Job Abstract

The Gift Shop Associate is responsible for providing excellent customer service, answering questions about merchandise, providing wayfinding assistance, operating cash registers, managing financial transactions, and accurately balancing cash drawers. However, at MD Anderson the role of the Associate requires so much more. The MD Anderson Gift Shops help to provide a feeling of normalcy for our patients and caregivers. Associates use their understanding of the unique needs of customers within a comprehensive cancer center environment to deliver quality customer service. Staff professionalism, combined with merchandising knowledge, allows our retail operation to keep in step with the fast-paced apparel, gifts, and accessories market.

The MD Anderson Gift Shops are more than a retail environment; they are an extension of MD Anderson’s commitment to our patients and caregivers. In a climate with limited visitors, they provide an opportunity for a patient’s family and friends to send gifts and flowers to inpatients that are delivered to the inpatient floors by our staff. Our four Gift Shops relieve anxious caregivers from the stress of leaving the Texas Medical Center to purchase personal care products, sundries, and clothing that may have been left behind in the rush to get their loved one to MD Anderson.

Each day, our professional retail staff are expected to provide exceptional service, demonstrate their commitment to collegiality, practice active listening and respectful communication, as well as provide customized solutions to patient and caregiver requests and inquiries. MD Anderson Gift Shops offer a wide variety of merchandise. The merchandise in each shop is especially selected to meet the shopping needs of the patients, caregivers, and staff that frequent that location; so, merchandise selection differs from location to location. Gift Shop Associates are expected to be subject matter experts on the differing merchandise available in each location and to go beyond to make sure that customer needs are met.

This position will work Tuesday-Friday 9:15-6:15, Saturday 9:45-5:15, and 8:45-3:15 on all Institutional Holidays except Christmas.

Customer service and patient experience

· Associates are expected to greet and to provide friendly, professional, and prompt service to each customer entering a shop.

· Associates must maintain a collegial working relationship with colleagues.

· Strong, clear communication is imperative because Associates interact throughout the day with customers to answer questions, assist with needs, address concerns, and provide hospital wayfinding information and resource support.

· Proficient use of the point-of-sale system is critical to providing superior customer service. While working in one of the four gift shop locations, Associates must be able to check inventory availability in the other shops or at the offsite warehouse.

· Associates must be able to multitask, seamlessly executing store plans and programs as assigned by the store supervisor while continuing to help customers. For example, Associates are frequently required to accurately take floral phone orders while ringing up a series of customers at the register.

· Associates are also trained to protect the health and safety of patients and visitors to the shops and are prepared to quickly and appropriately respond to medical emergencies that may occur in the shops.

· Gift Shop Associates are trained in preventative measures that deter retail theft, primarily shoplifting. Nevertheless, shoplifting does occur during business hours and can be uncomfortable to report because a patient, caregiver, or MDACC employee is involved. Associates are trained not to stop shoplifters but to react quickly when a theft occurs so that the individual(s) involved can be apprehended before they exit the building. As a side effect of treatment, some patients become habitual and frequent shoplifters. The Associates then work with Patient Advocacy to address these extraordinary circumstances.

· Patients that have received difficult news regarding their cancer journey sometimes find it easier to share their prognosis with a Gift Shop Associate than a caregiver. Patients and caregivers come to the gift shops to temporarily improve their mood. The gift shop Associates are trained to listen and compassionately support patients experiencing periods of sadness and stress, and to take necessary steps to notify appropriate personnel if a patient or caregiver appears despondent.

· Each Associates member should be capable of running a store independently, if needed. This would include opening and closing the register for the business day, answering the phone, ringing up customers, receiving merchandise, and restocking shelves.

· While Associates are assigned to a home shop, they are trained to work in all four store locations and must be knowledgeable about the unique merchandise available in each shop. In addition to annual Associates rotations, Associates are frequently asked to substitute in other shops to cover for Associates that are ill or on vacation.

