Retailers challenged by ‘ghosting’ employees

Retailers challenged by ‘ghosting’ employees

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The advent and continuation of the coronavirus has made hiring and retaining employees a tough challenge for all businesses big and small, and now a new trend by recently hired workers is presenting an additional hurdle.

Workers hired are “ghosting coasting” companies — leaving without any notice before they may be fired given a lack of qualifications for the job.

The trend is being spurred, in part, by the fact that companies are doing less vetting of workers, according to a Yahoo News report.

The term “ghosting” has been in play in regard to dating for quite awhile in which a new acquaintance simply disappears from contact without any forewarning.

The trend in business has spurred the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta to mention it in its latest economic trends roundup.

“Retention continued to be a growing problem for firms,” the Atlanta Fed stated in the report, according to Yahoo. “Restaurateurs noted concerns over ‘ghosting coasting,’ where a new hire works for a few days and moves on to the next restaurant without notice before they are let go due to lack of skills.”

It comes at a time when retailers and companies are boosting new hire bonuses and incentives right at the start of a job or even upon a simple job application.

Turnover in some business segments, such as fast food, is increasing big time. In 2019 the average monthly turnover rate for fast food companies was 135%. Now it’s 144%, according to the Yahoo report.

Labor Department data revealed restaurant workers have quit jobs at the highest rate in 20 years. In June that figure was 5.7%, which is more than double the national average quit rate of 2.7%, according to the news report.

In Closing…..

With all of today’s challenges it’s the customer’s perspective that truly matters.  Weather it be the level of service you are delivering our the actual product, the customer’s experience is what counts.  Are your employees consistent when it come to your required deliverables?  How are you measuring your customer’s perspective or managing their experience?  We have the tools to do just that via Mystery Shopping, Customer Surveys or Competitive Audits just to name a few.