Retailer Mel is taking care of business by looking after staff

“It’s hard to get good staff,” is the age-old refrain that is increasingly applying to local hospitality and retail as the unemployment rate effectively nears zero.

Long-time local retailer Melissa (Mel) Gregory hasn’t seen the jobs market so open in three decades, and it’s meaning 60-hour weeks for the hard-working owner of “Bobbies” Clothing.

Old-fashioned values of honesty, fair dealing, and flexibility — and selecting people who see the job in the long-term — are the key to keeping valued staff contented in their work and who are not looking elsewhere, she believes.

“This is my 30th year of trading, and no, I’ve never seen it so hard to get staff… I had three uni students, but they all left at the end of January,” she explains.

The return of students to the rigours of academic life, she adds, has left her short-handed.

“There’s myself, a full-time administrator, Jess, who does all my admin and website, and I just put a trainee on… and two juniors still at school.

“I also have a casual, but she has trouble getting child care,” she says, referencing another worker shortage hitting the Colour City.

Mel is currently putting in extra time herself rather than cutting back opening hours or shuttering at lunchtime, an old-style practice that many local retailers are adopting, but which is impossible for the wining and dining industries.

“Just through my mutual friends, they’re talking about how challenging it is... but it seems to be affecting the hospitality sector more,” she says.

“I’m working seven days a week, it’s not putting pressure on the business, it’s putting pressure on me!”

Mel says that, with full employment in the district, small business operators need to take good care of the staff they already have.

“The first thing is, that you have to have a good work culture,” Mel believes.

“That is, you are more likely to hold onto staff if you ensure that they are happy in their work, if it’s somewhere that people enjoy what they’re doing.”

Bosses, she says, also need to put the business, rather than their own needs, first. “The second point is, if you have a mindset of service to others, rather than to yourself.

“If the service is to the self, your own needs, then you’re not going to keep staff,” she believes.

Old-fashioned fair dealing is also essential in this new job-seekers’ paradise, she adds. “The other thing is integrity, if you say you are going to do something, then do it!

“That means being fair, treating everyone the same, and not letting some people get away with things that you don’t for others.”

The current climate is also definitely not the time or place for the old-school tyrant boss, Mel argues.

“I have emotional intelligence and am not going to scream and yell at my staff, especially not reprimanding staff in front of customers, it all comes down to respect.

“It also depends on the type of person you are, if you are the type of dictator who yells at people, you’re not going to keep your staff.”

Survival and success of your enterprise depends, now more than ever, on the commitment and support of your workers.

“In simple terms, I can’t run this business on my own. If I look after my staff, my staff will look after the business.”

Twenty-two-year-old trainee, Holly Wilson — herself a recent refugee from working in “café society” — appreciates the more detailed personal interactions of the retail sector.

“I enjoy the variety. In hospitality, it’s so many customers, just one after the other. With retail, you can spend more time with each customer making sure they get to purchase what they want. It’s more satisfying,” she explains.

Feeling the pressure of the situation, Mel also ensures that she sets aside time for recharging the batteries and looking after her own well-being. “I do meditate, and I get into nature when I can. l also do martial arts.”

“Thank goodness business is so good, I wouldn’t be able to cope. Otherwise, everything else is fine.”