Chapter 255: Chapter 255: Mending the World
As New Year's Day approached, the workload increased. Companies and individuals were preparing work summaries for the year. The documents that needed his signature were also increasing. Fortunately, because of the convenience store, there were more than one truck going back and forth between the provincial capital and the city every day, and the exchange of these documents was also considered convenient.
Government agencies and public institutions are preparing for New Year's Eve parties. Some state-owned enterprises with reasonable profits will also take the opportunity to have a lively time. For the employees, sometimes this is not just a party, because many units will use the party to recognise the outstanding employees of the year.
Those new college graduates recruited by the company were not very active in these kinds of activities when they were at school, but after joining the workforce, they missed them. They mentioned it to Feng Yiping twice through Li Jiagao and Gao Zhiyi.
If the conditions are ripe, organising such a cross-company event is indeed a good idea, as it can improve employee cohesion and a sense of pride, and also take the opportunity to promote corporate culture. But Feng Yiping, who was a bit reluctant, rejected their request. However, it didn't seem good to do nothing either.
In line with the principle of being frugal and practical, he asked Gao Zhiyi to order a batch of greeting cards. At the same time, he also ordered the best batch of wall calendars and desk calendars, each with a unit price of more than seven yuan. If they were sold on the market, they would cost at least ten yuan each.
Every employee received a greeting card, and each card had Feng Yiping's signature as the company's general manager. In addition to distributing the wall calendars and desk calendars to employees, some were also reserved for each convenience store, so that they could give them to regular customers at their discretion.
To make it more personal, employees could register themselves at the company and have the calendars sent to their homes, with the postage paid by the company, of course. This measure was very popular, especially among the more than 100 employees recruited from the three schools in the county, who all chose to have the calendars sent to their homes. I think they also want their parents to know more about their company.
When writing the greeting cards, Feng Yiping suddenly realised that with the convenience store, Jiasheng Decoration, Zhitong Company, the two factories in the town, the newly merged aluminium products factory, and the more than 60 people at the noodle shop, the total number of employees had already exceeded 800!
Except for the 60-odd people at the noodle shop, who were taken care of by Feng Zhanchang, he didn't have to do anything else. He had to sign more than 700 greeting cards. Fortunately, the greetings had already been copied, so all he had to do was sign. Fortunately, his name was simple. However, looking at the box full of greeting cards on the table, he still felt a little intimidated. He had really dug himself a hole.
He didn't care about anything else. He personally delivered the greeting cards to each employee of the ten convenience stores in the city, and asked after their well-being.
The workload of these peers is not heavy. The convenience store is now open for 16 hours a day, with two people working in shifts, standing for 8 hours a day, which is much better than those on the factory production line. However, the work is very boring, and there is no one to talk to. At the same time, when serving customers, the attitude is required to be good, which is still a bit challenging for these young people who were students a few months ago and have not worked in other jobs.
When Feng Yiping took Huang Jingping to deliver greeting cards, he also noticed some problems. When they first started working, these young people were dedicated, proactive and full of energy. However, some of the shop assistants, both girls and boys, have developed a tendency to follow the example of the more senior staff.
The 4S on the spot did a good job, but the service attitude has dropped a big step from before. Civilised language is spoken, but it is dry, and it is difficult to guarantee a smile. When dealing with customer enquiries, such as the location of a certain product, only a few will show someone where it is, some will point with their hand in that direction, and some will just say a very general direction, such as, 'The innermost row.'
After walking through ten stores, Feng Yiping felt very heavy and thought there were major problems. His worst fear had happened so quickly.
In addition to the location and the goods and prices on offer, service is a crucial factor in convenience stores. If things continue to develop in this way, there will be no service at all in the future, and convenience stores will be no different from private stalls, and sometimes even less enthusiastic.
He first looked for the cause from the company's perspective. There were problems. The company's pre-service training was good, but on-the-job training was completely lacking. This was a mistake, which caused some employees, after working for a period of time, not only not to improve, but to regress.
He deliberately called Zhou Xingyu over and the two of them talked for a long time. Feng Yiping had no intention of criticising him. In the past few months, Zhou Xingyu had already opened 40 branches in the provincial capital, and by the end of the lunar year, he would have achieved the goal of 50 branches ahead of schedule. At the same time, he had also spent a lot of energy on some things that Feng Yiping had asked him to do on an ad hoc basis, such as staff recruitment and merger and acquisition negotiations. It was understandable that some aspects had not been well thought out.
Feng Yiping expressed his thoughts. He felt that, in light of the current situation, it was necessary to introduce 5S. The extra S stands for literacy, which is precisely what Youjia needs most right now. If employees can consciously improve their personal qualities and develop good habits, there would be no such problems.
Zhou Xinyu agreed. However, although it is simple to say, it is quite troublesome to implement, as only one more item has been added! At present, not many companies in China have introduced 4S, and it is estimated that only those Japanese-funded enterprises have implemented 5S.
After much discussion, the result was that Feng Yiping had an additional task during the Spring Festival this year, which was to participate in the training of store managers.
However, before that, Feng Yiping felt that there was still one thing he could do. Without comparison, there is no discernment. Without knowing the hard work of other jobs, one does not know how easy the work of convenience stores is.
Unfortunately, the aluminium products factory is currently under construction, so Feng Yiping had no choice but to call Zheng Lezhi to the city and ask him to contact the city tool factory, which has business relations with the factory. The employees were divided into two groups and spent a day at the tool factory each. The effect was remarkable. Judging from the feedback, the employees' enthusiasm generally improved a lot when they returned to work.
After hearing the results, Zhou Xinyu is now also contacting suitable manufacturers. However, he is darker than Feng Yiping, and it seems that he is inclined to let the employees of the provincial branch go to factories with high labour intensity and poor working environments, such as foundries and paper mills, to visit.
You can't just whip people without giving them some encouragement. They're still kids, after all. You have to rub them a little after you spank them.
Feng Yiping, with tears in his eyes and in pain, took Huang Jingping to several places and finally settled on a rather upscale restaurant, one that neither he nor Huang Jingping had been to before.
Then, in two groups, they celebrated New Year's Day by treating the twenty-odd people to a meal, which cost enough to cover the living expenses of the two of them for a few months.
Although the money could be reimbursed, in the end, it was still cutting into Feng Yiping's flesh, wasn't it?
However, after eating this sweet date, the centripetal force of those brats seemed to have increased a bit, and they were full of energy.
However, such tactics obviously did not address the root of the problem, and Feng Yiping sincerely felt the importance of on-the-job training.