Full-Time Pays Off

More companies are hiring full-time employees to reduce turnover and offer better customer service.

April 28, 2016

EASTON, Pa. – The Wall Street Journal this week wrote about a hiring trend that is “bucking” how convenience retail and other foodservice channels approach their workforce: hiring more full-timers.

“At a time when many chains are shifting workers to part-time,” writes the news source, Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz Inc. “is making a big bet on full-time hires, who now comprise 53% of the company’s 17,000-person workforce.”  Leaders at Sheetz agree that staffing full-time employees behind the register results in better customer service, lower turnover rates and a more engaged workforce—“all of which, executives say, will lead to higher sales and profits.”

Sheetz and other retailers acknowledge full-time employees tend to be more reliable and invested in their jobs, as well as more cost-effective in terms of saving time and resources on training. The news source notes that just 27% of full-time workers leave their jobs per year, versus 68.7% of part-timers, according to a Korn Ferry Hay Group report.

“This is a moment where some employers at least are taking stock of whether they’ve gone down the labor flexibility path a little too far,” Susan Lambert, a University of Chicago professor who studies hourly work, told the Wall Street Journal. He research suggests that full-time employees are the “glue” that holds a business together because they are more likely to anticipate business needs, go the extra mile on the job and are overall more committed.

Stephanie Doliveira, vice president of human resources at Sheetz, noted that on employee surveys the full-timers tend to report more commitment and willingness to put in extra effort than part-timers, which leads to higher customer service. For Sheetz, retention of full-timers is strong, at less than a quarter of its workforce leaving each year, compared to 83% of part-timers who leave each year. Overall voluntary turnover at Sheetz has dropped two percentage points from 2015, saving $925,000 in recruiting and training, Doliveira told the news source.

Buffalo Wings & Rings CEO Nader Masadeh commented that full-time employees at the 50-unit restaurant chain ring up 6% higher sales per hour on average. The chain has doubled its full-time workforce since 2013, with about 37% of employees working full-time, and training costs have dropped 25%, he told the news source.

&pizza, a Washington, D.C.-based pizza chain, brought store growth to a halt to sort out high turnover among its part-time workforce, as well as address the low customer service ratings at new stores, according to CEO Michael Lastoria. Today, about 31% of &pizza staff is full-time, up from 15% in 2014, and the concept is planning to open seven new stores this year.

Store managers often need to adjust to having more full-time employees on board, notes the Wall Street Journal. Doliveira commented that there was an initial resistance from Sheetz store managers, who were used to having a pool of part-timers to call on when employees called out sick. Now, store managers are also planning shifts that accommodate more workers with vacation time. For Tammy Shepard, a salesperson at a Sheetz store in Statesville, N.C., moving to full-time gives her health insurance and a larger paycheck. “It gives you a sense of security, which is a huge thing,” she told the news source.

Get a Grip on Labor Costs
On April 11, NACS released the NACS State of the Industry Compensation Report of 2015 Data, which helps convenience store companies benchmark themselves in areas such as compensation levels, staff turnover and benefits. This year’s report compiles data from more than 80 c-store companies, representing nearly 12,000 stores across the country.

Here are several overall industry facts from this year’s Compensation Report:

  • Employer-sponsored insurance is the leading source of health insurance within the c-store industry, offered to 78% of hourly employees
  • The weighted mean of hourly sales associates is $9.44; $11.40 when including fringe benefits
  • The mean sales associate turnover is 93% and the mean foodservice associate turnover is 77%

To find more facts and figures from your specific region or firm size, purchase the NACS State of the Industry Compensation Report of 2015 Data

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