‘Recruiting staff is a real problem right now’

RECRUITING staff has become so much harder.

Since the start of the year, a lot of the multiples increased the wages they were paying their staff. Apparently, Aldi in particular, has put theirs up very high.

I think the ongoing cost-of- living crisis has played a huge part in this.

Previously, people might have balanced a better working environment in a small store versus a supermarket, whereas now they have to prioritise having a higher wage a lot more.

Community Retailer Of The Week

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, I was receiving, on average, between 30-40 applicants for a vacancy and, during the pandemic, this went to well over a hundred.

However, now we are getting between eight and 12, if we are lucky.

I know other retailers are struggling with this, and it’s becoming more and more of a problem. I don’t know what I can do about it and I don’t think it’s going away.

Amit Puntambekar, Ash’s Shop, Huntingdon, Cambridge

Community Retailer Of The Week

I’ve had two experiences of working with my family. The first was with my brother.

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When we were younger, we were very close. He’s a bit older, but, when I went off to university, we used to have threehour conversations on the phone while he was serving people at the gift shop he owned.

After I bought him out of it and he left the business, it was difficult because he would still come in to do shifts or help out, and as far as the customers were aware, nothing had changed and he was still the owner, so they would go to him to ask questions.

I found this quite uncomfortable and eventually I lost some trust because I didn’t always know whether his loyalty was to me or whether he was going to use his connection to the business to his advantage. Because of this, we’ve drifted apart.

I now work with Martin, my husband, and this has been easier, but it still has its challenges. Sometimes our staff will say ‘you never talk to each other’ because we won’t always know what the other person has said at work. That is because, when we get home, we try to make sure we don’t just talk about the shop.

Martin and I first started working together when we got married, as he had just been made redundant. It also means he can pick the kids up from school and I can have a lot of flexibility. But we’ve had to evolve how we work to make sure our marriage doesn’t just become a working relationship.

I’ve spoken to a lot of retailers who have similar challenges and individual families might find it difficult in different ways, but the issues are a lot more common than people think. I have learned the best thing to do is to have open communication between you and your family members, and, if we had focused on this earlier, it would have been easier for me to work alongside my brother. It’s a lesson that is definitely helping me work better as part of a husband-and-wife team.

If you’re working with your family and are finding it difficult, it would be a good idea to talk to them and try and find a different way of working that suits you both.

“I WAS so surprised to be awarded Community Champion at the Fed Awards last month. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to help your community. It’s all about using your passion and ingenuity to utilise anything you can to help those who need it. There is always time to do this, even when it might feel like there isn’t. Sometimes, the smallest ideas turn out to be the most effective. I’m truly honoured to be recognised by the rest of industry. It was a fantastic night of celebrations.”

“WE sourced four cases of Prime from Costco and Booker. My brother and I thought it would be nice to give it away for free and ask for donations in return. We limited one bottle per customer so everyone that wanted the drink could get it. We sold out in one day, raising £280 for Canley Food Hub, who rely solely on volunteers. They got £383 of retail stock from 48 bottles of Prime. As a result, the public can continue to fill up their food bags for £5 at the food hub and get more value for their money.”