COS

NEWS

“My strategy is to improve my staff’s working conditions (thinking that if they feel good, they’ll take better care of customers)…
It’s 3pm and my Store Manager is closing the store because he has an osteopath appointment, but nobody can take care of the customers! Am I missing something?”

Indeed, Mr. General Manager, you’ve been caught up in a misinterpretation of symmetry of attention. Understand that it’s fundamental to look after employees to enable them to do their jobs better for customers (leaner processes, adapted tools, greater empowerment, etc.), rather than looking first for their comfort. Team comfort is great as long as it doesn’t harm customer relations or company performance.

To put it another way, there’s nothing wrong (quite the contrary) with improving the personal comfort of employees who keep the customer at the heart of their decisions… otherwise things will get stuck…

The tightness of the job market is forcing some managers to relax their demands, and some companies are likely to suffer the consequences.