Why your people are key to the post pandemic recovery
A pair of experienced business leaders offered their views on how staff are crucial to reviving the fortunes of individual businesses and the wider economy.
They took part in a discussion led by Alex Turner, joint managing director of TheBusinessDesk.com. The session was sponsored by Laws of Attraction management consultants.
The speakers were: Stephanie Corking, people director at Laws of Attraction and Victoria Betts, chief commercial officer at Hotter Shoes.
Corking said retail has played a key role in preserving some sense of normality during the pandemic, adding the shop workers who have enabled this deserve recognition.
She said it was important employees are listened to and emphasised the central role of the relationship between these staff and their line managers.
She asked: “How do we empower our line managers so they can look after our employees and get them into the right mindset to welcome customers back into stores?
“There needs to be the right balance between the time managers spend on getting money into the till and the time they spend looking after their staff.
“Does head office understand what retail managers are needing to deliver on a daily basis in the store?
“The best thing stores can do to get money in the till is to ensure their people strategy is in line with their corporate strategy. These should both be in alignment.”
Betts said when shops are allowed to re-open it is vital staff feel supported and safe.
At the same time, she said these businesses must be brave and bold as they look for new ways to recover.
“We have to be much more customer centric – perhaps too many businesses have not put the customer at the heart of their decision making,” she said.
Betts said Hotter Shoes has invested heavily in technology to encourage customers back, with the ideas for these solutions coming from speaking to staff and customers.
“It’s about making sure this is an agreed decision rather than an imposition,” she said.
She added the business had sought to remain engaged with its employees through weekly calls and monthly newsletters and had also used iPads and instant messaging to bridge the gap while remote working continues.
Corking said remote working means some businesses can switch to “broadcast” mode when communicating with their workers, and suggested there needs to be more two-way communication.
Invest North is a one-day virtual conference bringing together more than 500 people including business and policy leaders to set the agenda for what comes next in the North.
The event has been curated by TheBusinessDesk.com and backed by a broad coalition of organisations spanning the public and private sectors, led by EY, Squire Patton Boggs, Influential, and Impact Data Metrics.
