FMCG companies are always recruiting yet always understaffed. A common phenomenon is that frontline workers switch between companies, but fewer post-90s are joining FMCG teams. Many post-90s, even those with bachelor's degrees or higher, prefer delivering packages, food delivery, or ride-hailing over joining the FMCG workforce. Today, we address this issue and discuss what ailments FMCG companies need to cure to attract post-90s. Why are post-90s unwilling to join? Today, the oldest post-90s are thirty, and the youngest are starting work. They will gradually replace post-80s as the backbone of society and as senior managers in enterprises. However, the reality is harsh: frontline FMCG workers are still predominantly post-80s, especially in lower-tier brands, indicating a serious talent pipeline problem. There are three main reasons why post-90s don't join FMCG teams:
1. Pressure accounts for 60% Compared to delivery, food delivery, and ride-hailing, frontline salespeople face pressure from various metrics, including sales performance. To put it bluntly: for delivery, food delivery, and ride-hailing, you just need to be physically present, but salespeople must use their brains and maintain a good state. Their work involves not only route visits but also closing orders; without sales, there's no income. Additionally, they must submit various reports and meet deadlines, making it hard to relax even after work. This anxiety is very unfriendly to post-90s, who grew up in relatively comfortable conditions.
2. Income accounts for 30% Comparing frontline workers over the past decade, salespeople's monthly income has barely changed, but prices have soared. Ten years ago, salespeople's income was comparable to teachers and civil servants. A decade later, with benefits, the gap is huge. Some companies have caps on performance bonuses, so even after a month of hard work, salespeople earn far less than delivery, food delivery, or ride-hailing workers.
3. Hard work accounts for 10% Essentially, post-90s are not as unable to endure hardship as some online comments suggest. After being in society for a while, they learn to adapt and realize that no job is without hardship. Compared to delivery, food delivery, and ride-hailing, they might do more physical labor (e.g., helping unload goods, organizing shelves), but compared to points 1 and 2, the hard work is barely acceptable.
How to Attract Post-90s to the FMCG Industry?
1. Several Wrong Measures Since we know why post-90s don't join, can we just improve each issue? For example: reduce performance targets to lower pressure; increase team income to address low pay; add more staff to reduce workload. Is this feasible? Of course, as long as your boss agrees. In reality, FMCG is related to people's livelihoods, and few companies are highly profitable; this is constrained by industry characteristics. Lowering targets, raising wages, and adding staff all test operational efficiency and profit margins.
2. How to Solve the Pressure Problem? First, what is pressure? Take the most headache-inducing performance pressure. Looking at the timeline, 15 years ago, the FMCG industry grew rapidly due to the demographic dividend, and things generally went smoothly; that was the era of incremental growth. Now, the demographic dividend has disappeared, and FMCG has entered an era of stock or even contraction. If you sell one more case, competitors sell one or two fewer, leading to competitive pressure. Today, frontline managers need better management and market operation skills. Simply put, for performance, 15 years ago, a supervisor could say to a salesperson, "Your target this month is 120,000 yuan, 4,000 per day, and you must achieve it with a results-oriented approach." As long as the salesperson had the right attitude, there were usually no problems. But today, such results-based tracking doesn't work because salespeople need not only the right attitude but also sufficient skills. What should be done? For example: if a salesperson's target is 40,000 yuan, you can't just track the results daily (e.g., cumulative 5,000 today, 8,000 tomorrow); such checks are meaningless and don't help performance. Instead, supervisors and managers should help break down the 40,000 target into specific outlets: 30 community convenience stores, 20 township large stores, 4 hypermarkets, 6 schools, etc. For each outlet, suggest which items to sell, and to achieve these targets, the outlets need 50 case stack displays, 20 end-cap displays, 10 floor displays, 50 freezer displays, etc. Then check whether these process results are achieved.
This is called: Replace results management with process management. Process management is not about managing the process itself, but managing the results of the process.
After breaking down the target, if the 50 case stack displays are completed, but the results of this process may not ensure product sales targets are met, then you need to check whether the displays are executed according to standards such as placement, visual merchandising, quantity, and inventory levels. This is called: Managing the results of the process, not the target; the goal of process management is standard implementation.
