Engaging employees at Expert Deurne

2014 – Expert is an international chain of cooperating, independent entrepreneurs in white and brown goods on the European market. In the Netherlands Expert has 160 stores. Expert at Deurne in the province or North Brabant, has about 20 employees working in sales or as a mechanic/delivery man headed by a ‘director sales’ and a ‘director technical service’.

The workplace innovation

Expert Deurne has grown from about 5 to 20 employees in short time. This gave the store manager increasing organizational responsibilities and employers’  duties and he hardly had time for customer contacts. A consultancy firm was contracted to spread responsibilities in the organization. A better planning and coordination between sales and delivery was an additional  issue in this process.

Approach
There were individual talks about mutual expectations and perceptions of each other with the director and a number of staff. It became obvious that some people wanted to become more involved with the company but had felt inhibited to show  these ambitions  hitherto. Based on these talks bottlenecks and improvement actions were inventoried. Also about the cooperation and coordination of activities within departments and between the departments sales and delivery/repair appointments were made. The mission was: “keep your promise and do a little too much." This has to do with  service and after sales. One concrete action is that every morning during fifteen minutes the staff discuss the ins and outs of the day and determine the division of labor.

Results
At Expert the work is done more systematically. The director has more control over the organization and sees more quickly when something needs to be done. It is more easily for him to prioritize for customers and /or organization. In spite of the crisis, the store has  achieved  more sales and has been able realize more profit. The store has a high level of service. In 2010 the Expert shop in Deurne was proclaimed the best  Dutch Expert shop for the second time. Criteria were: consumer opinion about the store, store and team performance. So far, the most was achieved for the group sales. It was decided to follow a similar path for the technical service/delivery.

Preconditions
It is important that employees come up with ideas and ask questions. Employees should be made aware of what is happening in the organization. It is also important that staff and especially the delivery personnel and mechanics know that they are ambassadors of the store. Listening to employees and encouraging initiative, creates space and a positive climate. Employees must be given the opportunity  to develop. Showing results and offering space for informal moments, is important.

Reference

For more information see the website of the company: www.expertdeurne.nl and the website: www.socialeinnovatiebrabant.nl

Themes: Dynamic management, SME

Sector: Retail

Source: Case

Properties