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The Real Costs of Shrinkage
by Sherri Cairns (Loss Prevention Instructor)
Whether you run a restaurant, have a retail operation or operate a spa in your property, theft is a reality of all businesses. Do you know what the shrinkage is in your business? Do you know what an acceptable shrinkage is for your industry? Shrinkage is the difference between what should be there in terms of inventory, and what is really there. Shrinkage is a combination of internal theft (employee theft), external theft (shoplifting), paperwork error and vendor fraud. It is a loss of profit and as a business owner it is money out of your pocket.
But what is the actual cost of theft? Let’s say that you sell snow globes to tourists. Perhaps that snow globe cost you $1 and then you turn around and sell it for $5. One might be tempted to think that the loss is $1. But in reality you have not only lost the $1 that you paid for the item, you have also lost the profit that you would have received from selling it. How much will you need to sell to make up that lost profit? But that is just the monetary cost. If shrinkage becomes a big enough problem, the costs become evident in other areas of your business as well. If a business owner cannot bring shrinkage within acceptable levels, it can mean a loss of hours for employees or increased prices to your customer. With decreased staff hours, it is difficult to retain staff or provide customer service. When a business owner needs to increase prices due to high shrinkage, the customer suffers and might take their business elsewhere. If an employee steals from you, the loss is usually substantially higher than with a customer. There is little chance of recovering what is lost - this includes both the monetary loss and the loss of trust and sense of betrayal that is created and can put a dark cloud over your whole operation.
So the actual cost of shrinkage trickles down to many areas of your business. Take a look around and see where you might improve areas that are within your control. You might take a look at your store layout and merchandising, or carefully measure portions on food that you serve your customers to cut down on waste, or put better controls in place to minimize spoilage. It could also be as simple as providing better customer service; both externally to your customers, and internally to your employees. But the key is to know where you could improve and start making the changes to decrease your shrinkage.
For more information on our Loss Prevention Workshop, please contact our Retail Training Coordinator, Patricia Walker at pwalker@mtec.mb.ca
The Importance of Retail Training
It comes as no surprise that retail is a tough game. Competition is rampant and the face of retail is constantly changing to meet the demands of consumers. How do you stay relevant and sustainable in this ever changing industry?
Training is one way to distinguish yourself as a leader. Businesses that take a proactive approach to having their people properly trained are the ones who will move forward in this challenging economy.
Your people are the face of your business. Investing in them is investing in your business! MTEC now offers retail training with workshops such as customer service, loss prevention, handling difficult customers and retail management.
For more information please contact our Retail Training Coordinator, Patricia Walker at pwalker@mtec.mb.ca. Let us help you take your business to a new level.
As part of the Destination Development Workshop Series, Travel Manitoba is offering a full day workshop on "Understanding Tourism" on Wednesday, May 19th at the Victoria Inn, Winnipeg. The workshop will help participants understand the conditions for success: how tourism impacts your community; the need to understand your local context; who plays a role in tourism; and how to go about creating a tourism plan in your community. To register or get additional information for the workshop, please click the above link. The deadline to register for the workshop is April 30.
For Immediate Release:
Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council Announces Partnership with Parks Canada
Heritage Interpreters to Benefit from National emerit Professional Certification
(OTTAWA, ONTARIO- April 30, 2010) The Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) is proud to announce a growing partnership with Parks Canada. This new agreement will see Heritage Interpreters throughout Parks Canada undertake the CTHRC’s nationally recognized emerit certification. Parks Canada employees will pursue Professional Certification as Heritage Interpreters, gaining the highest industry recognized credential for tourism workers in Canada.
The significance of this new agreement to the CTHRC and the Canadian tourism industry cannot be overstated. “We are extremely excited by this opportunity at the CTHRC.”, says Vince Accardi, Vice President, Products and Partnerships, “Working with Parks Canada, the largest provider of natural and cultural tourism products, presents us with a great chance to showcase the strengths of emerit National standards, training and certification products, and to make a meaningful and lasting impact on the level of professionalism in the tourism industry across Canada.”
As Parks Canada reaches a milestone in 2010, Ed Jager, Director, Visitor Experience, stresses the scope and importance of the Heritage Interpreter position within Parks Canada, and the role emerit training products will have in improving the occupation across the nation.
