges do you expect? And, if you’re more of a workforce veteran, what do you think of this influx of young new employees? What do they need to work on, and what are they doing well? As you’ll see in our perspectives below, anything is fair game. Enjoy!
Jennifer Earls
Do you recall your first day at work after college? I remember mine very well, because it was just a few days ago! Sure, I have had part-time jobs and I have completed internships before, but this is not the same. Starting my first job is actually a lot like when I studied abroad in Spain. Once again, I’m the foreigner in a completely different world with its own set of norms and a new language. Who wouldn’t be intimidated when their co-workers are carrying on full conversations solely in ambiguous acronyms, i.e., “FYI, I’ll need the RFP ASAP, preferably EOD, although the deadline is still TBD, OK?” And, could somebody please translate the 401K plans into English? Although entering the workplace has required many adjustments, e.g., going to bed at the same time as my parents again, I’m slowly getting acclimated to this new way of life. And the smallest signs that I belong to this new place, such as wearing an office badge with my name and photo rather than the “temporary” one, receiving my first official business cards, and having fellow employees wave to me in the hallway thrill me because they remind me that I will find my place here. I know that I have a lot to learn, but I also have plenty of room to grow. As far as I can see, it is only up from here!
Kelley Kossakoski
When I entered college as a journalism major, I hoped that following the completion of my degree, I would become the next Natalie Jacobson (WCVB newscaster for 35 years and alumna of UNH - like me!) or Jackie MacMullan, (Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated columnist, and another UNH alum). However, mid-way through my collegiate career, I realized that while I loved journalism, I did not want to actually be a journalist, and that instead, I wanted to work in marketing. Upon realizing this, I worried that I had made a critical mistake by choosing to specialize in something that I liked during college, and not specifically in a field that I wanted to enter following graduation. I felt that I would be at a severe disadvantage by not having the words “marketing” on my diploma, and I wasn’t sure that employers were going to be interested in hiring someone who hadn’t taken classes that exclusively related to the responsibilities of a marketing job.
Happily, I have already found that having a major outside of your field doesn’t matter, so long as you have gained skills in college that are transferable, and that you have the capacity to gain experience and expertise successfully within a particular field. Not only was I able to obtain a job in marketing, I am meeting people everyday in my department who, like me, did not major in marketing and also have worked in fields outside of marketing. Within the marketing department here, there are former economists, sales representatives, writers, engineers, scientists, and financial analysts, and all of them have a greater base of knowledge and experience due to their varied educational backgrounds and previous jobs. I’ve realized that you are not defined solely by what your title or major declares you to know, and instead, that it is what you learn along the way through your collegiate or professional journey and what you are passionate about, that defines what you do each day.
Greg Scott
Going from my first job (a company of 30 people) to my current job (a company of 3400 people) was, and still is, quite a culture shock. Whether it’s wandering down the wrong cubicle aisle or finding out where the free coffee is, it seems that everyday there’s something different to learn about. After a few weeks with the new job, here are few lessons that are helping me smooth out the job transition:
a) Have a lot of conversations. And by conversations, I mean listen. I learned more about potential jobs from just listening than any website or job board. Current and past employees can give you a point of view that you won’t get anywhere else.
b) Be a people person. You don’t have to be the life of the party (or meeting), but speak up when you can. It can be hard to get involved at meetings and into the flow of conversation when you’re new, but at any company the employees are the most valuable resource for not only the bottom line but also for each other. If you’re a little nervous or shy about speaking up (everyone is at times), ask a lot of questions and refer to back to the first suggestion.
What works for you? Post a comment and let us know what you’ve done that has helped you enter the workforce or switch jobs early in your career.
Finding and Keeping the “Keepers” - Recruiting Front Line Employees
June 22, 2008
The latest chapter of the book we’re writing on achieving your optimal front line retention strategy is written by our board member, Mel Kleiman. The focus of this chapter is the key role that recruiting practices play in ensuring that the right talent is available, willing and able to serve on your organization’s front line.
