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💡 STRUCTURE OR STRUGGLE


 When we launched a small grocery store in our community, we employed people through ads on our WhatsApp status and simply agreed on terms for them to commence work.


Because we were dealing mostly with FMCGs, we asked them to submit ID cards of guarantors, but there was nothing formally written regarding the responsibilities of those guarantors.

A few months after we commenced operations, missing goods became the talk of our small shop. We started penalising them, but what went missing in some months became higher than their wages. The moment their guarantors were notified, voom, the staff disappeared.

When we got the police involved, they requested engagement letters to know how to wade into the matter. Since there was none, the case lingered until we lost interest in pursuing it further.

Learning from that experience, we decided to issue engagement letters and a few forms to new staff, clearly stating their responsibilities and what was expected if they wished to resign. They were required to give one month’s notice, rather than the usual “I’m resigning effective immediately.”

We also made sure to state clearly what was expected from the guarantors and verified the addresses of both staff and guarantors, lately with the help of the police.

Surprisingly, one of the staff, despite understanding and signing these terms, got up one day and said he was resigning immediately to pursue something I refused to entertain. Despite admonishing him, he insisted on leaving immediately.

Without much ado, we notified the police, and he was asked to either pay back a month’s salary or follow due notice. Many people felt involving the police was too extreme, but you see, when you run a business in Nigeria, people will regard it the way you want them to regard it. Either they treat it casually or you show them, through structure and discipline, that what they see as peanuts means billions to you.

There are many small businesses in this country that lack structure simply because they do not have HR departments in place. Many will never have HR because they consider it an unnecessary overhead. But trust me, if you put in place structures on how to make money without putting in place structures on how the business should function, failure is imminent.

I once took a course from a lady called Tracy about structuring businesses. She shared lots of templates required in an organisation, but implementing those documents felt like a difficult chore.

Imagine if professional HR experts like Dorcas decided to pitch to small businesses, helping them become properly structured by deploying important HR documents that keep staff in check.

That gap is still very wide. Who will fill it?


#SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #BusinessStructure #NigeriaBusiness #HRMatters #SME #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #WorkplaceEthics #Shalom
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Location: Lagos, Nigeria

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