How to Run a Flower Shop (3)-Staff Management

Setting of a typical flower shop

According to a recent survey conducted by LANTRA, the majority of the floristry industries are small and medium independent enterprises. Although, most of the businesses belong to the exclusive relay membership networks, about 67% of the industry employs between only one to nine members of staff, and about 27% employ no member of staff at all. Only 6% employ over ten people, and only one company have over 49 staff. 

Most of the flower shops are run by family member with the help of few friends or part-timers. As there are very limited of human resources, it is vital to ensure the staff are well managed. Not only has the senior florists to ensure there is enough staff for different periods of time, they also should understand the work force well such as their abilities, limitations and availability, in order to fully utilise, retain, motivate and develop them. For example, not all staff are skilled enough to handle complicated work such as weddings, and some staff may not be able to work at certain times or days due to family commitment.  

The number of staff needed for a shop will highly depend on the location, season and occasion, and most importantly the number of orders. Due to the high fluctuation of staff, senior florists should review the work schedule on a weekly basis. They should be flexible and prompt enough to cope with sudden demand, such as a funeral on the next day, or a road side car accident of a popular person. 

As there are high variations in demand and workload in a flower shop, temporary and contract workers are a regular feature in many companies, however they can be an expensive option compared to permanent staff, especially if the temporary worker is supplied through an agency. There are other flexible working schemes can be introduced:   

• ·         Annual hours - the person's working year is defined in hours rather than days and weeks. An annual hours contract is normally split into core hours that are worked each week and unallocated hours that can be used for peaks in demand.

• Structured time off in lieu - the worker agrees to work longer hours during periods of peak demand. These hours are recorded and the employer agrees to allow workers to take time off to compensate for extra hours worked.

• Flexible rotas - this allows workers to nominate the shifts they would like to work. Employers compile shift patterns that match workers' individual preferences, whilst ensuring all required shifts are covered. Usually, each member of staff is required to work a set number of hours within a given time frame.

• Zero-hours contracts - an arrangement where the person is contracted to work for the employer but only when the employer has work for them. When workload fluctuates, this can be an effective way of being able to bring in extra workers quickly and easily.

In practice, a clear time schedule should be displayed in the shop where all staff are aware of with major events such as weddings and funerals with delivery times, and the staff names of who will be working to avoid confusion.

My next posting will be about customer care. 

How to Run a Flower Shop (2)-Health and Safety

HEALTH AND SAFETY

An experienced florist will be expected to monitor health and safety in accordance to the relevant rules and regulations. Below are highlighted of some of the regulations related to a flower shop:

1. COSHH - Amended in 2002, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health regulations aims to protect both employees and others who may be exposed to hazardous substances or chemicals at work, such as adhesive, paints, cleaning agents, and bacteria. The COSHH sets out eight basic step by step guidelines for employers, and sometimes employees to take in order to assess risks, decide and implement measures needed to control exposure and establish good working practices, for example, training or using warning labels.

2. PPE – Personal Protective Equipment refers to all protective equipment including clothing, to be worn or held by a person at work to protect him/her against risks of health and safety including electrical hazards, heat, chemicals, pollution and infection.

3. RIDDOR – Under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations 1995, all employers, self-employed people and people in control of premises must report work-related deaths or diseases, major injuries or over three-day injuries, and dangerous occurrences (near miss accidents) by calling the Incident Contact Centre (ICC). The information enables the enforcing authorities to identify and investigate serious accidents, and advise and prevent future accidental loss.

In flower shops, owners /senior florists should:

• Maintain health and safety of the working environment in accordance with relevant legal and organisational requirements.
• Keep abreast of the current legal and organisational rules and regulations regarding health and safety.
• Conduct a risk assessment in the shop prior to work activities. The areas on a risk assessment should include environmental factors such as lighting, heating, sunlight, tripping, falling hazards, dangerous cables and spillage; and structural hazards such as a big falling sign outside the shop. Review and up-date when necessary.
• Identify the hazards and decide who might be harmed and how. There are differences between hazard and risk.
• Evaluate risks and decide on the precautions. Risks can be controlled by elimination, substitution, engineering controls, safe systems of work, training, instruction and use of personal protective equipment. All findings should be recorded and implemented.
• Communicate - to ensure everyone in the work place is aware of the risks and understand the procedures when accidents occur. Make sure all staff know about the fire exits and fire alarm.
• Establish safe working practices – such as safe methods of using and storing equipment and materials. Inform staff of how hazardous and non-hazardous waste should be managed, for example, broken glass should be first safely wrapped in layers of paper and marked broken glass on top, before disposing, it should placed into the outside bin, and make everybody aware of it, if you share the bin with other shops, make sure they know about it. Wash hands after handling poisonous flower materials such as Eucalyptus. Lifting boxes and heavy items safely; using spray paint in a well-ventilated area; not to place floral foams over your eye level; heavy items should be placed on the lowest shelves. Ensure fire extinguishers and fire alarms are fitted; and wear closed toes shoes at work.
• To introduce an accident book to record all potential and actual accidents, and take measure to control them.

