Final Word

New way of working, NEW WAY OF STAFFING

Life as an office supplies dealer has changed. Gone are the days of going to in-office appointments and sales calls, of everyone working in the office five days a week, of a work-from-home day being a special event requiring management approval. And gone are the days of providing the best work/life office environment by offering an amazing on-site workout gym, fully stocked snack bar, and open common spaces where staff could expand their creativity and happiness.

Businesses started competing to attract entry and mid-level staff with additional sign-on bonuses, higher salaries and more perks and benefits, often just to recruit mediocre staff to fill the position with a warm body. These employees were less than self-motivated and really weren’t looking at how they could help their company succeed with better customer service, higher revenue and more profitable deals.

If asked to work on an occasional Saturday morning for four hours, they would baulk and say they had other obligations and were not available even when I tried to plan weeks in advance. In essence, they were only interested in collecting a pay cheque and that’s about it. You might say it became an attitude problem.

At the same time – starting during the COVID-19 era – our customers had new demands and some old ones were forgotten. In particular, PPE became a big thing. Every public building, office and mode of transportation would be required to provide an endless supply of hand sanitiser, masks and, in some cases, gloves to anyone entering or using a service.

And all of a sudden, many of our customers’ staff were either lucky to still be employed and working from home, furloughed and collecting unemployment money, or completely let go (and collecting unemployment and monthly federal stimulus payments).

STAFFING CHALLENGES

In the case of my company, Gorilla Stationers, staff worked from home which, in the beginning, created minor new challenges – hearing the baby cry or the dog barking in the background during a conference call. Then I began to wonder if some of my employees were even working. I tried to empower them to make good decisions, but while before COVID it was always really easy to say “let’s have a meeting in the conference room at 10 am”, some people just weren’t available for a Zoom call at that time.

I implemented Time Doctor which is an employee time-tracking software, but staff were offended by this ‘privacy’ invasion. Slowly, people either embraced the new ways of operating from home or they left by attrition.

I decided to hire an offshore employee and teach him how to be a buyer. Wow! This was an eye-opener as he kept asking if there was anything else he could do to work more hours (he started at $2.50 per hour for all hours worked). I told him that he could work as many hours as he wished as long as they were productive and made sense. He would work on Saturdays and sometimes even a little on Sundays.

He became very proficient at his job and I asked him if he knew anyone else who would work as he did. To cut a long story short, my buying department is now six staff members strong and works completely offshore from the Philippines.

CHANGING CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR

Many of the changes that have happened at Gorilla are a result of different customer behaviour. The sales process takes longer, but the orders overall are larger. We’ve gone from a minimum of $75 for free shipping to $250.

Supply chain issues have required three additional staff members to just source and find products whereas, before the pandemic, something was ordered from A today and delivered to B tomorrow. Things are back-ordered for three months at times, or the manufacturer has placed an allocation on an item so there aren’t enough to fulfil one order.

Instead of 35% of our calls being answered by a real person, they now move in the 5% range with lots of voicemails and emails. Many of our customer-facing activities are outsourced – it helps us to rightsize Gorilla promptly and efficiently.

Sales have increased 400% and profits are up tenfold compared to pre-COVID years. I expect even more growth in 2022 and beyond – much of it generated online, of course.

The company is the same, but we manage staff and customers very differently today – for all of the above reasons. My team is more productive than ever before – and with lower costs. It may not work for everyone, but it certainly works for me. Rosemary Czopek, CEO, Gorilla Stationers

My buying department is now six staff members strong and works completely offshore

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