Solicit Information from New Employees

The manager was pleased at his decision to hire Marie as a salesclerk in the pharmacy. Older customers seemed much more comfortable asking Marie questions than asking the teenage salesclerks in the store. But the manager noted that Marie might be having some difficulties from being an older person herself: When a shopper would ask Marie for help in reading a package label, Marie often squinted and appeared to lack confidence.
     The manager wasn’t sure how to approach this. After all, there are laws protecting against discrimination, he thought. Maybe all Marie needed was an update in her eyeglass prescription. So he decided to come at it indirectly. “Marie,” he asked, “sometimes I’ll assign an employee to pick up pharmaceuticals. Do you need to wear glasses to drive your car?”
     “Boss,” replied Marie, “I need to wear glasses to find my car.”
     Marie’s answer opened up the opportunity for the manager to describe his observation that Marie appeared to be having difficulty reading labels, and the manager’s concern that an inaccurate reading of contents or dosage instructions could be a danger to a customer.
     I hold a certification called Senior Professional in Human Resources from the Society for Human Resource Management, so I’m aware of the cautions retail managers must exercise in soliciting information from employees. Besides, there’s so much we want the new employee to know. We frequently find it hard to carve out the time to truly listen.
     Respect the rules. Still, the more we discover about our staff, the more competent we can be in supervising them. Provide employees opportunities to talk, and ask questions that allow staff to share important facts about themselves. You might be highly impressed by what you learn.
     Another manager and another problem with an older employee: Albert, the new hand on deck had retired from the U.S. Navy, so the manager was surprised how Albert was habitually late coming to start his shift. Albert was very competent throughout the work day, and Albert clearly enjoyed sharing his technical expertise with customers and store staff. Still, the tardiness was becoming more than a nuisance. Other employees, including the group Albert supervised, were complaining.
     “Albert,” the manager finally asked, “What would your coworkers have said to you when you were in the military if you arrived late for duty in the morning?”
     Albert smiled slyly. “Most times, they’d say, ‘Good day, Admiral.’”

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