Every retail operation is a delicate machine full of multiple moving parts. And the bigger your organisation is, the more complex it becomes. Even smaller companies with a few stores have to juggle a lot of employees. Add in staff members coming and going, and it becomes this tangled web of information.

Trying to keep track of particularly vital pieces of information is a challenge in itself. And even the most basic attributes can be difficult to track. Like keyholders. Amidst sales figures, training, compliance, and everything else you need to keep your eye on, which employees have keys can slip through the cracks.

So if you’re struggling with juggling this information and keyholder identities could be clearer, here are some questions to ask yourself to put you on the right track to success.

“Who has keys for every shop?”

This is a good question to ask to audit what you already know. And there are two aspects to it. One, do you know who has keys? Two, do you know how to find out who has keys? The problem with keyholder status is that it’s not always immediately obvious whose role it is. It won’t necessarily be part of their job title, and depending on circumstances, it might not be the same role at each store.

What you need is a way to log who has keys at each location, separately from their job role. This goes beyond keys too – it’s useful for seeing who’s first-aid trained or acts as a fire marshal. Whatever the solution, it needs to be easily accessible and simple to understand. Don’t stick it in some paperwork on your desk or in one of a million spreadsheets. This way, you can effortlessly identify who are keyholders.

“What happens if keyholders are absent?”

It’s not enough to know who has keys. You also need to know who has them and when. If you have a large team, you may find yourself in a sticky situation where no one shows up to a shift with a key.

The above solution will help here too. Custom reporting can look over the entire organisation and highlight any gaps. From here, you can ensure each store is covered during opening and closing audits. And if you have sudden absences or even planned holidays, you can look up keyholders specifically to cover their shift. This also helps with staff who leave, as you can check what items they have to return – including other things like uniforms.

“Are they appropriately trained?”

Of course, being a keyholder is a bit more than opening and closing the store. It also partly puts them in charge of security. You need to know that they are capable of closing in a way that doesn’t leave you vulnerable to theft.

So a system that highlights who has keys can also highlight who has the appropriate training. Or, more importantly, who doesn’t. Then you can schedule them in for a session or an audit and make sure they’re completely aware of all security and compliance standards.

The solution to all three of these questions needs to be on one platform. You can’t have one software tracking keyholder status, another checking training, and a third handling opening and closing audits. Having it all in one place makes it so much easier to monitor and make informed decisions. When you have that, keeping your eyes on where the keys are becomes so much simpler.

Inform People is the all-in-one solution you need. Our Profile module lets you see what qualities or attributes your employees have. And our Training module allows you to quickly assign appropriate lessons to your keyholders. All this and so much more. To find out more, get in touch.