Company Blog

The Missing Link

by Adam Zack — September 9, 2015

Communication works for those who work at it.

The general public has considered jobs in a grocery store for generations with general disdain. Tell your uncle that you work at a grocery store, and the first comment is something along the line of “What are you going to do for a real job?” It’s an industry that is under-appreciated. It’s thought of blue collar, at best. Think of someone with a career in grocery, and what do you think of? Mr. Whipple? A grouchy old meat cutter? A cashier that snaps her gum and complains that her back hurts?

The reality is that the grocery business is one of the hardest industries there is. Intense competition, demanding customers, always working on weekends and holidays and fairly low wages. It’s no wonder your uncle expects you to get a real job. But there are thousands, if not millions of employees who are not just working because they need the paycheck. They actually love their job. They love their customers. They love their co-workers. They love food. And they take pride in their market. Every day. The missing link comes in when store management and ownership fails to recognize and appreciate these employees. Worse than that, they fail to communicate with them. It happens every single day. You come up with this brilliant new sales idea, and the last one to know anything about it is your employee. You are planning a big expansion, and no one tells the employees what’s going on. You develop an awesome new ad format, and no one tells the employees why and what the strategy is. So the customer asks “So what’s going on with the store remodel?” Your employee shrugs and says, “I dunno, they don’t tell us anything!” It’s like going golfing and leaving your best club in the bag, and it makes you look really bad to the customer.

So sit back and examine your communication links to your workers. Is the break room clean, organized and relaxing? Is there a well-maintained employee bulletin board? Are there open channels for feedback? How do they find out what they need to know from the manager meetings?

If you’re doing all this, bravo and congratulations. I bet you have employees who have been with you for decades. If not, let’s turn it around. It costs virtually nothing – just some time and thought. You’ll be astounded by the results.