This article is brought to you by Sprockets, a NACS supplier member.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Imagine a team that just clicks. Employees like each other and like working together. Ownership, management and hourly workers are all on the same page. Call-outs are few and far between. Carefully chosen new employees are welcomed into a stable environment. They work alongside top-performing employees and receive plenty of support and training.

A team like this would certainly make any operator’s life easier. But it also creates substantial bottom-line benefits.

The most obvious benefit is related to the cost of hiring and training new team members. The cost of one hire at the associate level, according to NACS SOI data, was $2,420 in 2021. With industry-wide turnover at about 150% in 2021, that means c-stores are spending a lot of money on hiring.

Fewer call-outs can help to reduce overtime costs and burnout among other team members. A team with many long-tenured employees can keep daily operations humming and is more capable of adding new tasks, such as those that might come with expanded foodservice offerings. And a happier team leads to better customer service, which increases customer loyalty and repeat business.

“Investing in a hiring solution doesn’t just reduce hassle and create less stress for operators, it positively impacts the bottom line,” says Zach Matook, director of marketing at Sprockets.

Many companies are focused on filling the top of the funnel—getting applicants to interview and hire more quickly. But that often means hiring too quickly without choosing the right fits. That creates a vicious cycle that will ultimately be repeated week after week, month after month. There's a better way to do it.

The Sprockets platform makes it easy to post multiple jobs at multiple locations. Promising applicants are identified right away, meaning hiring managers can reach out almost immediately. And a short assessment matches applicants with a company’s top performers, creating a cohesive culture with teams that are more likely to work well together.

“Our system increases annual employee retention by 22%, on average, and upwards of 43% for 90-day retention,” Matook says.

Sprockets also has a new feature, Sprockets Pools, that helps businesses recycle and refill their hiring pipeline by consistently engaging their database of past applicants with personalized text messages. This feature is included in the subscription to Sprockets’ hiring solution, so there is no additional cost to utilize this offering. It even reduces applicant sourcing costs by 21%.

This is the second installment of a two-part NACS Daily series on how convenience retailers can use the Sprockets system to improve their bottom line. Learn more about Sprockets.