Imagine that there are two coffee shops in your neighbourhood. Every lunchtime, you have a choice of which one to go to. They’re about the same in the quality of their coffee. They’re similar in terms of price. There isn’t even much difference as far as atmosphere is concerned.

Yet… there’s one that you and most of the people in your town prefer, time and time again.

Why? Well, it might just be the staff. The best employees are so easily forgotten. But all other things being equal, a friendly greeting and a punctual service could make a big difference when choosing between companies.

What this means for your firm

This is a lesson missed by so many of the clients of recruitment agencies in Ireland. Just think of your own organisation’s minimum wage workers. Those workers are so often in customer service, and may therefore be the literal face of your company to customers and clients.

Such employees therefore need to be darned good if you are to attract and retain new business, and you’ll need to treat those employees darned good to attract and retain the best of them.

Now, you might think that that this means giving them perks besides just that modest salary. But never forget that money is still the big priority for these employees. After all, they’re probably facing even greater pressure to pay the rent than you.

Keeping hold of the right low-paid staff

Paying such workers a bit more than most other rival companies is therefore still the best way to keep the best of them on your payroll – but what else can you do?

Well, these employees will certainly appreciate an obvious route to expanding their pay packets. That’s why, even if you consider your company cash-strapped, a management training programme can be money extremely well-spent.

Isn’t that a luxury you can’t afford? For many Irish companies, we beg to differ. When you consider the thousands of Euros that it effectively costs to replace just a few low-paid employees, a few more Euros thrown in the direction of a training scheme can look like a very sensible move indeed.

You’ll see long-lasting benefits

This is without even considering how much easier you’ll find it to retain customers when they’re being served by the best employees. Keeping more of your existing customers is something else that will significantly boost your bottom line in the long run.

So, to all of you companies using recruitment agencies in Ireland: never take your lowest-paid staff for granted. If you do, you could be haemorrhaging money and prospects.