Treating the workers like scum doesn’t work. Treating them as the adult humans they are does. Good, so, we’ve solved that problem then:
But it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, it shouldn’t be this way. The software is easy to program to treat employees like human beings. Some companies already have programmed software to be humane. And they’ve found that when they do, it isn’t just employee health and well-being that improve. Customer satisfaction does, too. Research shows that better, more predictable schedules for staffers means happier workers. That means better customer service and more sales. And that’s better for business.
Retail is a viciously competitive environment. Gaining even the slightest of margins means winning while your competitors go bust.
So, those who treat the workers well will profit, those who don’t will go bust. We therefore have solved this problem. The market will remove the bad actors.
The only way this doesn’t work is if the original claim, that treating the workers well does not increase sales and thus profits, is untrue.
I’m wondering how this resonates with the ‘partners’ in Lohn Lewis…
During the Clinton administration Robert Reich headed a push to require companies to spend a certain percentage of their revenue on employee training or face an excise tax. It’d be good for the companies in the long run, you see, but they were just too shortsighted to figure this out for themselves. Why a man with such brilliant insights didn’t go work in the private sector where he’d make a fortune for himself and show the rest of the business world how it’s done always mystified me.
Never ceases to amaze me how people who have never worked in business know far more about what is sensible for businesses than those with decades of experience.