STORE STAFF SELECTION AND TRAINING.— amongst the many problems of the up-to-date dry-goods merchant one that un doubtedly ranks in first importaiwe is the selection and upkeep of an efficient staff, and, of course, in establishing a store of the size of Selfridge's, this problem was an acute one from the first. The usual store enter prise begins as a shop of the smaller type, and builds its way to an undertaking of many departments by a slow process of expansion. In the establishment of Selfridge & Co.'s store this procedure was entirely reversed. The business began, complete with many departments, and dealing in nearly every type of merchandise, and challenged attention at once as one of the biggest undertakings of its kind in this country. It was necessary, with the opening day, to have a staff on hand of something like 1200 people, and this number has since been increased to about 2000.
In coming to London to establish a store of this type, I perhaps approached the task with an outlook somewhat different from the view point usually adopted by the trader, big or little. Apart from the rewards of successful trading, to me the business career of merchandising represents a calling of which any man may be proud, and I believe that the scientific organisation of a great business should make the highest demands on the best brains. I believe the achievements of Selfridge's, young as the store is to-day, will prove that there is work to do in an establishment of this kind of a character with which any man might be associated. I take the business of merchandising as seriously as any man takes any other profession or occupation, and it has been my aim to infuse the same attitude to one's lifework in the minds of all who have been associated with us. Not the least of the pleasures of conducting a business of this type is to remember that thousands of people are associated with the enterprise, and, if possible, to suggest to them such an outlook that the business of buying and selling ceases to be a perfunctory routine task, irksome to the man who follows it, and becomes in itself a career capable of bringing out the finest points of character, and opening up ways to advancement, which is the great induce ment to efficiency in any branch of human activity.
The treatment of the Selfridge staff differs from the too common treat ment meted out to the sales assistant in a shop, in that it shows complete respect for all men and women who respect themselves. Our system nises that there is a dignified field for activity in retailing, and that the person who starts in the business, even down to the humblest junior, is entitled to regard himself as a serious business man or woman following a legitimate career. Our aim is to make the conditions of service such that
any one employed by us will not be asked to forget what is due to him as an individual for a moment. We demand a high standard of efficiency, and the size and nature of our business makes it possible for us to suitably reward those who bring the best qualities to the service. The basis of our staff appointments is a realisation of democratic equality, though we frankly admit that various persons have different temperaments, and different values can be placed upon their services to the business. We discourage any relationships between heads and subordinates which depreciate any one's individuality by imposing servile conditions upon him. Personally, every single member of the staff, no matter how obscure his position may be, is treated with the same consideration as the outstanding heads of depart ments.
At the outset, in providing an entirely new staff for a huge undertaking, our difficulty was to bring these ideas di the relationship of the storekeeper and his employee before the people who would be of the type likely to coin pose an efficient staff. To engage over a thousand people for a new under taking, demanding a high degree of efficiency in each unit employed, was no light task. The people we desired on the sales force at Selfridge's were well employed, and we had only two courses open to us--either to secure them by increased salaries, or to draw them by the conditions of service under our direction. To bid for them, of course, was the quite unpractical way, because it was far too expensive, and we adopted the other alternative of suggesting to workers in the various trades represented by our store that the conditions were of such a character as to make service at Selfridge's desirable. By stating our ideals of the relationship we felt ought to exist between employer and employee, and by making public the conditions of service in the new enterprise, we speedily enlisted the interest of a large number of employees, already occupied in the trade, and from these people our first selection was made. We set out plainly to convince possible members of our staff that in place of the too frequent discourteous treat ment, they would be treated with courtesy ; and we also set out to convince them that those who were prepared to show an interest ;n the business would find that we were equally ready to display an interest in them.