''This year we celebrate 125 years of national parks in Canada” explains Mr. Jager. “Since the creation of Banff in 1885, interpretation has always played a fundamental role within the Parks Canada system. Each year the National Parks, National Historic Sites and the National Marine Conservation Areas receive 21 million visits and interpretation contributes to making their experiences more significant. It is with great enthusiasm that we are partnering with the CTHRC in the development and expansion of the profession of interpreter throughout Canada.''
Both CTHRC and Parks Canada are looking forward to working together on this initiative, and the benefits of this agreement will be felt by both tourism workers and visitors in Canada for years to come.
About the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC)
The Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) is a national organization that facilitates and coordinates human resources development activities which support a globally competitive and sustainable Canadian tourism sector. The Council conductslabour market research, offers training and recognition under the emerit tourism training brand, promotes the advantages of working in the sector through Discover Tourism, and helps identify companies with positive HR practices through its employee-rated Employer of Choice program.
For further information, please contact:
Jon Kiely
613-231-6949
jkiely@cthrc.ca
www.cthrc.ca
Minimum Wage Rises in Manitoba, P.E.I.
Winnipeg and Charlottetown – Manitoba’s minimum wage will increase by 50 cents to $9.50 an hour on Oct. 1. This increase follows two 25-cent increases in 2009. With this increase to the minimum wage, Manitoba will maintain its position near the middle of Canadian rates. Prince Edward Island will also be increasing its minimum wage in 2010 by 60 cents an hour. The increase will take place in two phases with the first, effective June 1, seeing the rate increase to 30 cents to $8.70 an hour. The rate will increase again on Oct. 1 to $9.00 an hour.
The Skills Manitoba Restaurant Competition was held on April 25, 2010 in Brandon, Manitoba at Assiniboine Community College-The Manitoba Institute of Culinary Arts.
The Skills Manitoba Competition is a one day event that provides young Manitobans the opportunity to showcase their talents in an Olympic-style, province wide contest.
The Competition rewards students for excellence, directly involves industry in evaluating student performance, and keeps training relevant to employers needs.
The winner from the provincial competition goes on to represent Manitoba in the National competition which will be held May 20-23rd in Kitchener, ON.
The Institute of Culinary Arts set the stage for the table side luncheon which saw invited guests enjoy a French Table Side Service prepared by the competitors.
The service included cocktail preparation, bread service, red and white wine service, smoked salmon appetizer, steak Diane as main course and finished off with coffee service and a delicious Peach Melba dessert.
The competitors are judged on many skills such as food preparation and service, wine service, napkin folding, table boxing, and bartending.
Combined with their blind wine identification scores, gold, silver and bronze medal winner are chosen.
This year’s competitors were
Shannon German-Red River College-Gold Medal Winner
Sadie McConnell-Assiniboine Community College- Silver medal winner
Diego Osorio--Red River College- Bronze medal winner
Charlotte McDougall--Red River College
Carson Robertson--Red River College.
Thank you to the many volunteers, judges and committee members, who helped to make this event a success. We would also like to thank the sponsors of this event for their continued support.
Red River College
Assiniboine Community College
Manitoba Liquor Control Commission
Remington’s Seafood and Steakhouse
Manitoba Tourism Education Council.
All the best to Shannon as she heads to Kitchener, Ontario!
A study by John and Rhonda Hunter at The University of Michigan on the "Validity and Utility of Alternative Predictors of Job Performance"1, revealed that ‘The typical interview increases the likelihood of choosing the best candidate by less than 2%’. In other words, if you just "flipped" a coin you would be correct 50% of the time. If you added an interview you would only be right 52% of the time.
While interviews are helpful in identifying how well people will fit into your organization, most typical interviews are not structured enough and lack an evaluation process.
The following are some tips for asking questions in you r next interview:
• Ask only questions allowed by Canadian law. Questions about age, race, religion/creed, colour, sex, nation of origin, citizenship, ancestry, sexual orientation/preference, physical or mental disability, or marital status are illegal to ask, unless they are a bona fide job requirement.
• Ask questions that focus on true occupational requirements that you can prove are necessary for the employee to do the work. For more information on this aspect of occupational requirements, contact your local Canadian Human Right Commission office or visit the website at www.chrc-ccdp.ca.
Example: “As you know, Mike, this position requires that you are legally able to serve alcohol and so you must be 18 years of age. Are you legally able to serve?” (In this case the employer is qualifying a true job requirement without inquiring specifically about Mike’s age, which would be against the law.)
