Top 3 Recruitment Challenges in the Retail Industry and How to Overcome Them
The retail industry is one of the biggest job marketplaces in the world. Due to the on-and-off nature and diversity of sectors, it employs people from all backgrounds and walks of life and has a truly unique hiring approach. And when the retail industry is so unique, so are its hiring challenges.
Retail firms lose millions of dollars every year as a result of astounding turnover rates, cut-throat competition for acquiring local talent, and cyclical needs caused by the seasonal nature of the industry.
In light of this, we're going to go through some of the challenges in more detail that retail recruiters have, along with possible solutions.
Let us have a look…
High Employee Turnover
There is a particularly high rate of turnover in the retail sector. The cost of turnover can quickly add up because it typically costs 16% of an employee's annual compensation to replace them. And, the reasons behind this are obvious. Retail has hourly contracts, low income, and few possibilities for career progression. As a result, the majority of retail recruits consider their positions temporary rather than long-term.
In order to address this challenge, hiring managers should ask their employees for feedback regarding the hiring process to make sure candidates are aware of the commitments they are making. They must begin by lowering candidates' unrealistic expectations, giving their employees chances for growth, fair pay, and rewarding recognition programs for their efforts.
Hiring and Retaining a Diverse Workforce
Workforce diversity has a direct impact on a retail company's profitability. While fulfilling client needs, it maximizes productivity, creativity, and employee loyalty. However, it is challenging to hire and retain a diverse workforce, doing so is increasingly important for the success of your company as the value of diversity rises.
To combat this challenge, companies should create and promote a diversity policy, write non-discriminatory job descriptions, advertise job openings across multiple channels, use structured interviews to ensure that all candidates are evaluated using the same scoring criteria, and ultimately make a data-based hiring decision.
Competing for the Same Local Talent
Not many candidates are willing to relocate for undertaking a position in retail. As a result, companies rely largely on the local talent pool when looking for new employees. The same talent is available to all the stores located in the same area, hence, local candidates have a wide range of opportunities to choose from.
To handle this challenge, it’s up to the retail companies how fast they step up their recruiting game by figuring out ways to actively create and engage a local talent pool.
Facing Retail Recruitment Challenges?
As you might have realized that there are numerous requirements and challenges associated with retail recruitment; but they all can be quickly fixed with proper planning and execution. High turnover rates, hiring for greater diversity or multiple locations, and employee retention are more serious recruitment challenges that call for a more comprehensive approach. If you would like to see how SilverPeople, one of the top recruitment consultants for India's retail sector can assist you in managing the ups and downs of the retail hiring cycles, mail us at enquiry@silverpeople.in or give a quick call at +91-9620439053.
SilverPeople, a venture by Uberlife Consulting Pvt. Ltd., offers complete recruitment solutions for all hiring/headhunting requirements in a Focused, Accurate, and Time-bound manner (Proprietary FAT* Methodology).
SilverPeople specializes and is placed strongly in 6 Industry verticals: Retail, E-Commerce, Education, Real estate, Fintech, and Big Data Analytics. SilverPeople has deep understanding & strong capability to solve Digital Transformation Hiring challenges and is the Go to place for ‘Go Digital’ recruitment consulting!