 

Tomorrow, I will be talking about staff management.

What Not To Send?

A short guide for sending flowers to Chinese

Living in a multi-cultural environment, it is not unusual to send flowers and gifts to foreign companies and individuals. Without the knowledge and awareness of cultural differences, a good gesture can easily be misinterpreted as offensive. For instance the colour white might mean purity in most western societies but it signifies death in the East.

General Rules of Thumb
When choosing flowers and plants, the Chinese have their own set of symbolism and associations based on some very basic cultural principles:

1. Colour, number and shape:
Warm colours generally associate with good fortune, while red symbolises luck and ultimate joy, yellow and gold represent money and wealth, pink and red are related to romance. On the opposite, cool colours refer to misfortune and death, white and blue particularly are mainly used in funerals. However, never write a card or messages in red pen, it is not polite nor respectful. Even numbers are always better than odd ones, and each number due to its pronunciation has an associated meaning:
1=first class, the best
2=easy
3=alive
4=dead
5=no or never
6=all the way
7=indefinite, normally related to the Buddhist religion
8=rich
9=long living
10=perfect
After the number ten, the first number works as a qualifier: any two digit numbers starting with 1 means ‘will certainly be’, for example: 11=will certainly be first class, 12= will certainly be easy, 13=will certainly be alive, etc. The list can go on, however, that should be sufficient for flower arrangement purposes.

2. Pronunciation and characteristic:
The pronunciation of flower’s name can work as pun. However, it is difficult for non Chinese speakers to understand and master this skill.

Evergreen symbolises longevity; climbing plant can mean very clingy. Wild plant has a derogatory connation and should never be used a gift to women as it means ‘tart’.

3. Fung Shui traditions:
As living flowers and plants represent new life and growth, they can encourage positive energy. The basic Fung Shui techniques are interrelated to the above mentioned basic cultural principles, such as colour, number, shape and pronunciation. For examples, red flowers brings romance; a jade plant or money tree brings money and wealth; and never send spiky plants such as a cactus as gift.

Ideas for Special Occasions
In eastern culture, because of the hot weather, fruits play an important role in everyday life, it is a good gift idea for all occasions, therefore, fruit basket is a must in every flower shop. It is also a tradition to add fruit in floristry design.
For good events like weddings, new business openings or Chinese New Year, always incorporate red and gold colours in the design and introduce some Chinese traditional ornaments like red envelopes and artificial crackers.

1. Chinese New Year: Plum blossom and Gladiolus can be found in every household. Kumquat fruit means golden opportunity. People who are looking for love will buy some peach blossoms to take home. Fruit baskets will sell like hot cakes.

2. Wedding: The dominant colours for traditional Chinese weddings are red and gold, and western style is white, sometimes, customers will have both styles in one wedding, i.e. western reception and Chinese banquet. Popular flowers are peony, orchid, lotus, narcissus and rose. Newly wed couples will put a pomegranate under their pillows to increase their chance of having a baby.

3. Funeral: White or very light yellow chrysanthemum can be used, black and blue colour themes can be added. There are also two complete different styles of funeral, Chinese and western.

4. New business: Red Chinese Rose; pomegranate, and bamboo as the rings on the stems represents growth.

5. House warming: Asparagus fern; a decorative vase meaning steady growth.

6. Valentine, mother’s day and Christmas: these are the western influences and can be more creative.

7. Visiting friend: fruit basket, a basket of apples is an ideal gift when visiting friends. When paying a visit to the hospital, taking a fruit basket is more common than a bunch of flowers.

Meanings of some common flowers

Bamboo: Growth and enlightenment, each segment representing a step in the path of enlightenment and growth.
Carnations: Associated with marriage, signifying fertility and abundance.
Chrysanthemum: A life of ease; ideal flowers for offering on alters; good luck and long life.
Hydrangea: Love, gratitude and enlightenment.
Lotus: Represents four virtues in Buddhism:-scent, purity, softness and loveliness; enlightenment; purity.
Narcissus: Translates as water fairy meaning spring; new life; also hidden talent; ideal gift for people starting a new career.
Orchid: Love and fertility.
Peony: Spring and renewed life.