To alleviate salespeople's pressure, managers must correctly break down targets, and this breakdown must be achievable by the salespeople. Simple results-oriented guidance is just pressure and is not feasible. If the manager's targets are met with quality and quantity, but the final sales target is not achieved, the problem lies in the manager's breakdown ability or the product itself; the blame for not achieving the target cannot be shifted to the salesperson. Finally, the core of "pressure" is not to eliminate it but to transfer it from frontline workers to managers, placing higher demands on managers. Therefore, the organization must be strong, and a self-contained management training system must be complete.
How to Solve the Income Problem? Where does income come from? Of course, from corporate profits. Companies are not charities; it's the responsibility of salespeople to create profits. It cannot be denied that frontline teams have varying abilities, attitudes, and diligence. Therefore, a blanket pay raise is not advisable; raises should go to those who are more capable, positive, and hardworking. For example: if a salesperson's base salary is 100 yuan/day, the way to increase income is not to raise everyone to 120 yuan/day, but to take the 10-person team, plan to add 20 yuan per person, totaling 200 yuan, and redistribute that 200 yuan. Each salesperson's daily work includes visiting outlets, in-store visibility, and closing sales. List detailed standards for each item, and reward a certain amount for each standard met. This is more conducive to survival of the fittest (it's important to note that these standards should be achievable with the right attitude. For example, standards could be organizing shelf displays or putting 5 bottles of drinks in the freezer, but not "must sell 5,000 yuan today").
FMCG income should not be simply a blanket bonus (except in special cases like company listings). It's important to find the right balance. First, elevate successful experiences to methods, then implement methods into processes, and achieve targets by stimulating the team's initiative.
How to Solve the Hard Work Problem? Hard work cannot be eliminated, but it can be alleviated. How to alleviate salespeople's hard work? Times have changed, and so have methods. For post-70s and post-80s, money was enough, but for post-90s, it's not. Besides money, they need spiritual motivation, so managers need the art of motivation.
Motivation for post-90s salespeople should be diversified.
Respect motivation: Achieve targets to gain praise from colleagues and leaders. Position motivation: Achieve targets to get promotions. Training motivation: Achieve targets to get opportunities for further training. Spiritual motivation: Achieve targets to get certificates of honor and industry recognition. Travel motivation: Achieve targets to get a family trip with spouse and children, which is both a reward and a way to increase family support for the employee's work.
Frontline managers, especially post-70s and post-80s, grew up under simple, results-based motivation principles. They need to learn and understand the art of motivation and the motivational needs of post-90s. Artful management and motivation are essential to ensure the healthy and stable development of the team.
Notes for Post-90s Recruitment
1. There Must Be Soil for Post-90s to Thrive Will solving pressure, income, and hard work definitely attract post-90s to your team? Of course not. Post-90s need soil to thrive. For example: if your team is all post-70s, there won't be good post-90s because post-90s don't want to work with people of their parents' generation; that's the age soil. If your team is all high school graduates, there won't be post-90s with bachelor's degrees because post-90s with degrees don't want to be around people with little in common; that's the education soil. So, to attract the post-90s you want, you must change the soil of your team; otherwise, you'll fall into the vicious cycle of recruit-leave-rehire-leave.
2. Assembly-Line Work Mechanism More often, you can't recruit post-90s not because they're snatched by competitors, but because they're attracted to other industries, like delivery, food delivery, and ride-hailing. The logic is simple: people like simple instructions. Employers must not only understand vertical comparison within the industry but also horizontal comparison across industries. Do your best to break down targets, ideally turning them into an assembly line where employees can achieve targets mechanically and simply. This requires managers to simplify complex tasks.
3. Talent and Outlets Are Both Dynamic Outlets are dynamic, as managers know, and so is talent. Post-90s are the future of the enterprise, so they should be developed constantly like outlets. Recruitment of post-90s should not be just for urgent vacancies but should be integrated into daily work, continuously discovering and reserving talent to cope with sudden attrition. This is a market rule, and rules are irreversible.
Final Thoughts The more decentralized the distribution of rewards, the stronger the initiative of salespeople. This is a consensus among all FMCG companies. For post-90s joining, consider changing the business model from the employment model of post-70s and post-80s to a partnership model for post-90s. As long as the mechanism is complete and mature, manufacturers and distributors will surely reap unexpected rewards.