• Use the same question guide for all candidates to reveal more about themselves by asking open-ended questions, rather than yes/no questions.
Example: “Can you tell me about what you enjoyed about your last job?”
• Use “reflective listening” to understand what is being said. That is, restate, in your own words, what you think the applicant is saying.
• Allow silence or pauses to give both you and the candidate time to think.
• Only ask one question at a time – double questions are confusing and difficult to answer.
• Avoid leading questions that allow candidates to answer the way they think you want to be answered.
Example: “You do have previous serving experience, don’t you?”
• Avoid trick questions that might destroy trust and offend the candidate.
• Avoid interrupting the candidate.
• Probe to establish a clear understanding.
Example: “You said you were unhappy with the way a customer spoke to you- what actually happened?”
• Use closed (Yes/No) questions occasionally to slow down a talkative/nervous candidate.
• Observe the candidate’s body language: posture, facial expressions, etc.
1 John & Rhonda Hunter, "Validity and Utility of Alternative Predictors of Job Performance", Psychological Bulletin, July 1984, p. 90.
The list for interview questions has been adapted from the emerit Supervisor Training program: Human Resource Management
MTEC wants to help you get your business on course and sail into summer tourism success with high impact business training designed specifically for the tourism industry. We are offering 15 complimentary seats for each session, sign up now! *
*Space is limited in all courses and are offered on a first come first served basis.
All courses will be held at the MTEC Learning Centre, Suite 100 - 1534 Gamble Place, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Reserve your spot today! To register contact us by email at admin@mtec.mb.ca or by calling (204) 957-7437.
North American Occupational Safety & Health Week at MTEC!
SAFE Hospitality was thrilled to be part of the North American Occupational Safety and Health Week (NAOSH) May 3-8. We started off by attending the Steps For Life 5 km walk at Kildonan Park. The walk was in support of families who have suffered from a workplace fatality, life-altering injury or occupational disease. This was the second time it was held in Winnipeg and considering the weather, there was a fantastic turnout that raised over 10,000 dollars! Thank you to all those who participated!
The NAOSH kickoff was held Monday morning at McPhillips Street Station with the theme “How Safe Are You Manitoba?” Guest speakers included Jennifer Howard and Major Neil Gregory, Chief of Staff of Canadian Forces Base, Shilo. Many safety associations & suppliers from all sectors were there providing safety information and resources to the public in support of North American Occupational Safety & Health Week.
SAFE Hospitality collaborated with nine Smitty’s Family Restaurant’s by hosting a coloring contest/draw geared towards children ages 5 to12. Throughout NAOSH week, May 3-9th, children who dined at Smitty’s were given the opportunity color their place mat and encouraged to write down one safety tip they used at either home, school or play. The winner of the draw receives a bike, helmet and accessories donated by SAFE Hospitality, provided by Gord’s Cycle and Ski. The lucky winner will be announced in our upcoming newsletter.
Businesses were encouraged to do something within their own workplaces to promote NAOSH week and SAFE Hospitality was thrilled to be invited to attend the Fairmont Hotel’s NAOSH event on May 4th. Their theme was ‘Health and Wellness’ and they did a fantastic job by having a variety of health & wellness related organizations display and promote healthy living. We had a great time meeting the staff and participating in their event. Bravo Fairmont!
Staff at MTEC also had a variety of safety activities throughout the week. Each of the staff was given pedometers and a health watch checklist calculating their points based on their wellness activities throughout the week. We also had visits from a registered Massage Therapist and a Naturopathic Doctor, giving us the opportunity to relieve some stress and get some very interesting information and tips on how to maintain a well balanced and healthy lifestyle. The week ended with a potluck lunch, and over all it was great success!
It was really nice to have everyone’s involvement and participation in NAOSH week 2010!
NEW SAFETY TRAINING WORKSHOP
Job Hazard Analysis(JHA) & Safe Work Procedures(SWP)
It is a requirement for employers to have written Safe Work Procedures and ensure workers are trained and comply with them. To learn more about the 3 step process in developing a critical task analysis, job hazard analysis and implementing safe work procedures, come join us Tuesday June 1st 1-4:30 pm at MTEC. To register please call Alexa at 694-7233 or info@safehospitality.com
“Genuine change is never a function of dominance, or even education, but of empathy and common ground.”
Alan Briskin