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 US Store Operations and personnel UK Store Operations and personnel US Store Operations and personnel A retail jewellery sale normally requires face-to-face interaction between the customer and the sales associate, during which the items being considered are removed from the display cases and presented one at a time while their qualities are explained to the customer. Consumer surveys indicate that a key factor in the retail purchase of jewellery is the customer’s confidence in the sales associate. Providing knowledgeable and responsive customer service is a priority, and is regarded by management as a key point of differentiation. It is believed that highly trained store sales staff with the necessary product knowledge to communicate the competitive value of the merchandise are critical to the success of the business. The US division’s substantial training and incentive programmes for all levels of store staff are designed to play an important role in recruiting, educating and retaining qualified store staff. The preferred practice is to promote managers of all levels from within the organisation in order to maintain continuity and familiarity with company practice. Retail sales personnel are encouraged to become certified diamontologists by graduating from a comprehensive diamond correspondence course provided by the Diamond Council of America. Over 50% of full time sales staff who have completed their probationary period are certified diamontologists or are training to become certified. Employees often continue their professional development through completion of correspondence courses on gemstones. For Christmas 2004 there was at least one certified diamontologist in each store. In addition, during 2004/05, a major four-month training programme to improve the knowledge and selling skills of sales personnel called “The Ultimate Diamond Presentation” was implemented across all stores ahead of the important fourth quarter. All store personnel are required to meet daily performance standards and commit to goals. After completion of basic training, sales staff are paid a commission based on their individual sales performance and on meeting monthly store sales targets. Sales contests and incentive programmes also reward achievement of specific goals with travel or additional cash awards. In addition to sales based incentives, bonuses are paid to store managers and district managers based on the achievement of key performance objectives. In 2004/05 approximately 23% (2003/04: 23%) of store personnel remuneration was incentive-based. Each store is led by a store manager who is responsible for various store level operations including overall store sales and branch level variable costs; certain personnel matters such as recruitment and training; and customer service. Administrative matters, including purchasing, merchandising, payroll, preparation of training materials, credit operations and divisional operating procedures are consolidated at divisional level. This allows the store manager to focus on those tasks that can be best executed at the store level while enabling the business to benefit from economies of scale in administrative matters and to help ensure consistency of execution across all the stores. Staff recruitment is primarily the responsibility of store and district managers. In 2004/05 the division began to develop a central recruitment facility that supplies field recruiters from the home office, and uses methods such as internet recruitment to provide stores with a larger number of better qualified candidates from which to select new staff. Management believes that the retention and recruitment of highly qualified and well-trained staff in the US head office in Akron, Ohio are essential to supporting the stores. A comprehensive in-house curriculum supplements specific job training and emphasises the importance of the working partnership between stores and head office. US head office bonuses are mainly based on the performance of the division against predetermined annual profit targets. Promotion decisions for all non-management head office personnel are based on performance against service level and production goals; for managers they are based on annual objectives and performance against individual job requirements.  UK Store Operations and personnel Management regards customer service as an essential element in the success of its business. During 2003/04 the “Signet Jewellery Academy,” a multi-year training programme and framework for measuring standards of capability, was introduced for all store staff. As part of this programme just over two-thirds of all store managers and assistant store managers have now passed the National Association of Goldsmiths accredited Jewellery Education & Training Level 1 qualification. Upon completion of each of the five levels of the Academy, the staff member normally takes on increasing responsibilities. Training programmes have contributed to the improvement in the quality, performance and retention of UK staff. The new recruitment procedures continue to improve the suitability of new store personnel helping to ensure that they meet key basic requirements and are motivated to work within the jewellery store environment. Field and human resources management are responsible for the recruitment, performance review, training and development of sales staff, thereby ensuring consistency in operating standards and procedures throughout the business. All new store personnel must complete a “selling skills” learning programme during their probationary period and thereafter undertake additional training in selling, product knowledge and customer care. All store personnel have daily performance targets. They are given training and weekly feedback on their performance from store and field management to help them achieve these targets. In conjunction with the Signet Jewellery Academy, training for all tiers of store operations management was developed further last year to support the initiative to improve customer service. In 2004/05 the number of training courses completed nearly doubled. The preferred policy is to promote store managers from within the business; approximately 70% of store management appointed in 2004/05 were promoted from within the organisation. At any given time each chain has a number of sales staff who are qualified to advance to store management level, thus assuring the availability of newly trained managers familiar with operating standards and procedures. In order to increase staff selling time and to improve efficiency, operating procedures are routinely reviewed to identify opportunities to enhance customer service and reduce in-store administrative tasks. The Signet intranet, introduced in all stores in 2003, provides a computer-based platform for improved communication between stores and head office, with sales floor and back office administrative functions being simplified and standardised through this medium. Various incentive schemes are operated to motivate and reward performance in the stores including bonuses based on key performance targets. In 2004/05 a commission-based remuneration test was carried out designed to increase the proportion of performance-related payments over time. The level of commission paid is dependent on the sales achieved by the individual and the overall sales of the store. During 2005/06 this commission system will be introduced more widely across the division. Management also believes that successful recruitment, training and retention of head office staff is essential. Comprehensive recruitment, training and incentive programmes for head office staff are in place in the Colindale and Birmingham offices. Programmes to provide employees with structured development plans, training and career paths have been implemented. Internal career advancement is encouraged and is supported by a succession planning process. Teamwork and service to the stores are encouraged through a performance bonus plan for head office staff, which is based on the division’s results. Opportunities for improving employment practices were identified through a “Staff Opinion Survey”. It is believed that the results provide a basis for further improvement in the motivation and retention of staff. |
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