Your Staff are not Public Property…
It’s not often I get a bee in my bonnet, but every now and then I need a good old uncharacteristic rant. Just to restore my equilibrium. And this one has been building up for approximately two weeks. Ever since the latest of the UK supermarket giants’ most recent of advertising campaigns began projecting its message onto my TV screen. So better out than in: Supermarkets, your latest advert sucks!
What the Heck?
To the inconspicuous, untrained eye this little innuendo might be easily missed. But not to me. Because I used to work in a supermarket. A long time ago when I was a student. So why the hell haven’t things moved on? You don’t need to give your staff name badges… AT ALL. EVER. As if they are children in a nursery who might forget their own identities! It simply isn’t necessary. It doesn’t in any way enhance performance or profits. Customers don’t need to know an employee’s name to be given great service. And vice versa. End of subject!
It’s downright rude.
Name badges insinuate public ownership of employees. Don’t believe me? Have you actually watched the way that Stereotypical Shopping Dad in the ad addresses Said Cashier during their interaction at the checkout over his qualm about the price of a box of cereal?
I mean, could a visual actually bring any more confirmation to the fact that he
a) assumes as customer that he is always right – okay, this is the service industry, so that’s a ‘given’, but b) he also appears to take great delight in looking down on Said Cashier from his lofty height, reminding her of her position in this world as a ‘mere’ checkout lady… Because if you are in any doubt, ask yourself this: why, oh why does he find it necessary to remind her of her name whilst he’s in the process? He is not her bloody teacher! Or father for that matter.
Think I’m making a mountain out of a molehill?
Think again. Please explain to me exactly why the identity of your employees should be on display like some kind of free-for-all to the public? Especially in this highly digital and social media filled day and age when identity should be safeguarded as opposed to handed out on a plate. You have a responsibility to your staff, do you not?
In a different scenario, one where Stereotypical Shopping Dad is without his playful wife and irritating teenage son, things could actually play out rather differently…
And unfortunately, I know so. Because when I was all of 19 years old, typically un-street-wise and working in one of these types of stores, I had countless customers (men in particular, it has to be said) feeling free to call me by my name as if they had some kid of invisible upper hand. This is not me being petty, where are their name badges, hey?
So one evening I had the pleasure of being stalked across an empty employee car park by one such customer. Oh yes. It seemed my employer’s insistence on familiarity had given this crazed 40-something year old fanatic the green card to hang around until clocking off time, hide out in the bushes and chase me to my car begging for a date! Had it not been for two guardian angels in the guise of elderly men with walking sticks (with which they proceeded to chase him by waving them menacingly mid-air), who knows just how familiar this guy was intending to get? I must admit that after the incident, the Store Manager did take things seriously. The guy was tracked down on video camera and from that moment onward, banned from the store. But still… something about the information that was MY name on that very unnecessary name badge had made him feeling entitled to drop it into conversation with me again and again and again as I swiped his goods on my till. This is what paved the way for his delusion. No two ways about it.
You have a duty of care.
Supermarket chains, yes you may be big. Perhaps these name badges are deemed crucial for the employees themselves to know is who, for the chief to recognise his soldiers. But that comes at a price. It’s not rocket science: a supermarket is a public place and you truly have NO idea who walks through your doors. Protect your people. They know how to spell their names. This isn’t an ice-breaking party game, neither are they back at school. Treat them with the respect they deserve. Honour their right to privacy, or make the name badge an option. Give your employees a choice and a voice. After all, every little counts.
