What are key concepts in an era of Labor Shortages?
How to Overcome the "Barriers" of Multi-Store, Multi-Location Businesses

This report is the keynote speech given by Norio Kanaumi, Director and COO of ClipLine Inc. at the ClipLine Leaders forum, a sponsored event held on March 6, 2024,

Process for Increasing what people, organizations, and management can do, and Improving Business Performance.
〜Things indispensible to succeeding in the service industry as multi-location businesses.

The following is a summary of the presentation.

Many companies are struggling to recruit and retain workers as the labor shortage worsens. Nevertheless, the labor shortage will become even more serious in the coming years. Japan's population declined by 2.35 million over the 10 years from 2010 to 2020, and is expected to decline by nearly three times that amount, or 6.58 million, between 2020 and 2030. Businesses are already aware that the era where there is a shortage of human resources is now​

It is not only the shortage of labor that should be focused on. Because many markets are shrinking as the population declines, we need to consider how to increase market share and provide value in existing markets. 

The difficulty of solving this problem is greatly increased by the overlap of several complex issues, such as not only labor shortage but also turnover of hired personnel, as well as enhancement of added value in the business, and productivity improvement in the field.

In such cases, it is useful to take a step back and look at "mega-trends," or major trends in society. Take for example, the population in different age groups. We can see that the population in its 40's is the largest with a maximum of 1.8 million people. On the other hand, the number of children in their 20's is approximately 1.2 million, and the number of children aged 0-9 is less than 1 million.
In addition, let's look at the results of a survey released by Mynavi regarding the number of hours college students work part-time shifts per week. The results show that three days a week is the largest, and that there are few people who work four to five days a week. This means that there are fewer points of contact and it is more difficult to increase engagement.

According to Mynavi's survey, "flexible shifts," "close proximity to home," and "understanding of schoolwork" are essential requirements when looking for a part-time job. The factors that helped them decide include "the company contacting them immediately after applying," and "being provided me with details about working conditions, such as hourly wage and shift flexibility." These factors indicate that the respondents more like a kind of "customer" rather than a mere "worker".

It is important to note, however, that while catering to employees may be effective in retaining them, it does not lead to more substantive engagement that increases their attachment to the company and their willingness to contribute.

To summarize so far, It is important not only to respond to labor shortages but also to gain market share. This is a very important point of view. To achieve this, it is necessary not only to improve operational efficiency, but also to strengthen the added value that only human beings can provide. The key to this is engagement. So, what should we do?

The key words are "multifunctionalization" and "bonding. First, let's take a look at multifunctionalization.

Tsuneo Okubo, who serves as president of Seiyu, spoke about multitasking as a key to increasing productivity. He said that Seiyu is promoting multitasking by, for example, teaching employees in charge of cash registers how to cook side dishes.

Based on these examples, it can be said that there are three key points in the shift to multi-skilled workers. First, by expanding the range of tasks that each employee can handle, it becomes easier to respond to "waves" such as busy periods. In addition, it will also indicate career steps, which will be effective in reducing employee turnover. Finally, having personnel experience a wide range of work will also help improve service levels.

Next, what are the bonds that were mentioned as keywords along with multi-skilled workers? According to a survey conducted by Mynavi, among the reasons given by those who quit their part-time jobs immediately, the top reasons given were unreasonable guidance from superiors and seniors, and human relations. In other words, human relations in the workplace are an important factor in retaining hired personnel.

One company that has achieved results by combining multi-skilled labor and bonding is the OZEKI supermarket. The company has a philosophy that "OZEKI sells by people," and focuses on employee training and relationship building.

In general, multi-store and multi-location services have two structural challenges: "message game due to pyramid structure" and "bottleneck due to hourglass structure". The former, As the hierarchy of the organization increases, information sharing becomes a game of messages, resulting in failure to convey the original intent and uneven implementation in the field. refers to the The latter is, Information is concentrated in middle management, preventing smooth information sharing. Refers to a bottleneck situation.
 

OZEKI is using video educational content to create multi-skilled workers with tacit knowledge such as how to handle fish, as well as horizontal development of measures taken by stores with good sales at fairs, as a catalyst for bonding, he says.
For example, if there is a store that is taking interesting measures during the Valentine's Day sales fair, they post how it is going on ABILI Clip and get advice from the headquarters, and other stores refer to it. As a result, there has been a positive effect on sales. In addition, we have heard that on-site store visits, which used to be carried out by supervisors, are now being carried out remotely.

In recent years, we hear more and more about "human capital management," and as it has become a buzzword, there has been an increase in services that tout human capital management, but the reality is that in some cases they remain the same training and human resource management tools as in the past.

According to the definition of human capital management by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), human capital management is "a management approach that considers human resources as capital and maximizes their value to enhance corporate value over the medium to long term. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the ROI approach from the viewpoint of which human resources to invest in (investment) and how to maximize the capital efficiency (return).

However, there are a number of variables between investment in human resources and results (profit) that are difficult to grasp. For example, if a store has a low number of customers, it is first necessary to identify whether it has a low number of repeat customers or new customers. If the number of repeat customers is low, then it can be broken down into a number of branches, such as low satisfaction or the opening of a competing store in the neighborhood.

Of course, each of these variables is understood within the company, but in most cases they are managed vertically, and many companies are not able to grasp them through a horizontal skewer. In addition, services have characteristics such as "intangibility" and "disappearance," which are difficult to grasp in numerical terms.

To solve these issues, the ABILI Board is a tool that allows visualization and centralized management of each of these elements.
The ABILI Board visualizes data such as "store combat power," who can do what, at what level, and who can work what shift. In the case of a supermarket, this allows the user to grasp the combat power of each department, such as "fresh fish" and "meat," and each time zone, and also to check deviation values through relative evaluation with other stores.

"We should be able to have high-resolution discussions in the form of, 'We are strong in the mornings on weekdays, but weak in the afternoons,' or 'The bakery department is weak compared to other stores.

In addition, ClipLine also offers a survey tool that enables timely customer feedback. ABILI Voice and ABILI's services to provide accompaniment support and video production for the implementation of ABILI's solution suite. ABILI Partner." In addition, the company has developed ABILI Career, which allows employees to check their skills and customize and manage their promotion workflow.

ABILI is a platform that can help you become more versatile and build bonds with others. Corporate transformation is often viewed as something with a low probability of success, but just like climbing a mountain, if you do it with the right amount of outside help, you can expand your chances for growth. ABILI Partner, ABILI Clip, and ABILI Career are your partners and Sherpas in mountain climbing, and ABILI Board and ABILI Voice are your compasses to know where you are. If you need any help, please contact us.