Monday, July 16, 2012

How to invest in your employees while remaining profitable

Desi Mind Meld .
Zeynep Ton, assistant professor at MIT Sloan looks into the retailing’s vicious cycle of cutting costs, operational mistakes, and loss in profit. Her research has shown that by underinvesting in their employees, retailers are actually making their operations much more inefficient, and therefore much less profitable.

Highly successful retail chains such as QuikTrip convenience stores, Mercadona and Trader Joe’s supermarkets, and +Costco wholesale clubs not only invest heavily in store employees but also have the lowest prices in their industries, solid financial performance, and better customer service than their competitors.

They have demonstrated that, even in the lowest-price segment of retail, bad jobs are not a cost-driven necessity but a choice. And they have proven that the key to breaking the trade-off is a combination of investment in the workforce and operational practices that benefit employees, customers, and the company.
Why "Good Jobs" Are Good for Retailers
Idea in Brief. Retailers have long believed that the only way to compete on price is to offer workers low wages, poor benefits, constantly changing schedules, and little opportunity for advancement. B...

Desi Mind Meld
Zeynep Ton, assistant professor at MIT Sloan looks into the retailing’s vicious cycle of cutting costs, operational mistakes, and loss in profit. Her research has shown that by underinvesting in their employees, retailers are actually making their operations much more inefficient, and therefore much less profitable.

Highly successful retail chains such as QuikTrip convenience stores, Mercadona and Trader Joe’s supermarkets, and Costco wholesale clubs not only invest heavily in store employees but also have the lowest prices in their industries, solid financial performance, and better customer service than their competitors.

They have demonstrated that, even in the lowest-price segment of retail, bad jobs are not a cost-driven necessity but a choice. And they have proven that the key to breaking the trade-off is a combination of investment in the workforce and operational practices that benefit employees, customers, and the company.
Why "Good Jobs" Are Good for Retailers
The US needs better jobs, not just more jobs. Service businesses including low-price retailers that currently don’t invest adequately in their workers could be part of the solution.

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