What can sellers be fined for?

In retail, salespeople are the liaisons between businesses and consumers. However, in their activities, they can often neglect their job responsibilities and violate labor discipline in the company. This can harm the business's performance and reputation. 

Managers' reactions to employee mistakes can vary considerably, but they all have the same goal: to get employees back to performing their duties.

For what offenses can salespeople be not only deprived of their salary or bonus, but also fined? And how can fines be replaced?

What violations do employees commit?

Many people wonder what they can be fined for at work. The following violations are most common in retail stores:

• theft and financial fraud,

• lateness or absence from the workplace without notifying the manager,

• unacceptable behavior with visitors,

• negligent performance or non-compliance with their direct duties,

• incompetence, mistakes in work that can lead to a deterioration in customer service and a deterioration in the business's reputation. 

Let's take a closer look at the employees' faults. 

Theft

The problem of theft in retail is as old as time. According to statistics, 50 to 90% of business losses are due to staff fraud. 

Modern technologies allow the owner to counteract theft. This includes installing video surveillance and cameras at the cash registers. However, such systems alone cannot eradicate the problem, and they are also expensive. 

You need auxiliary methods that would prevent staff from abusing their rights and limiting their actions. Thus, in the accounting program Torgsoft, you can manage the roles of employees, set them access rights to certain tasks.

Most often, cashiers who can do so resort to theft:

• not to issue a check to the buyer (the sale is not closed, the money goes into the cashier's pocket). 

• issue a return of goods, although the goods were not actually returned. 

• sell the goods at a discount and charge the buyer the full amount,

• break through a cheaper product (put the difference in your pocket).

Thus, with a reliable accounting system, sellers will not be able to sell goods past the cash register without issuing a receipt, or punch it at a different price if the owner has set up special sales conditions. 

This category of violations also includes situations where the price on the price tag differs from the price scanned at the checkout. However, this is the responsibility of the store administrator or manager.

These types of violations usually end in dismissal, but the owner should start by organizing discipline and training of staff (although this will not stop very honest people).

Disciplinary violations

Less critical for the business, but having a longer-lasting negative impact on it, are violations of discipline, such as lateness, closing a shift early, and ignoring trade rules or corporate standards in the store. 

For example, the offender may not comply with sanitary work standards: sell food without gloves, come to work sick and not inform the management. 

Another case is when the seller violates general service standards: sells alcohol or tobacco to minors, does not provide information about the product at the customer's request, or ignores the customer's questions and needs. 

How to prevent violations of discipline?

Before you introduce a system of fines, you need to be clear about what you expect from your staff: enthusiasm and discipline, or fear and dislike. You need to ensure that employees do not violate the order:

• Be patient. You won't be able to do everything at once and perfectly; any training and education takes time. 

• Do not break your own rules. The rules should be the same for all employees, including management.

• Set simple and clear rules. The shorter, the better.

Professional mistakes

Quite often, sellers do not seem to be doing anything illegal, but their level of communication with store visitors leads to even bigger problems than isolated thefts. 

But a good salesperson is one who is interested in performing his or her duties efficiently, who is responsible, proactive, and strives to follow the company's rules and improve his or her managerial skills in every way possible. 

Popular professional mistakes include: 

• failure to understand the psychology of customers, their types, hidden motives and needs,

• Ignorance of sales techniques and stages,

• Insufficient understanding of the product,

• intrusive service,

• emphasizing the shortcomings of competitors,

• fear of customers and uncertainty. 

Sometimes salespeople create a negative impression of a store by accident. They are simply guided by misconceptions about customers and often make mistakes in communication. 

Most managers use the financial method of punishment for poor performance, as they believe that the fined employee will not repeat their mistake to avoid punishment in the future. 

However, it is more important to find out the reasons that prevent an employee from working to their full potential. They are often caused by personal, psycho-emotional factors: stress, excessive workload, unwillingness to engage in sales and training, etc.

If we choose the path of fines and depression?

Monetary penalties cause a lot of controversy. Some argue that a good manager should be able to explain the employee's faults and motivate them to behave properly. Others believe that the best way to teach an employee is to withhold a bonus or part of their salary.

In our opinion, penalties are a last resort and should be used when the employee's fault is too great, and it can be proven that it caused material or financial damage to the company. 

If fines are imposed for the slightest offenses, this will lead to negative sentiment among the team, reduced loyalty to the company, voluntary resignations, and, in fact, the same thefts to recover financial losses.

But most importantly, the company will suffer, because a demotivated salesperson scares away customers and damages the store's reputation. 

Thus, fines have only one advantage: cost savings.

How can fines be replaced? 

All complaints about staff performance can be recorded and penalties can be imposed when a certain number of violations are reached, for example, after three warnings. Of course, the employee should know why he or she is being punished. 

Such violations are well tracked in the accounting system. And if the owner notices certain abuses of power or fraud, he or she can provide the employee with clear evidence of his or her guilt. This, in turn, will soften the seller's reaction and prevent him from denying or making up any excuses

After the first warning, an employee who is really holding on to his or her job will be more careful about his or her duties, and motivation will not suffer.

Building an effective team is a long and difficult process. To avoid deterioration of relations with the team and business reputation, it is worth focusing on successful companies that, instead of a system of penalties, are focused on building internal rules, discipline and developing staff motivation.

In order to avoid fines, store management should regularly check the work of its staff to ensure compliance with labor discipline, as well as organize training for employees and implement internal control procedures. 

Attention to detail and transparency of processes can significantly reduce the likelihood of legal problems.