For some organizations, the challenge may be finding an adequate supply of necessary talent. For others, the candidate supply may be steady, but choosing those who are the right fit for the job may often seem hit or miss. In either case, the organization will suffer if these root causes can’t be addressed. Mel’s article addresses the supply question as well as the issue of assessing a candidate’s suitability for the position in question, discussing the differences between candidate populations and how organizations can tailor their recruiting messages and approaches to different target candidate audiences.
I thought about this when I was shopping for a Mac Book for my son this week. We went to the hyper-glossy Apple store on Boylston Street in Boston. The floor staff have specialized roles, and gracefully handed us off amongst themselves as we sorted through the hardware and software requirements dictated by the NYU film department. Our principal guide was Chris - who himself had a deep knowledge of film editing on a Mac. We couldn’t have had a better shopping experience.
When I was leading a recruitment outsourcing practice in a past life, we used to talk about three dimensions of fit: skills, willingness to do the job, and cultural fit. Mel takes a similar approach in this chapter, exploring the assessment of existing candidate capabilities as well as an individual’s willingness to do the job in the way the organization wants it done. I don’t know what Apple’s approach is to recruiting and training their front line retail staff, but the results are impressive if Chris is a typical example.
You can read Mel’s chapter here. You can also hear a podcast of an interview between Mel and me regarding his approach to hourly worker recruiting.
Mel Kleiman interview on recruiting hourly workers [28:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (451)Guest Blog: Frontline Employees Are Expendable
April 15, 2008
Today, a guest post from one of our board members, Mel Kleiman. We’ve written before about the increasing trend toward replacing customer service professionals with self service options. Mel muses here where that path leads. A modest proposal, a la Jonathan Swift…
Unless your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or point of difference is Exceptional Customer Service (like Nordstrom, BMW, Ritz Carlton, and the Container Store), there’s no reason to sweat it when you lose frontline employees. Most likely, they were not that good anyway because, truth be told, you haven’t invested a lot of money in your hourly hires and even the training you provided, if any, didn’t cost much. In fact, their replacements will probably be just as good and may be even better than those you lose. New employees are excited about their new jobs and will probably have a better attitude and try harder - at least for the first three-to-six months. On top of this, employee turnover will probably reduce your labor costs because you won’t have to fund any benefit programs for a while. And there’s no need to worry if the new hire doesn’t know very much because the customers don’t expect them to know much when customer service is not your USP. You may even want to have new people wear a button that says: “I’m new. Please help me help you.”
Customers are expecting less and putting up with more in large part because automation has taken a lot of the service out of customer service. Voice mail and automatic attendants have eliminated the need for most phone operators and receptionists. Voice recognition software has reached the stage that it can direct your customer to the proper self-service option or you can send them to your website to look up the answer for themselves. Pay at the pump, self service gas has replaced the need for station attendants. And how about self-service checkout at grocery and retail outlets? Then we have touch screen ordering, self-service check in when you travel - not only with the airlines, but also for your hotel room. (If they could only get you to make your own bed!) These self-service options are often faster and the machine always says “thank you.” Production jobs are being performed by robots and no one does repair work any longer because we don’t get things fixed any longer, we just replace them.
The list could go on and on. Today, a few great workers can do as much as what a lot of average workers used to do. Just remember that those few workers better be great because by the time your customer gets to talk to or deal with a real human being, he or she is going to be so mad and frustrated that it will take a Herculean effort to defuse the situation and keep them from going to the competition. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says by 2010 we are going to be more than 10,000,000 workers short in this country. Don’t believe them. In 2000, they said by 2007 we would be 5,000,000 workers short and we still have about 4.6% unemployment in this country because they did not factor in the jobs that technology would replace.
Things have come full circle since the start of the Industrial Revolution and, in today’s world, frontline workers are once again replaceable cogs in a giant wheel.
Mel Kleiman CSp President of Humetrics.
Back to the Future
March 23, 2008
Last Wednesday, I attended an all day seminar hosted by IDC, a technology oriented analyst firm. The seminar was focused on topics that those of us who work for high technology firms care about; i.e. what’s the next big thing that our firms should capitalize on in order to continue to thrive. I attended sessions on Software as a Service (not so new), Software Appliances (still pretty new), Social Networking (kind of new), Innovation (not new at all), and a session on “The New Customer”.
