How Pier 14 seeks, finds and retains talent

Gert Griehl only needs three words to describe his work: “We are happy makers!” says the managing director of the Pier 14 group of companies on Usedom. “In our shops we have the opportunity to make people happy.” And not only there, “it can also be done online”. During the pandemic, the Pier 14 family with its twelve stores and two gastronomy concepts on Usedom and four stores in Kühlungsborn began to familiarize itself with the digital topic; since then there has been shopping via WhatsApp, on platforms and social media as well as live shows on Instagram; the opening of our own online shop is imminent in a few days.

After more than 20 years in the stationary business – in 1999 the couple Jana and Gert Griehl opened the first store on the newly built pier in the former imperial spa town of Heringsdorf on Usedom – they now have their foot in the door in the online world. “We see the online commitment as a service, as an extension of the counter and the opportunity to be there for guests all year round,” says Griehl. Which doesn’t question the priority of the physical element, however. “The stationary business with gastronomy, events and experiences is and will remain firmly anchored in our DNA”. That’s why we won’t invest in online marketing on a large scale, but primarily “invest in the emotionality of our employees”. After all, it is Pier 14’s aim to “also convey the emotionality that sets us apart on the internet,” says Griehl. “For this we need open, friendly, communicative people.” Who, if possible, appear in front of the camera in an unbiased manner in order to feed the online channels with stories, information and meaningful entertainment.

That’s why Gert Griehl encourages his people to try things out. “We tell them: nothing can happen, just do what you do in the store.” Then it will be seen whether an employee can conquer their counterpart with their passion and persuasiveness and inspire customers online if possible. Such rather extroverted employees “we have their backs free so that they can develop,” says Griehl. The same applies to employees who are administratively talented, i.e. those hard-working people who contribute to the success of the team with a strong supportive quality and whose greatest strength lies in administration, with everything that goes with it: accuracy, attention to detail, Order, storage maintenance. Both types of employees are essential for business success. Entrepreneur Griehl’s art is to find the right employees, get them excited about Pier 14, identify their specific skills and deploy each one accordingly.

Recruitment outside of Europe

New employees are also deliberately recruited outside of Europe. How does he do it? This is where daughter Marie comes into play. She has been leading Pier 14’s HR management remotely from South Africa since studying business psychology there. Under her leadership, Jana and Gert Griehl professionalized their recruiting and put their own stamp on the whole thing. “We have been dealing intensively with the topic of personnel marketing for ten years now,” says Marie Griehl. While retail still doesn’t have an attractive image, Pier 14 has some credits to show for it. For example, “we are very international – and we love this diversity,” says Marie Griehl. In addition, one feels an additional responsibility, especially in the home state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, to deal sensitively with the topic of ethnic diversity and to be a pioneer. The employees come not only from Germany, but also from Vietnam, from African countries such as Tanzania or Namibia, from Poland, Macedonia and Georgia or from Latin America. The advantage: “People who come to us from countries that have a different service culture are always an inspiration for us in terms of warmth, friendliness and openness.”

If you want to find such inspiring employees, you have to “make it clear to people that a job with us is secure and has future prospects,” says Marie Griehl. Pier 14 uses job platforms such as Indeed and networks such as Xing and Linkedin for the external presentation and the communication of such information. “There we set up profiles that we serve with postings, but also with sponsored campaigns, whereby we precisely define the target group that we want to address in each case”. The language is also tailored to the potential applicants. “For example, if I’m looking for someone who needs detailed work, I formulate it in full sentences,” says Marie Griehl. “However, if you are looking for someone who has to keep an eye on the big picture, such as a team leader, I often only work with bullet points.” In the young talent area, Pier 14 works with dual university partners and since opening up to third countries, has also been cooperating with international placement agencies, which not only have a pool of candidates, but also offer support in the active search for employees and the entire visa process.

Metaprograms provide information about behavioral patterns and preferences

At the local level, all available resources, such as light pole advertising, are used. “We always combine our general marketing with personnel marketing whenever possible.” It continues at the POS with posters in the shop window or brochures at the checkout. In addition, employees are made aware of the need to keep their eyes and ears open at all times when it comes to potential colleagues, even when talking to guests. “It’s not at all unusual that, for example, during the course of the counseling interview, you hear that a guest is considering a career change,” is Marie Griehl’s experience. Recommendation bonuses beckon as additional motivation. In addition, “exchange bonuses” were introduced for the summer season: “If someone comes to us, they receive a financial bonus, which is paid out in equal parts before and after the probationary period.” 1,000 euros for full-time employees, 500 euros for part-time employees with less than 20 hours.

