Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 April 4, 2018 behind the scenes," said Matusiak. "It's not all about cost. You also get a data stream from some of these new technologies." Roots has turned to a new HR system that has improved the company's learning management system, quickened the onboarding process, and trained employees more consistently across all retail outlets, said Lettner. "It has allowed us to leverage technology in a totally different way." Perfecting performance One of the underlying concerns for retailers is lower per- formers now make too much money, said Graff. e poor performance could stem from missed sales opportunities, gaps in the customer experience or lack of employee urgency, he said. Because of this, many retailers are now saying: "If I'm going to pay more, everybody's going to have to pick up their game," said Graff. "e issue of performance management becomes really important." Roots' newly implemented HR system is expected to drive a renewed focus towards a performance culture. e program tracks team sales, provides analytics, and suggests appropriate scheduling in terms of goal-setting and coaching, said Lettner. "at sounds very rudimentary but it wasn't something that we were doing consistently across skills," she said. "It's really easy for us to now get data on all of our employees on performance scores and where they're sitting so we can make really thoughtful decisions about planning succession." e minimum wage adds more incentive for store managers to really take a look at their labour budget, said Lettner. "With the increased cost, you want to make sure that you've got the best employees on the floor if you're going to be spending those additional dollars." Retailers can no longer afford to employ performance management merely as an annual exercise, said Matusiak. "ere's a renewed focus on this because, historically, the walk hasn't always matched the talk," he said. "Employees were always an important part of any business or retailer. It's just become a more expensive asset and something you have to pay more attention to." Focus on training With employees earning greater compensation, their brand value increases accordingly. "We are training our employees constantly to become brand ambassadors," said Lettner. "How do we create engaging and meaningful experiences for our customers in the stores and how do we get our employees really excited about being able to be a part of creating those experiences? How do we start to train our teams to just be really customer-obsessed?" In its effort to create a seamless experience between technological shopping solutions and brick-and-mortar stores, Roots needs employees to be part of the solution, she said. Consistent training and a career framework model are two ways the retailer attempts to keep staff loyal to its brand. At Home Hardware, wage hikes have prompted the company to take another look at its development system for star performers. And recent traffic to the hardware chain's internal learning management system reveals a renewed focus on soft skills and product knowledge training, said Amos. "It's our dealers identifying with the fact that our team is now costing us more," she said. "How do we invest in them and make sure we that we get the most out of them?" Finding efficiencies With the hikes in minimum wage, areas such as prod- uct management, supply chains and price increases — or fewer blowout sales and markdowns — all deserve new consideration, according to Matusiak. "When you're faced with a dramatic increase in one part of your cost structure, you're selling yourself short if you're trying to absorb that cost increase just in that one area," he said. "ere are ways of getting it back just on the top line as well." "You don't necessarily have to suck this up. You can pass it along in terms of increased prices." It means taking a fresh look at everything from hydro efficiency opportunities — such as low-energy light bulbs — to snow removal contracts to possible solutions from staff, said Amos: "A full health check of the business." "It really forced us to take a look at our businesses and our operations and put a strategy in place," she said. "If we play the strategy right, as we see the equilibrium happen, we should come out to the good. We've decreased our operational costs… We should see ourselves positioned quite well at the end of this if we play that cost strategy properly." Our team is now costing more. How do we invest in them and make sure that we get the most out of them?" From left, panellists Michelle Lettner, Sherri Amos, Eric Matusiak and Kevin Graff discuss the implications of minimum wage hikes. Credit: Marcel Vander Wier

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