Complaining Staff? Listen to Them

Think your complaining staff are wrong? Think again.

The measure of a good business leader is how they treat their staff. Those hoping to get to the top of their industry would do well to treat those under them with respect, and listen to what they have to say. No matter how well educated or intelligent you are, you’re never above learning a thing or two from those who are completing the daily tasks of your business. In fact, they can help you avoid some real business calamities if you simply allow them to express their potential.

One of the worst things you can do to a staff member is to ask them to complete a task they haven’t the resources for. They should never have to get creative trying to complete a task that you are asking of them. They should have the necessary tools from day one. Listen to the following complaints from your staff, because this can help you avoid that fate.

Start to speak with your workers

The fact that one-on-one conversations between a manager and a subordinate are very important and  an indispensable tool for team development, is often and much said. Everyone knows that this is needed, but really few use it. There are other cases when the manager recognizes the need for such conversations and conducts them very formally, forgetting that the main task of such conversations is to make it clear to the subordinate that he will be heard, moreover, they want to hear him. Formal conversations from the series “Well, tell me how are you doing? “What makeup do you like?” or “what hairstyle for perm hair to choose” – this is not only not helping, but creates even more reasons for subordinates to mistrust their leadership.

Remember, everything that a person says, he says about himself, but does not always understand this. To help him cope with his difficulties is not an easy task, it requires constant honing of skills.

Struggle With Payment System

Imagine you’re a staff member. You’ve tried your best to guarantee a sale, helping a customer around the store, offering recommendations and even upselling where appropriate. You come back to the payment system, and find that the processing unit isn’t working. The customer gets tired and leaves. Then, their sales performance is less than exemplary, putting them under review.

understaffing

This is something that you should never, ever make an employee experience. Ensuring that you keep the best and most reliable credit card processing system is absolutely essential. Not only to keep your staff happy in their capacity to do their jobs, but also to gift you that revenue to keep you afloat. This is simply an investment you cannot afford to neglect.

Understaffing

Understaffing is a real issue, and it often happens to those in the retail or hospitality sectors, but it can happen anywhere.

You need to look at your staff rota with a tooth comb and try to assess if the busy times are being handled as well as they could be. This might mean analysing trends of popularity and purchasing and ensuring you have enough people on to contend with that.

It will likely mean hiring more if you haven’t enough already. Staff will tell you when you’re understaffed, but it should never have to get to that point. If you’re not willing to bring on full time, part time and maybe even zero-hour contracted staff, you could find your business output slipping.

Disrepair & Decay

If you’re not interested in repairing damaged equipment or decay unless absolutely necessary, you put your employee’s lives and the lives of your customers in danger.

We needn’t hammer home how absolutely serious this can be. Instead, we’d like to illustrate your potential for resolving this if you only allow your staff to list the problems.

Staff interfacing with your business each day know more than you do about the floor-level or backroom activities, even if you do see its operations on a sheet of paper. For that reason, listen to your complaining staff, take what they say with wisdom, and resolve issues that crop up. It’s the least you could do for their safety, no matter how much it costs.

With these tips, you are sure to take care of the 3 issues complaining staff have most.