Already in the selection process, the HR manager tries to identify the so-called meta-programs – subconscious perception patterns originating from the context of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) – of the candidates: inside. “Meta programs help us to categorize people and analyze their preferred behavior patterns based on their language patterns,” says Griehl. “In the job interview, which I conduct mainly via video, the way someone expresses themselves and formulates sentences is very revealing.” Non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, gestures and posture contribute to the overall picture. “It may well be that the linguistic expression is excellent, but not congruent with the person,” says Marie Griehl. The coherence of the content of the self-portrayal of applicants is also put to the test. “Sometimes someone turns out to be extremely flexible, but in practice it sometimes looks different.” Sometimes this is because the applicants don’t even know their strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, “nothing beats our rehearsal day”, says Griehl, “it is the most important thing to assess how someone behaves in direct contact with the guests.” The totality of all these impressions forms an image and often suggests that in which area the new employee: is best employed.

Employee satisfaction through flat hierarchies, appreciation, bonuses

Finding and selecting employees is one thing – but how do you maintain a good relationship with your staff and bind them to the company in the long term? First of all, it is fundamental that Pier 14 offers career prospects and continuous training. But it is also crucial that young people can identify with the company. “Therefore, the topic of sustainability is very important, in every respect,” says Marie Griehl, be it in terms of dealing with each other or in relation to the origin of materials or production conditions. It can happen that the ethical standards and business requirements cannot be fully reconciled. For example, when Pier 14 stopped using sugar and flour for its homemade cakes and stopped selling French fries outside, “the people who vacation here didn’t accept it.” The fact that the products on offer are made from high-quality, regional and seasonal ingredients is not always relevant for everyone, because “whoever comes from the beach with their children often just wants fries”. At the same time, “it makes us more attractive to generations of employees if the things we buy, manufacture and sell have an honest and clean origin”. Here you have to manage the balancing act between short-term and sustainable success.

Appreciative communication is just as relevant to the workforce as the values ​​of the company. “Our employees have to feel every day that they are part of something big, and they know very well that they are the most important link in the chain there,” says Marie Griehl. The large number of team events contributes to this conviction, as does the flat hierarchies in the company and the highly personal interaction with one another. “At home, it’s the order of the day for teammates to sit at the table at dinner,” says Marie Griehl. She also expects a further increase in employee satisfaction from the newly created position of “cordiality officer”, who takes care of employees’ concerns from morning to night, for example with onboarding processes, language problems or any conflicts with colleagues :Inside. But not only the feel-good components, Marie Griehl also considers financial aspects to be extremely important in order to prove oneself as a good employer. This includes reacting to the inflationary development in terms of salary, but this also includes bonus payments, which “of course people are happy about”. Incidentally, individual bonuses are only paid at Pier 14 as a kind of flexibility bonus, for example for employees who are willing to work mainly on weekends. Bonuses for success, on the other hand, generally go to the whole team, after all “we don’t want to encourage a brusque mentality”; In addition, it is not considered a failure in the company if a guest leaves after two hours of consultation without making a decision to buy. “If this guest leaves us with a positive feeling, he or she will come back or recommend us,” says Marie Griehl, “so the time invested was valuable and productive in any case.”

All of these measures, which serve to find and retain employees, are, according to the HR manager, “very fluid, we are very open about this, regularly seek dialogue with appropriate service providers and, if this seems sensible to us, we also take them at any time changes to our package of measures”. But what if an employee does not meet expectations despite all efforts and empathy? “Then we address the discrepancies very clearly and try to find the cause,” says Marie Griehl. Maybe you can change the working conditions for the better, maybe you can use him or her somewhere else or possibly impart missing know-how. “We’re very reluctant to let anyone go,” says the HR manager. “We want to avoid that.” Ultimately, however, it’s about both partners being happy together. “And we wish that every employee finds happiness in her or in her – if possible with us, of course.”