4 minute read
People in Focus
340 employees throughout the year, 500 during the season - Bründl, a sports retailer with 26 stores in 9 cities, has prioritised the topic “Humans at Bründl” for many years now. Owner Christoph Bründl has sworn his management team to this distinguishing feature. We sat down for a chat with Elisabeth Rendl, who is at the forefront of personnel development and recruiting. Text: Martina Müllner-Seybold. Photos: Bründl
Finding excellent salespeople is hard enough as it is, but you operate in locations with distinct seasonality. How different do you need to conduct yourselves to ensure that you have well-trained staff, for which you are renowned, in place at the start of the season?
Without doubt, it’s a great challenge. We need to find approx. 100 new employees every winter season, because we are winter sports specialists and operate many stores in tourist destinations. In Ischgl, for example, we employ 70 people in winter, but merely 15 in summer. We invest heavily in benefits such as the staff lodge we recently built, stylish accommodation, free lift tickets, great shopping rates, free rental equipment, lunches, events, and team-building measures. That makes all the difference. Actually, I’d say it’s even a requirement now. We always ask ourselves what motivates people who enjoy working in the mountains and what we can do to be the most attractive employer for these people? We have, for instance, reduced the weekly workload. If so desired, an employee can work four days a week instead of six. We have a high proportion of seasonal workers keen to improve quality of life in the form of a beautiful winter in the mountains. If they don’t have time to pursue their passion for skiing or boarding, they aren’t content. Only enthusiastic employees inspire customers.
Today, selling is so much more than simply distributing goods. Your employees encounter demanding, well-informed customers who want to have a conversation at eye level. What do you look for when scouting for new talent?
We are interested in people who like other people and enjoy inspiring them. We want people who like interacting with others. Bründl doesn’t merely sell products, it creates experiences. We strive to ensure that customers feel welcome. Accordingly, our employees should enjoy welcoming them. Besides, we are keen on people who are willing to develop. Every career path is open in our company and we support everyone in terms of personal development. We need people who value such an opportunity. We are like a greenhouse that promotes the growth and development of employees. We don’t offer jobs - we offer development opportunities.
Head of personnel development and recruiting at Bründl: Elisabeth Rendl.
How do you retain excellent employees?
We embody our values, culture, and spirit. The benefits I mentioned earlier are almost standard now. We invest a lot of effort into turning seasonal jobs into full-year positions, but we will never succeed entirely given that we operate in winter-heavy regions. What makes us proud is that so many seasonal workers return.
What are your most successful recruiting tools? Do classic job advertisements still make sense for an employer like Bründl?
Classic print ads still make sense in areas with sufficient local staff availability. They are, of course, always supported with digital measures. In terms of seasonal workers, we mainly rely on digital job portals and social media, especially as most of them are abroad. However, two of our most successful tools are recommendations and our “employees recruit employees” programme. Only truly contented employees ask relatives or friends to join the Bründl team. If it works out, the bonus the employee receives is 1,000 times more valuable than investing in a job advertisement - and mostly cheaper too.
People are clearly an absolute priority at Bründl and this approach is reflected in the management team. How do you define successful personnel management?
The employees are always the main focus at Bründl. You encounter this mantra at all levels of the company. Christoph Bründl, the owner, is almost obsessed with the topic and repeatedly emphasises that the employees are the real assets of a company. At the end of the day, the stationary retail trade thrives on people buying from people. If the chemistry is right and if our employees are perfectly trained and prepared for different customers, then we can create experiences that are disseminated positively. To this end, we have an extraordinary budget for various seminars at our Bründl Academy. We develop our staff on professional and personal levels alike. The curriculum includes communication and sales seminars, flirting classes, awareness courses, and nature workshops. That latter is the winter season kick-off event for all employees. Such investments pay off and word gets around. During job interviews, we repeatedly hear that these investments were the reason for the application.
Do you understand why some competitors try to save money on personnel first in economically trying times?
Our boss definitely doesn’t understand it. We do exactly the opposite. Saving in that area creates a downward spiral. The economic crisis of 2008 is an excellent example. Everyone else was cutting back on personnel, training, and education. Back then, Christoph made clear that he wanted to increase the budget for human resources. An excellent decision, as was proven by the years that followed and up to the present day.
