Employee satisfaction may seem like a cliche but when it comes to delivering outputs, those with a higher satisfaction margin tend to perform a whole lot better than those who remained unsatisfied. Employees who feel valued and appreciated by their leaders are infinitely more likely to go above and beyond for the company and hold themselves accountable for their part of a project. Most importantly, they will be happier in their roles.  If leaders disregard the importance of connecting with employees, they lose the benefit of a dedicated, long-term team. Speaking about organisational structure and how to make the work space employee friendly, Indian Jeweller exclusively got in touch with Anil Kataria of DP Jewellers to shed some light on matters of staff. 

How important is staff training?

If one has to run their organisation to its best capacity then training of the staff is a must. For that, one must appoint professionals who would do a much better job than just about anyone especially jewellery retail trainers since if they are experts of their niche, they would be well equipped to train the staff and understand the requirements of customers. For development of any business, proper training is a must. We have appointed trainers for our company, and we hold sessions periodically where they provide insights on the market and train the staff accordingly. 

Do you take a different approach when it comes to training your own staff? 

For us, during the staff training session, we focus more on the BTL (below the line) activities. Meeting the customer first hand, giving them a gist of our system, our campaigns and policies is something we train our staff for. This activity we have planned once every month so everyone comes on the same page as to what our company stands for. We call top-notch professionals to train our staff and get them abreast with the know-hows. 

How do you do to keep the morale of your staff high?

In today's time, I feel people should really give incentives to their staff to get best results. A balance should be maintained as to how to allocate the incentives as it shouldn't be unfair to anyone. We have so many employees who have earned incentives double their salaries. Even we feel happy and proud that the employees are reaping the benefits of the incentives; it is eventually giving us good business in the end. I have seen in many companies, people feel apprehensive in give incentives, but I feel one must give incentive to keep their staff happy and yield good results for your business.      

Can you share an instance where you benefited from the staff training?

A well trained staff will help you gain customers and a life long rapport with them. You feel happy if the customer is satisfied with the service as well as your staff. When you see a customer leaving your store with a smile on their face, that's when you know it all works. 

How do you keep track of employees performance?

We are family jewellers running in our fifth generation in jewellery industry.  We have a sheet keeping a track of the progress of our employees. We also conduct one on one sessions with them to get better clarity on their outputs. We give them special benefits each month so that they feel satisfied to work with enthusiasm. If the employees are happy, it is your business that does well in the end.  

Written by Shreya Thakur