Being Customer First Means Putting Employees First

Eight months have passed since the first stay-at-home orders were issued, immediately turning everyone’s lives upside down. While first responders, doctors and nurses were immediately recognized as essential workers and heroes in the early days of the pandemic, it took longer for grocery workers to be recognized for their own bravery to come to work each day and serve the public.

First, Albertsons and then nearly all the other grocers followed suit temporarily raising workers’ pay by $2 per hour in recognition as “essential” in a time of personal peril. Unfortunately for the nearly 3 million grocery workers the hazard pay was short-lived, and by the summer, most grocers had discontinued it. With the number of deaths in the U.S. alone now eclipsing 200,000, these same workers have spent months on end watching themselves and their co-workers fall ill and, in some cases, die from the virus.

In Abha Bhattarai’s Washington Post article, Bhattarai writes:

"Grocery workers across the country say morale is crushingly low as the pandemic wears on with no end in sight. Overwhelmed employees are quitting mid-shift. Those who remain say they are overworked, taking on extra hours, enforcing mask requirements and dealing with hostile customers. Most retailers have done away with hazard pay even as workers remain vulnerable to infection, or worse. Employees who took sick leave at the beginning of the pandemic say they cannot afford to take unpaid time off now, even if they feel unwell."

Clearly, our grocery workers are no longer feeling valued by either their employers or by the public. While many grocers recognize their mission needs to be put to the customer first, especially in time of crisis, they need to actually be putting their employees first. And the way to do this is to recognize and reward retail grocery workers for their super-human responses they have been making throughout the crisis.

Here are some examples of new employee first/customer first policies and rewards:

Enhance Sick Leave. Many grocery workers have reported that up to now sick leave has been inadequate forcing many to choose to work while ill. To fully support your workforce, a sick leave policy that puts employees first should: 1) Provide up to two weeks paid sick leave to all employees quarantined or diagnosed with COVID-19. The new policy should apply to all employees, including hourly and warehouse workers; 2) Establish a relief fund to support contractors, including delivery drivers; 3) Expand eligibility to receive sick pay for up to 26 weeks; 4) Institute mandatory quarantine with up to 14 days of pay if employee comes in contact with a customer, employee, or other individual with COVID-19.

Update Attendance and Insurance Policies. We are not in normal times and need to modify employee policies by: 1) Changing standard attendance policy to accommodate for unexpected periods of absence; 2) Waiving the absenteeism policy completely; 3) Making backup care available for all team members by waiving eligibility requirement, co-pays and other program details to help with caregiving needs of families; and 4) Expanding standing benefits like paid family leave and free counseling services.

Provide special loyalty offers. Reward your employees’ dedication to working during these turbulent times by: 1) Offering 10% off all private label products for employees and their families; 2) Issuing gift cards to use or share for shopping in your stores; 3) Give out surprise and delight "thank you" ideas like gift cards to online movies or music streaming services.

Trust and empower your employees. Show your employees you value them and their judgment by: 1) Giving them broad trust and authority to resolve customer needs, such as allowing them to approve of refunds or exchanges without management approval; 2) Review policies to remove hoops or barriers to enable your employees to better serve customers.

Your employees are the best loyalty-building team in the world. They are members of the community, reflecting the values of their neighbors, speaking for their friends and families, and serving as the voice of your company back to the community. By growing your employees’ loyalty, you will in turn grow your customer loyalty. Winning long-term loyalty starts with your employees. Your customers are watching.

David Ciancio is global head of grocery for dunnhumby.