How to Run a Flower Shop (1) - Stock Control

The British cut flower industry generates an approximately £2 billion annually, it is just second to the music industry, however, 80 % of the Dutch imported flowers in the UK go to supermarkets or other retail outlets. Running a flower shop is no longer as easy as it used to be. To run a business successfully, small firms have to have a competitive edge, they should lead the trends and provide the niche and professional services to customers which others can not. Because of this, owners/senior florists in flower shops have an extremely important role and responsibilities in the business. Make or break of a business can sometimes hugely depend on these personnel.

Owners/Senior florists are required to be multi-skilled, not only will they be creative and skilled in floral arrangements and designs, they should also be competent in other areas, such as sale, administration, marketing and management. To cover some of the areas, I will be focusing the following topics : stock control, health and safety, staff management, customer care and operational planning in my next few blogs to build up a wider picture.

A. STOCK CONTROL

‘Efficient stock control allows you to have the right amount of stock in the right place at the right time. (Business Link, 2008)

 
Stock control, also known as inventory control, is used to show how much stock you have at any one time, and how you keep track of it. It is a code of practice used within a shop to allow stock to be rotated so that wastes are minimised and profits can be increased. An efficient stock rotation system will ensure a shop runs efficiently, and stock is always fresh and up to date. It also ensures that capital is not tied up unnecessarily, and production is protected if problems arise with the supply chain.

1. Types of stock
In a flower shop, the types of stock can be classified as below:
- Fresh flowers and foliage;
- plants;
- artificial flowers;
- accessories- such as teddies, champagne, chocolates, vases and containers;
- sundries- i.e. ribbons, wraps, tissue papers, cellophanes, baskets, oasis, wires and decorative accessories;
- equipment- includes scissors, knives, strings, pot tapes etc.; and
- stationery- invoice pads, receipts, pens, calculators, papers, ink cartridges, till rolls and markers etc.

2. Why control Stock?
To decide how much stock to keep will depend on the size of the shop and how much space and cash are available, this is an art which can only be mastered through experience, particularly in a flower shop, where stock fluctuates enormously during different seasons. In a nutshell, owners/ senior florists not only want to have enough stock but not too much to waste. The purposes of effective stock control are to:

a. Lower costs and improve efficiency. It is expensive to keep too much stock, especially at peak seasons as price could be double or triple. Besides, most of the shops only have very limited space. You want to ensure tools, materials and stationery are in stock, otherwise orders have to be cancelled and money lost, or business can not be run smoothly, you do not want to run out of printing inks or papers when a relay order is in print.

b. To ensure the stock is always fresh and enable your shop keep up to date with fashion, too much stock can be become obsolete and out of fashion.

c. To understand what has sold so repeat orders can be replaced, that enables forecasts to be made for busy periods.

d. To ensure cash flow, which allows more money for peak seasons or special occasions.

e. To enjoy competitive advantage when buying in bulk.

f. To evaluate sales and conditions of stock so price reductions can be put in place.

g. To help tracking stock loss through theft or damage. Too much stock can be difficult to track and therefore open to theft.


3. What needs to be known and how?

For a flower shop, the owner/ senior florist should know what stock is in, what stock is needed, what are the reorder levels and what is the reordering time (i.e., how long will it take from the wholesaler to the shop), who is reordering and what are the stock wastages.

Living in the technology age, although most businesses can not survive without a computer, most of the flower shops still rely on manual systems as they are small businesses with very limited resources, it really does not matter what systems are in place as long as they work. In most cases, more than one system is used at the same time.

There are plenty of systems in aid of efficient stock control, they can be:

• computerised or manual;
• formats such as spreadsheets and databases are most common,
• product codes are particularly useful, it can be simply a combination of letters and numbers or a computerised bar code.
• Waste book, a record of all wastage, mainly of the perishable stock, helps to identify excess and change of buying habits from customers. Returns can be made and suppliers informed.
• Stock books or cards can be used to record and manage all stock, weekly, monthly and annually.
• Colour coding systems to indentify which stock sells better.

In practice, for fresh materials, stock should be rotated and all staff should made aware of the system, always using old stock first. Strictly regulate waste, keep dated records of amounts and varieties disposed of, so return can be made and supplies informed. For sundries and dry stock, ensure the shop is stocked up, a well stocked up shop attracts more customers. Carry out an annual stock check of all items including fixtures and fittings, for tax and insurance purposes. Carry out a weekly, monthly and annually report of all stock.

Tomorrow, I will be talking about health and safety issues.