It’s cold and flu season again. When your employees get sick we all know who has to pick up the extra hours...

You!

Money, paper money in particular, is covered with germs, bacteria and let’s not think about what else. Who knows where that stuff has been! That’s why it makes tons of sense to

PRACTICE PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE IN YOUR STORE.

A few simple tricks can go a long way towards keeping your and your staff healthy.

Keep an “anti-bacterial wash” at the counter. These products require no rinsing and only take a second to use. Encourage your staff to use it often.

Clean the telephone and register keys periodically throughout the day and definitely at the end of the night.

Make sure your bathroom is equipped with anti-bacterial soap and paper towels. And stock extras during the cold and flu season.

Consider paying for a flu shot for your staff and give them time during their shift to go get it. A few dollars and an hour or two of payroll could save you a lot of lost time and productivity.

And remember, it starts with you. If your staff sees you taking care of yourself and you help them by providing the wash, soap, towels and flu shot, you have significantly reduced the chances that you and your staff will lose the ongoing battle against wintertime illness.

Here’s some straight talk on problem employees. This tip might not be easy to take, but believe me it can change your professional life!

Do you have a person (or two, or three) in you company who is making life miserable for you, negatively affecting the morale of your staff, and maybe even giving bad customer service? And yet think they can get away with the bad attitude?

Maybe they have been working with you for years, maybe they are a relative, or maybe they have specialized knowledge about your business. They think that you don’t have the guts – or the ability – to let them go.

Someone who is not contributing, doesn’t care, won’t adhere to your set standards, and thinks you won’t do anything about it is “holding you hostage”.

DON’T LET ANYONE HOLD YOU HOSTAGE.

As a business owner or manager you CANNOT let this happen. It ruins the morale of those who want to do a good job, it adds enormous frustration and stress to your life, and ultimately takes away from the quality of the experience your customers get from your business.

Your challenge is to take the bull by the horns and go toe-to-toe, eyeball-to-eyeball with the guilty party. Make sure they understand that their attitude changes, or they can find employment elsewhere.

And, if they don’t change you MUST replace that person. Don’t give in to your automatic reaction: “I can’t replace her – she’s the only one who can....” or, “I can’t replace him – he’s been with me forever.” Everyone can be replaced.

Remember, your first obligation is to your business and your customers. Anyone who is not contributing in a positive way needs to be replaced with someone who will.