The Holiday Season is quickly approaching which means early mornings, late nights, and sometimes unpleasant customers for the retail professionals out there on the front lines. This can be a stressful yet profitable time for the retail industry and, unfortunately, a season that can cause even the most vested employee to feel under-appreciated and overworked. Human Resources, Loss Prevention and any other department that conducts interviews is also bogged down during this season from the onslaught of seasonal pre-employment interviews, employee relations investigations and theft or fraud interviews.
Here are some tips to survive this Holiday Season as an “interviewer” in the retail world:
Don’t be Afraid to Delegate
Relying on someone other than yourself to get something done the right way can throw most people into an uncontrollable state of anxiety. However, have confidence in the team you’ve built and trained throughout the year. Determine what your individual players do best and utilize those skills. Allowing your team or business partners to play a role in accomplishing the never-ending to-do list has several benefits. First, by taking on more responsibility, your employees develop and grow professionally. Second, it allows you to focus on what you do best and keeps you operating at a high efficiency throughout an otherwise draining time of the year.
Stay the Course
If you have a routine, such as checking your emails the first hour of every morning, sending out weekly recaps to the team or having a one-on-one touch base with a business partner on Mondays – keep this trend going. Often in a time of high-stress we tend to stray from our typical routines, which is unfortunate if they seem to be working. This is all too common. For example, if a football team changes their game-plan when they feel the pressure it could disrupt any momentum they’ve had. Similarly, sometimes we don’t go through our normal checklist when packing for a trip last-minute which results in forgetting some essential items. If we have a routine that is producing great results and maintains a balanced approach, it could prove highly beneficial during the toughest of times. Although priorities may change during the season, we should do our best to commit to the routines that have made us successful throughout the entire year.
Embrace Innovation
Although technology, change and innovation sometimes seem to cause more anxiety and confusion – their underlying theme is to streamline a process. A simple example is the use of the telephone interview, specifically with pre-employment screening or a low level theft case with a short-term employee. The amount of time and resources spent on an investigation should be relative to the impact of the case. In other words, flying across the country and spending two nights at a hotel for a $30 cash theft investigation is probably not the best return on investment. Whether it’s deciding to utilize video conferencing to collaborate on ideas, software or analytics to determine your focus or remote surveillance to “virtually” visit a location you can’t travel to – embrace the gap that technology can fill.
Have an Outlet
Any formula that includes long hours at work, stressed out co-workers and impatient customers can quickly result in a very negative equation. It is common for employees to take this stress and bring it home with them, or make impulsive, emotional outbursts that could impact their reputation. Knowing this potential powder-keg is about explode, it’s important to have a way to release the stress. Whether it’s dedicating time to read a book, watch your favorite TV show, go for a run or attempt a yoga class – having something in your schedule that allows you to transfer your focus and relieve stress can prove vital in your happiness and stability throughout the season.
Enjoy it
When in the process of helping customers find a product, unloading a truck, interviewing the 10th employee of the day or getting a phone call about a major incident – take a minute to reflect. Regardless of what religious faith you believe in, if any, the holidays are about family and generally promote giving and sharing with each other. It can be very easy to forget and bypass all the inspirational and positive moments that correlate with this time of year when you are consumed with work. Schedule some time with family or friends to enjoy the special moments that the holiday season provides us with, or at a minimum – order yourself a peppermint mocha – maybe that will help you realize that it’s all worth it.
As the season is quickly upon us – enjoy it, embrace it and don’t blink – it will be over before you know it. Soon we will be reflecting on comp sales numbers, projecting fiscal-year end results and planning for next year. Good luck to those of you that are directly impacted by the season, and share with us any secrets to your success!
David Thompson, CFI, is the President of Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates, Inc. (WZ). He is responsible for the day-to-day operations of WZ, as well as strategic planning and the evolution of interview and interrogation content. David has also served as the Director of Investigations giving him the opportunity to manage a variety of cases while conducting interviews and consulting on investigations ranging from theft and fraud to sexual harassment and homicide. As a speaker for WZ, David has created customized training programs, presented at seminars, hosted a variety of webinars as well as conducted live broadcasts of training.
