Wanted : Retail managers

Rick Bella of America's Second Harvest passes on this link of a story published some weeks ago from USA Today about the need for dedicated retail store managers in the U.S. The story isn't specific to supermarkets, but there are obvious truths that transcend the mass merchandisers and food retailers.

Here is a great quote from the story:

"A day in the life of a retail manager would be a nightmare job for a lot of people," says Kathy Mance, vice president of the NRF Foundation, which helps retailers train and recruit employees and managers.


More from the story, about one retail manager:

Working a variety of day and night shifts suits her just fine, Koteski says. On a recent week, her day shifts were 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and an evening shift was 1 to 11 p.m. She likes to sleep in and do errands on the days when she starts in the afternoon. Even though her shifts are typically 10 hours, during this season it hasn't been unusual for her to work 12 hours, given the restocking necessary to keep up with sales and recalls.

Of the holiday season, which included lines that stretched to the back of the store early on the day after Thanksgiving, Koteski says, "You just need to keep it all in perspective, have an organized plan and be flexible." Part of the plan: "You pick up stuff as you go, so at the end of the night, you don't have 20 carts that need to go back."

More reaction from other ex-managers:

Dillard says she left retailing last year because she didn't feel challenged or appreciated and rarely had time for her family and friends. "The final straw," she says, was when she was diagnosed with the flu and her district manager thought she should still report for work despite doctor's orders that she rest for at least three days.


And here are some choice reader comments

It appears to me that the retail industry fears they will no longer be able to hire and retain people with a selfess work ethic (suckers) any longer . Any semi-intelligent high schooler let alone a college grad knows retail is a dead end road to a miserable existence. This article is a lame propaganda piece. I pity that poor woman. Until Americans either refuse to work under such circumstances or unite to bargain with their employers collectively they will continue to suffer in the work place. One of the earlier comments talked about civil service as unmotivated or ambitionless (I nor any of my immediate family is civil service) and I disagree with this statement. Maybe civil service workers are smarter and like things Americans used to take for granted like a pension, healthcare,vacations, etc. Does this make them lazy or us stupid. Why is it a badge of honor to slave for an ungrateful employer who has disdain for their workers even our country itself and receive substandard pay and benefits for our labors? Maybe most of us are suckers sold a bill of goods about a good work ethic and what it will get you in this country other than taken advantage of. Employers are out for maximum output for minimum input how is it lazy unmotivated or wrong for workers to have this same philosophy?


From another:

I work at Sears part time and my managers HATE their jobs. All day they deal with: having to be a jerk to employees for not selling enough protection agreements and credit cards, problems created poor delivery service (the delivery managers always say its our fault, not theirs), problems created by poor service, (again, service managers blame us for their problems), people buying things online to pick up in store that we don’t have (it may say in stock online, but often is not the case), people angry we don’t have simple things in stock like gas cans ALL SUMMER, on and on and on

And another:

How I do not know what to tell my wife who works as a store manager and is starting to get stressed about all the hours versis the pay , all the theft , unmotavated employees, a over bering district manager ,sales goals that are just out of reach every year to accually make a bounus, the list goes on and on.
all I have ever done was to try and be there for her and give all the understanding and positive input that I could. I do know this much Not everyone out there has a Job better than min wage or just over and we are living a happy life and looking forward to the retirement years (about 12 years away) so all in all guess we will just keep going on and just be happy that we both still have jobs to go to .

TK: I appreciate this last comment. "Suck it up. We all have jobs to do." Managing employees at retail is not easy, and obviously it is a heavy cross to bear for some people. Improving job satisfaction with performance related bonuses, granting more flexible schedules, giving more recognition and providing more communication would be a start.