Hear from Kmart managers Helen, Vikram, and LieungSue on how they support their staff to deal with psychosocial risks and challenges in their day-to-day work.
Transcript:
HELEN: Hi, I'm Helen Alderson, I'm the people and capability manager for Kmart New Zealand.
VIKRAM: My name is Vikram, I'm in the store management programme with Kmart.
LIEUNGSUE: My name is LieungSue NgChok, everybody here knows me as Shu. I work for the Kmart CFC, which is our Central Fulfilment Centre. I'm based over here in Manukau.
HELEN: I think the retail risks that we're finding at the moment is - a lot of the team, it's very physical and they get quite overwhelmed. But we have a lot, it feels especially since COVID as well, a lot of customer threatening situations that the team members face on a day-to-day basis so, unfortunately, we get some great customers, but we also have some customers who aren't so nice. They don't treat our team members with respect, they can sometimes become aggressive, or verbally abusive. Our team members have to handle those challenges on a day-to-day basis.
VIKRAM: We all come from a different walk of life, and the resistance of how much stress a person can take differs from individual to individual. So, having to tailor that approach is
no joke for any business so, that is, I would imagine, the biggest challenge at this point. Having that blanket approach at times does not work.
LIEUNGSUE: Being Pacific Islander, we do approach being at work differently. When it comes to expressing how we feel, mentally and physically, we prefer to share it with somebody that actually has had that, or somebody that's close to us that we can just vent to. But having not many actual people understand and be aware of how specific Islanders work, physically and mentally, I feel that it should be looked at, just background of how we work in general.
HELEN: I think it was great to hear from team members that they feel we offer that safety around psychological safety, but I think from a Kmart perspective there's a lot more we can do to understand what the teams need, how we can do better, how we can take some of that pressure off, and some of the challenges that they're facing, to how can we help find some sort of resolution to that.
VIKRAM: So, Kmart is a very unique business, in which we have the tools which calculate that for us. So, we could enter a workload, let that be delivery sales, the volume in our stock room, and it would give us exactly what we need to forecast in terms of labour force. We do have different tools that we can reach out to and use. EAP being one of those where we can reach out, confidentiality is maintained, and reach out to the professionals who could ascertain what we are going through and help accordingly.
LIEUNGSUE: I have a personal kind of relationship with my team members, we're really family orientated here. So, I feel that if they can relate to me on a personal basis or personal line then like, you know, I can have an understanding of where they're coming from. I always reach out like, hey if you guys want to talk, I'm always here to listen. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I can guide you in the right direction of where you need the help.
17 сен 2023