It’s this last topic that I find fascinating - mostly because the attributes of “the new customer” seem pretty darned similar to the attributes of the majority of the customers I’ve served in 26 years of working for high technology companies. Specifically, customers purchasing high dollar technology solutions want to know that once the implementation is done, the solution they bought actually achieves the outcome they were shopping for. Sometimes that’s true business transformation, often it’s cost savings, but in all cases there is a project sponsor on the hook to find the right solution and make sure it works for the business. During and after the sales process, that project sponsor wants to talk to people who understand their business and the technology. They don’t want their relationship “managed”, they want the straight scoop they need to ensure they choose the right tools and partner to get the job done. People who’ve taken the risk to introduce a vendor’s solution into their organization want that vendor to be standing by their side as a partner who shares in solving the hard problems that inevitably accompany change.
The closing speaker at this conference was Tom Kelley, General Manager of IDEO, and author of “The Ten Faces of Innovation”. While there are ten faces in his framework, he focused on “The Anthropologist” as the most important. His point was that organizations can’t truly service a customer’s needs, and definitely won’t discover new markets around unmet needs, unless they do the field work to observe the problems firsthand. He was a great speaker, and definitely a hit with an audience of high techies who love to be associated with the next big thing, but are often frustrated that their firms aren’t willing to take more chances when it comes to innovation.
In a related blog post last week, Bob Sutton talks about risk taking as key to innovation. Ironically, in many organizations risk taking isn’t as encouraged as it should be to drive innovation, yet the implicit risk associated with a failure to focus on ongoing customer success is rampant. What’s been your experience with the technology vendors who are important to your success at work?
Punching in at the Ritz Carlton
January 21, 2008
In a new article we’ve published, Are Hourly Workers Professionals?, David Creelman explores the qualities that differentiate professionals who happen to be paid by the hour from those who are merely punching the clock to earn a living. In his article, he talks about duration in the job, content that requires expertise, and a feeling of pride in the job as the key attributes of an hourly professional worker.
“OK”, you say, “I get how that might work for nurses, technicians and other skilled professions. But how about store clerks, janitors, and other relatively lower skilled jobs?” David cites examples from just these kinds of jobs in his article. While several of his examples are drawn from outside of the United States, we can see recent examples here where companies have ignored the professionalism of their front line staff to their financial detriment. Circuit City and Best Buy have been in the news lately, with the latter’s superior results frequently linked to its investments in its employees and customer service.
Check out the article and let us know of your experiences with front line professionals who’ve won your business and your loyalty.
I Scan, Therefore I am… the Cashier
December 2, 2007
In today’s New York Times, there’s a short article on online shopping (New Tradition: Eat the Turkey, Then Go Online) that says that Thanksgiving Day itself (vs. Black Friday) has been the busiest online retail shopping day of the holiday season for the last four years. According to the US Department of Commerce, e-commerce sales in the third quarter of 2007 accounted for 3.4% of total retail sales - still a small proportion of total retail sales, but roughly triple the rate of online purchases from 5 years ago.
Today was my first experience with Easy Shop - a new service from Stop & Shop wherein you use a handheld barcode scanner to scan your items as you walk around the store. At the self checkout line, you communicate your purchases via a single barcode swipe vs. scanning each item individually at the checkout. You bag your own groceries. You don’t have to interact with store personnel at all if you don’t want to.
In days not so long gone past, going to the market(place) was a social activity. You met your neighbors, caught up on the news, and supported local businesses with your trade. These businesses were owned by your neighbors, and supporting them strengthened your community. I live in the smallest town in Massachusetts - Nahant. There are no big box stores in this 1 square mile peninsular community. There are small locally owned businesses where the owner knows your name, and will trust you to come back later to pay back the couple of bucks you were short when you ran into the store.
With a full time job, a long commute, and multiple community and philanthropic commitments, my time is precious, and I do much of my household shopping on the Internet. Like lots of people worldwide, I appreciate the convenience and time savings, even if it means paying a premium for shipping. None of those online businesses, however, are ever going to spot me $5 when I need milk and have no cash.
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