Dormy has had an intense year and broken sales records. But the golf boom has put a lot of pressure on department stores and e-commerce. The employees have had to carry a heavy load at times. Despite this, engagement has increased.
What do you do if a customer reaches out to shake a hand? Hesitate and shake reluctantly? Or respond with a corona-proof elbow?
- Many of our customers still want to take a hands on approach. Especially when they try out clubs, the seller and the customer spend quite a long time together, says Henrik Hedström , operations manager at Dormy.
It's not new that the pandemic has posed major challenges for many companies but being forced to think through how to greet their customers, there were probably few who thought it would be an important issue. Dormy otherwise belongs to an industry that has gone against the flow. A quick review of the Swedish Golf Association's statistics shows that as many as eleven million rounds of golf were played in Sweden in 2020 and that as many as half a million were members of a golf club. The increased interest is related to the Public Health Agency's recommendations on keeping a distance and being outdoors. A directive that suits the sport well. At Dormy, the effect came immediately.
- This year's result is the best we have ever had. This season we have been 50-100 percent better than budget. says Henrik Hedström.
But the positive development has at times been stressful.
- We were not staffed for this and needed to recruit very quickly. Since we have quite long run-in times for our new employees, our existing employees have carried a big load, says Henrik Hedström.
Joanna Sande , HR Manager at Dormy, highlights another challenge.
- Our recruitment base is quite narrow. That we also want them to work during the high season, when they themselves want to be free and play golf, does not make things easier.
When all the department stores had been "corona secured" and the internal guidelines were in place, Dormy followed up with questions in &frankly.
- We sent out a pulse to find out how the employees felt, if there was something we needed to improve and if they were unsure about something our handling of the corona issues. Quickly we got good feedback and were able to adjust a few things directly, says Joanna Sande, HR manager at Dormy.
Joanna Sande, HR manager and Henrik Hedström, operations manager.
Passion, knowledge and innovation. These are Dormy's values, contributing to everyone having a more enjoyable time on the golf course is the overall mission. The key to success is in the employees.
- They are absolutely crucial for the customers' experience. For us, it is not solely focused on selling to customers as much as possible. We want them to have the right things in their bag. With that attitude, we create satisfied customers and good golf experiences, says Henrik Hedström.
Dormy started with pulse measurements to ensure that employees feel good and feel even better than they already did.
- We are not the small company anymore, we needed a system that captures all employee issues in an efficient way, says Joanna Sande.
Every other month, they send out "Dormypulsen" which measures the engagement in general. Twice a year, they also send out more specific questions about the company's goals.
- The results get sent directly to managers and we communicate trends and response frequency on our intranet, says Joanna Sande.
They have also chosen to keep many of the questions from the “old” employee survey, but have turned them into questions in &frankly.
- We send that pulse out at the end of the season and then focus mainly on comments and views that can lead to more overall changes, says Jonna Sande.
Despite the high workload during the year, Joanna Sande and Henrik Hedström have seen a clear trend among employees: the already high level of engagement has increased further.
- We were actually a little surprised, but I think that this situation has made all teams tighter and that we as an organization have become more humble. Everyone has helped each other in a very nice way and it has welded the employees together. It has also become clear how engagement and profitability are connected, says Joanna Sande.
Joanna Sande's 3 tips for succeeding with pulse measurements
- Take small steps
Do not send out too many questions at once. Make sure everyone is on the same page. - Follow up the results
Keep track of the trends and make the follow-up of results a natural part of the job. - Communicate
Why are you doing this? Put a lot of focus on communicating clearly and in good time so that everyone understands the purpose of the tool.
One last thing, how do you really greet a customer who wants to take matters into their own hands when you are in doubt?
- We peppered our employees so that they would feel safe not to touch. Instead, you can say “I would like to take you by the hand, but right now I think it is safest that we avoid it. We will have to do it again the next time we see each other and when Corona is over. ”
This is &frankly
Do you want to know how committed your team is?
Book a web meeting and discover how fast you can get started.
