I will hire staff when the business is doing well. Now, even I am surviving with difficulty. How can I pay them?
The thing is, I will purchase products from the vendors first and then keep those products in stock. After that, I will wait for customers to come to my shop and buy those products. I will be able to clear my stock only when customers come to my shop. If I can't clear my stock, there is no point in hiring more staff as I won't be able to pay them. So, it would be good to place the staff in last place. I can deal with the customers by myself. But if I am getting too many customers at my shop, especially during the Durga Puja, I have to hire a few people to work at my shop and deal with all the customers. Even during the off-season, there are times when I get a lot of customers at my shop. So, it's not like I hire staff and let them go. I hire staff on a permanent basis.
I am thinking about hiring someone for help. There is no help right now. I feel tired now. I want to hire someone now because it's not manageable anymore. The workload has increased. I have 2-3 vehicles per day, and I can't handle it alone. I can't send the customers back. If I delay their work by one or two days, they will go to some other shop. They need their vehicle urgently, but if I don't repair it the same day, they will go to some other shop. If I hire help, together we can repair 2-3 vehicles in a day.
Somebody who is keen to learn will not be bothered about the salary. Whether he is interested in learning or not, you can tell at that time only. Just day before yesterday a boy came and asked for 300 Rs daily. He doesn’t know anything and even before he has started work he is asking about salary. When I started working I didn’t get even a single penny, I worked for free.
No, I'm not thinking of hiring any staff. I don't have enough profit to pay for that staff. If my business is doing well, I will keep staff. I am planning to accelerate my business. If I gain enough momentum, I will keep someone. Yes, there was one, but I haven't had any staff for the last 15 years. I used to pay him Rs. 200-250 daily. He is also from our village. He used to stay with me at my house. Only my wife and I were there, so he stayed with us. He used to come with me. We used to go to the village together. We closed the shop at that time. We had to attend weddings or other functions, so we used to close the shop for 10-15 days and then go. He left because he got married. He was the only son of his parents. He went back to Rajasthan to work there. I did not hire anyone after that. No specific reasons. I had the strength to do everything alone.
I haven't hired anyone here; they are just doing the work on their own. They are here because they need to run their homes, and here it is being met, so that is all. He is my friend's nephew, so he is like my nephew too. There is no such rule being applied here. I have to go to the market, and someone has to manage the shop, so I asked him to come here. The qualities that I would look for if I hire someone are: they should behave well, when they remove the product, they should check it and then give it to the customer. They should talk well; when the customer comes, he should ask what they want and what not. I don't plan to hire right now. I don't need them. I have a small shop, how many people will I hire for it? If the business grows by God's grace, then I will hire. The place is small right now, how can we manage? If there is a requirement, then I will hire, but when it is not needed, then why do I need it? I keep track of the holidays the staff took in a notebook.
First is customers then vendors then inventory then labors. We will see the need of the customer and according to that we'll search the vendor then I'll keep products in my shop then I'll work myself first and if I need staff then I'll keep staff.
Employee Process. For me, employees are very experienced. For example, I have 3-4 employees who have been with me for 15-18 years. In fact, they have been with the company longer than I have. To hire new employees, it is not a complicated process. We don't require a resume. Instead, we inform our employees about specific requirements, such as needing an accountant or someone for sales, and then we find suitable candidates locally. For example, for the position of Accountant, my requirement is basic knowledge of Tally. They don't need to be experts at a professional level. They should have a basic understanding of the terms, and we will help them learn further in 2-4-6 months, depending on our needs.
When we hire staff, we assess their qualifications and needs. For example, there is a person currently working here. Previously, there was a staff member who used to steal because they were in financial need. This individual is facing financial hardships, living in a rented house, and is willing to work for a lower wage and put in extra effort. That's why I hired them. The collection staff member is an orphan and also needs money. I believe in meeting people's needs. Those who already have money are unlikely to work hard for us. That's why I analyze the situation in this way. I benefit from the experience I gained from my previous job at Mahindra, where I worked in the collections department. My role was to recover money from customers who had taken out car loans. I would visit them and handle the customer interactions accordingly. This job taught me the importance of treating everyone based on their capabilities and recovering money. I pass on these principles to my staff, and they work accordingly. If they are unable to recover the money, I personally go out into the field to assist. On Saturdays, I am actively involved in fieldwork in addition to my work at the counter.
When hiring staff for my shop, I don't judge them based on their facial looks. Instead, I focus on their character and nature. I value honesty and strong work ethic in my employees. Sometimes it takes around 2 months for me to truly understand their true colors. Initially, everyone appears to be good, but over time, their true colors start to show. By "true colors," I mean their attitude and behavior. They might start showing a negative attitude and even engage in stealing. They neglect their responsibilities of handling customers and may not even stay at their designated workstations. Gradually, their true colors become evident, and it becomes necessary for me to let them go. In some cases, I don't personally terminate female employees; rather, they don't return after taking an advance payment. This situation often arises due to issues with their boyfriends. However, I don't mind their personal matters as long as they don't affect business hours.
