Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had a fascinating front page. The lead story was about Goldman Sachs executives forgoing bonuses this year. Further down the page, there was a story entitled "Stores Count Seconds to Trim Labor Costs" describing how Meijer Inc., a Michigan based megastore, had instituted a new policy whereby clerks are actually timed from the second a customer gets to the register until a transaction is completed.
What effect does this have? The article indicates that the company who developed this software claims labor savings of anywhere between 5-15%. That is the good news. The bad news is littered throughout the majority the story, where employees claim much higher stress levels, less time to interact and chat with customers, and most importantly, customers who see a difference, much of it not positive.
Contrast this with the Goldman article, where executives are voluntarily forgoing tens of millions of dollars of bonus money. This is expected to set the tone for the rest of Wall Street, and certainly sends a much different message than had been previously sent prior to the bailout package and the renewed interest in executive compensation.
The difference here is strictly based on communications. Goldman executives led by example, and communicated a very powerful message that no employee was more important than any other individual employee, from the Chairman on down.
Meijer communicated a very different message, whether intentionally or un-intentionally — that efficiency is valued more than the customer experience and employee satisfaction.
What you say is as important as how you say it. As markets tighten, many businesses may see customer service and experience as less important.
The opposite seems to be true. For example, Best Buy and Bed Bath and Beyond, titans of customer service and presentation, are still in business, while the main competition, Linens’ and Things and Circuit City, are either out of business or on the way out of business.
While Meijer is counting seconds of checkout time and "gets people in and out" another family-owned mega-chain, Wegmans is offering price reductions to help customers cope. While Meijer employees are quoted as suffering from tremendous stress increases, Wegmans took a different tact. In the words of a Wegmans spokesperson:
"The family takes their employees into consideration when making decisions for the store," McElwee said. "They want the employees to be able to shop there, so they looked at what the employees needed, which was lower prices."
If given the choice, where would you shop? In an era where consumers have lots of choices and a lot less disposable income, everything your company does communicates a message. Everything.