Cash handling, Point-of-sale system, and PCI (Payment Card Information) Data Security

· Gift shop Associates are expected to adhere to established cash handling procedures that align directly to the MD Anderson cash handling policies and procedures. Each gift shop Associates member is expected to work at the register during each workday and is issued a cash drawer with a lock for this purpose. The employee is always responsible for the cash funds in their cash drawer and should never leave cash unattended and unsecured. When engaged in cash or credit card transactions, Associates are expected to be respectful and courteous, using key phrases to communicate with the customer regarding the forms of tender accepted and to confidently explain how the credit card terminals work with the various forms of accepted payment.

· In the rapid, high traffic retail environment of the gift shops, every employee is expected to count back money confidently and accurately during cash transactions. Being able to count out change manually is essential in a situation where a cash register is not working, and it is necessary to count out a customer’s change without the register or a calculator. Being able to count out change is critical because each gift shop employee is responsible for the accuracy of the funds in their drawer and money could be lost if the customer is given an incorrect amount.

· The Manager, Gift Shop, uses daily sales reports to track accuracy irregularities and operating matrices for each employee’s drawer. Corrective action is taken if an employee’s discrepancy amount is equal to or greater than two occurrences of ±$25.00 within a 1-month period. An employee’s inability to correctly maintain their drawer following documented re-training may result in termination.

· All gift shop Associates have the same administrative rights and are trained to accurately process sales within the Counterpoint POS (point of sale) system and to use the system to run data reports on weekly, monthly, and yearly store sales, top items on hand, sales by vendor, and sales by item category. Associates are trained to use Counterpoint reports to generate orders for designated vendors. Associates routinely check barcode accuracy, receive, and transfer merchandise, make price adjustments, review inventory on hand and aging inventory levels. This level of responsibility allows Associates to independently run a shop if their direct supervisor is ill or on vacation. Associates are encouraged to make suggestions that improve the operational efficiency of the store and to request specialized POS reports that improve their ability to analyze sales trends and to better understand the collective contribution of the sales force to annual budget goals.

· Employees are expected to count cash funds at the beginning and end of every shift. A calculator tape with the amount of money must be inside the bank bag at the end of each shift. Gift shop employees should always be prepared for surprise audits which may be completed before, during or after a drawer has been activated. During a surprise audit, any discrepancy amount, equal to or greater than + $10, will be documented and reported.

· All gift shop employees must complete PCI Data Security Standards training yearly. Attestation that the training has been completed must be signed and dated by the gift shop employee and their direct manager. The form is maintained in the employee’s personnel file. Employees must safeguard cardholder data, keeping this information confidential and protected from unauthorized access or disclosure. Regarding credit card terminals, gift shop employees are responsible for immediately reporting any suspicious behavior or indications of device tampering. Credit card transactions should be immediately processed, and the card should be shielded from the view of others. It is the responsibility of the individual employee to review each credit card transaction for approval prior to handing merchandise to the customer and to be able to request a different type of tender appropriately and politely if the credit card is declined.

Retail environment

· Each Associate is responsible for maintaining a safe retail environment throughout the day. This means keeping aisles and pathways free from boxes and other obstructions, observing clearances between the top of shelves and the ceiling, and maintaining egress so that customers in wheelchairs or using medical IV poles can navigate freely throughout the shop.

· Associates perform opening and closing activities and the housekeeping and inventory needs of the shop.

· Associates are responsible for performing a minimum of one cycle count monthly. This method of checks and balances confirms that the physical inventory counts of the shop for small, preselected sections of inventory – jewelry, for example – match the inventory record in the point-of-sale system and allows the Associates to correct any inventory record discrepancies. Additional cycle counts may be warranted if Associates suspect that theft has occurred or there has been an error in product transfers or receiving.

· Associates keep shelves stocked with merchandise and arrange product displays attractively and orderly. This is a daily process as replenishment is needed as merchandise sells.

· In August of each year, Associates participate in an annual physical inventory where all items are counted.

· Associates are trained to back up the supervisors to place orders for Kelli’s, Coca Cola, and Southern Floral.

· Associates are trained to back up supervisors to process and post transfers, receive deliveries from Kelli’s, Coke, Children’s Art Project (CAP), and A. Weinstein. In addition, Associates at The Park Flower and Gift Shop back up the supervisor to receive Southern Floral deliveries.

Other retail duties are assigned throughout the year by the Gift Shop supervisor or manager