Now's the time to speak up about summer labor needs

Every store has a weekly department head meeting.

Ours were usually on Monday morning, led by the store manager. We met for about 30 minutes to review the prior week performance in terms of sales and labor spent and to discuss any upcoming events.

As department heads, we would rather not even have a meeting since we were neck-deep with our own concerns: inventory adjustments, ordering, cleaning up the old ad and getting ready for the new one, as well as planning our weekly merchandising changes, scheduling and more.

However, the weekly department head meeting was crucial.

I remember the back-and-forth banter. We’d talk about upcoming holidays, such as Easter right about now. The spring holiday timing can fluctuate, as can others, such as which weekday the Fourth of July it happened to fall on. In one meeting, someone got caught napping and said, “Oh, yeah,” when someone suggested that this year, Easter fell on a Sunday. (Duh. Such is the lame humor found during these meetings.)

Still, Monday meetings serve a purpose. Right about now, everyone is firming up their Easter holiday preparations. Produce managers are chiming in about anticipated volume and their merchandising plans, as well as submitting their labor schedules. Produce often helps present floral plans as well, as this volume is especially heavy during the Easter holiday.

As in most meetings, the boss asks a final question. “Anyone have anything else?”

This is a good time for the produce manager to talk about summer labor help needs, as it’s never too early to bring up this vital topic. Consider: Produce summer volume is at its peak, and with veteran clerks rotating out for well-deserved vacations, the department is often handled using the least experienced help. It’s a recipe for lost sales and high shrink.

However, it’s not too late to prepare; that time is now.

Produce managers often rely on unreliable sources to fill summer labor needs. I’ve heard managers say, “I have Doug, a front-end cashier that I’ve used in the past. That ought to be enough” or “Marcia is my go-to solution. She spends her college summer breaks helping out.”

In most cases, their assumptions are flimsy at best and no-shows at worst. Front-end clerks’ managers say, often last-minute, “No, I can’t spare Doug this year,” and college kids like Marcia tend to graduate and move on.

What’s needed are firm commitments for summer help.

The best practice for this Monday meeting discussion is to provide a mock summer schedule with blank names highlighted to demonstrate labor needs. When the store manager can see that your average summer volume is X and your vacation schedule lists who is (and isn’t) available — and how much extra help is needed — that visual will help make the case that you need to hire, promote or somehow acquire so many fresh bodies to help fill in — and you need to do it now.

It’s OK to say, “This will help maintain standards, keeping overtime and shrink in check.” Most store managers understand that language. Once they see this picture, they’re far more likely to help identify and arrange firm commitments for summer help.

Once established, the summer help should be trained ahead of time, preferably during May, so that when the heavy produce volume hits over Memorial Day, you’re as ready as you can be for the long summer ahead.

But that only happens if you speak up in the Monday morning meeting.
Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years of experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.