It is not uncommon to discover that retail owners are preoccupied with marketing, sales, and inventory controls. And, like many small business owners, managing staff usually stops at the time clock.
Advances in point of sale retail solutions that include cutting-edge functions and enterprise-level data management put an end to this thinking. At last, small businesses have the appropriate technology at their fingertips to design and track staff management metrics.
The small retail owner can use these new data-based features to monitor staff performance in ways that are unique to their industry. A highly capable ePOS system will deliver the expected staff management features; it is the meshing of automation technology and data management that will give you decisive wins in a few key areas. And honing your business metrics to include these pieces will help you to further cut costs and improve your margins while reducing your overall time investment.
Employee management is more than tracking hours
The time clock and punch card has been a tried and true staple of retail management for decades. Not much changed even when the introduction of magnetic strip cards replaced punch cards, as applying hours into payroll was a manual process. Add in the manual computation of sales commissions, and you have a time-consuming payroll process that is prone to errors. But today’s ePOS software takes the manual out of payroll and gives you some great tools to improve the process.
Scheduling and payroll can be more accurately managed through the use of a POS-integrated online calendar. Key benefits include:
- Staff can access your online booking site, and using color-coded blocks, can tell you when they are not available for shifts. This makes scheduling easier and offers your employees the ability to view other team member’s calendars and even make shift switches, ensuring that you are fully staffed and that all scheduling is transparent.
- Running accurate and automated payroll processes is a natural next step. In addition to calculating pay or updating time off balances, various tax and government withholding must also be processed.
- An ePOS system gives you the tools to easily apply these on a person-to-person basis, and it can be configured to add commissions and bonuses as well, based on already established sales and performance metrics.
Sales conversion tracking gives performance metrics teeth
Sales conversion rate, or the effectiveness of a salesperson to convert a customer visit into a sale, is arguably the most effective metric for retailers to track. This tells the true tale not only about how effective an employee is at sales, but also helps you gain an accurate insight into the volume of customers that each person engages in your store. You can then use this to provide deeper levels of training for struggling employees, or as the basis for performance rewards and bonuses.
An ePOS system gives you the technical foundation to monitor all of the information that is vital to tracking sales conversion rates, primarily sales and inventory data points. The metrics you build, when based on this information, will allow you to confidently build performance reporting that is highly accurate. In turn, these metrics will show you the performance of every employee, and all you need to present this information to them for the sake of improvement and transparency.
Using sales conversion statistics will be a vital aid when constructing a loss prevention strategy as well, helping you get a better handle on tracking:
- Improper voids at the register
- Uneven exchanges
- Over-refunding of returns
The time it takes to investigate every sales or inventory shortcoming is time you could be spending attending to other aspects of your business. By tracking the sources of each of these, and determining their accuracy, you can take control of product leakage in your store and offer corrections to staff before mistakes become too costly.
ePOS reporting abilities are the keys to employee management
Having all the data you need to develop an effective employee management solution and supporting metrics is a great start. However, you need to have the rights tools in place to turn your metrics into a format that makes monitoring the moving pieces of your business easier. Having these by your side gives you that second pair of eyes every business owner longs for.
Possessing the ability to build performance reporting around specific tasks or employees gives you more control over their management. This means that you will be able to detect subtle performance differences as they first start to occur, instead of making the discovery after a performance slide has cost you valuable revenue or has led to negative customer experiences. Your ePOS system reporting tools will enable you to take a data-driven, proactive approach to employee management.
ePOS retail solutions will build employee relationships
An employee’s time is just as valuable as yours, so it makes sense to utilize the technology in an ePOS system to help both of you. Giving some control of scheduling back to your employees, while monitoring their performances on the sales floor, will help create a transparent and supportive working environment. This in turn will help you to attract better talent and elevate the level of customer service your store provides.
The team at talech understand how important it is for your employees to be performing at the top of their game.
Find out more about what talech can do for your business.
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