The cost of labour is one of the top three costs in any retail business, usually coming after cost of goods and retail space. Yet small business and independent retailers often do not manage labour cost to be a s low as practical.

Based on years of helping small business retailers run more successful and valuable retail businesses. here are out top five tips for cutting the cost of labour in any retail business.

Here are our top five tips:

  1. Put yourself on the roster. Your time is a cost to the business. Be transparent with yourself.
  2. Stop cutting and pasting the roster. Create a new roster every week. This forces you to think about the money you spend.
  3. Is one person enough? Having an additional person on for security could be more costly than having the right person on and working alone.
  4. Know your revenue per rostered hour. This data point will focus your attention on labour costs.
  5. Split the roster. Have one person work up to 4 hours and then someone else for up to four hours and avoid the meal break requirement.

We have plenty more suggestions than these five. They are a starting point of the advice Tower Systems can provide.

Advice like this is provided as part of our weekly advice and assistance to small business retailers.