If I need to hire someone for my shop, I ask people about their personal relationships. I inquire if they are having any affair or not. I establish some rules. Firstly, they are allowed to socialize outside of work. They can spend time with their boyfriend or girlfriend. They can go out. However, they should not lie and stay at home when they want to go out. If they are not able to come to work, they should inform me beforehand. There was a recent incident where a girl went home at around 8 or 8.30. She was close to her house but didn't reach home for an hour and a half. I asked her what happened and she claimed she went to the temple. However, it turned out she went to meet her boyfriend. There is another case involving a girl and her aunt. The girl used to go home around 7.30 or 8. Whenever she left, I used to provide her with cosmetics like testers, face powder, and foundation. However, she never reached home and would just wander around. She would leave home at 7.30 and there are many similar cases where employees lied to me. This has led to a loss of trust in them.
I take people who are near to me and the boy stays close by. Since he is known and lives closer I take them for the job. He should be honest and he should live close by
If the sales go up to 50K to 1 lakh, we can hire people. At that time, we will need people because we will not be able to manage alone. Business is busier during the day, so as of now, we don't require anybody.
I am familiar with her. I cannot hire someone directly, but my friend informed me that she is in need of a job and she is a trustworthy individual. It is important to have faith in the person you hire, as doubting everyone will make it impossible to hire anyone. If you doubt her, people may assume that working at her shop means being accused of things, and I can vouch for myself.
I will inform one or two people that I am looking for a girl who is not too fancy and can take care of things. The main concern is that other girls are always on their phones. I don't want someone who is constantly using their phone because everyone uses their phones a lot. It should not be the case that when customers arrive, she is on her phone, as that would result in losing the customer.
Actually, I chose him because I have a good relationship with his father. One day, he told me that his son wants to do some work, so he asked if I could give him a job in my shop. I said okay, send him over. So, he sent him and it turns out he knows how to operate a computer and everything. He knows how to do photocopying and all that. However, he doesn't know the price of all the products, so I wrote the price on each of the products. I instructed him to check the price and inform the customer. If the price is not written on any product, he should call me and ask. So, if I'm not available, he calls me and asks. I then check the CCTV footage to identify the product and tell him the price.
Yes, a girl works here. She arrives after 11 am. She stays in the next lane, and her elder sister used to work here before. After her sister got married, she started working here. During puja time, I only keep staff. The rest of the time, I don't keep any staff. During Puja, the demand is high, so we have pressure. There are many other shops here. If people see 50 people standing in my shop, they will go to another shop. In that case, if I keep two staff members, it becomes convenient for me. I can show the products to the customers, and the girl can also show products to the customers. So, we can handle 3 to 4 people at a time. Mostly I keep staff during Puja time for 2-3 months. I keep staff from August till after Diwali. If my business gets expanded and pressure increases then I will have to keep staffs. As we two stay in the shop we can manage.
Earlier, I had two people (staff). Later on, we appointed salespeople depending on the sales and how the shop business goes. Based on that, I decided to employ more people.
That all depends on how the staff will be. It depends on the training that we provide. Some people may not have any experience with a grocery store at all; they may only know different items present at home. Based on that, we employ them. If we have experienced people, then it’s a plus as they will pack very quickly. They will also know the rates beforehand. Otherwise, we give them training.
We find staff by spreading the word, putting up a notice board, so that people can see it and come to inquire about work. So, if we teach them and they are able to understand, that is more than enough. They should know how to read the bills. I will teach them how to pack the items. If it's 0.25 Kg, they have to pack it like this, if it's half a Kg, then like this. So, it's all easy, not that difficult.
To know how to trust that person, I will first ask where he is from and where he has worked. We will gather all those details to get to know him. There are many people who have worked in a shop for four days and then come here asking for work. However, they leave after 4 days and go. There have been such people before.
I've stopped hiring local people. I hire employees from my relatives and my village, and I trust them not to engage in any dishonest practices. This approach is working well for us.
I and my husband manage the sales on Sundays as well. They patiently buy from us because we offer them credit. We ask the customers who want to buy in bulk to wait for a while and finish with the customers who have come to purchase 1 or 2 items.Our business is not so great that we can hire people. If we are unable to do so, then we can keep somebody. Initially, I was new to business, so we had people. Kids were also young. They did not stay for long and started fiddling with money. When I learned the business, we did not keep anybody for help.