《My Memoirs》 02.10 | The First Time I Had to Let Employees Go

《我的回忆录》02.10｜第一次解散员工

English Version ⬇️

英国第一次 Lockdown 期间，对我来说最难接受的事情，不是关店，而是解散员工。门店关闭后，客户暂时离开了。但员工还在那里。

他们会问我："老板，接下来怎么办？"说实话，当时的我并没有答案。

我不知道疫情会持续多久，不知道门店什么时候能重新营业，也不知道那一年是否还会有圣诞销售季。但我知道一件事：

👉 如果什么都不做，企业可能撑不到疫情结束。

于是，我不得不做出创业以来最艰难的决定之一: 解散大部分员工。做零售这些年，我一直认为，员工和客户同样重要。👉 客户决定企业是否能够增长，员工决定企业是否能够运转。

而在 Lockdown 期间，我仿佛同时失去了这两个最重要的支撑。

那段时间，我每天都在思考：

❓ 圣诞节还会来吗？

❓ 还需要继续备货吗？

❓ 如果门店长期无法营业怎么办？

❓ 那些离开的员工，以后还有机会回来吗？

当我在视频会议里告诉员工这个决定时，虽然隔着屏幕，但我依然能感受到他们的失落和不安。而我，也承受着同样的压力。

他们需要重新规划自己的生活，而我除了面对自己的生活变化，还必须想办法让企业活下去。后来我发现，共情很重要。作为经营者，我们需要理解客户，也需要理解员工。

但经营者还有另一份责任。 👉 当情绪过去之后，你仍然必须回到现实，做出那个没有人愿意做，却必须有人来做的决定。因为企业的生死存亡，并不会因为我们的不忍心而暂停。

📍 这是我第一次真正理解，经营一家企业，不只是承担成功的喜悦，也意味着承担那些没有人愿意承担的责任。

在零售这条路上，用我12年的真实经验，陪你少走一些弯路。-Lily

《My Memoirs》 02.10 | The First Time I Had to Let Employees Go

During the UK's first COVID lockdown, the hardest part wasn't closing my stores. It was letting my employees go. Once the stores closed, the customers disappeared overnight. But my team was still there.

They asked me, "What happens next?" To be honest, I didn't have an answer.

I had no idea how long the pandemic would last, when the stores would reopen, or whether there would even be a Christmas trading season that year.

But I knew one thing:👉 If I did nothing, the business might not survive long enough to see the end of the pandemic.

So I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my entrepreneurial journey to let go of most of my employees. After years in retail, I've always believed that employees are just as important as customers.

👉 Customers drive growth. Employees keep the business running.

During the lockdown, it felt as though I had lost both at the same time.

Every day, the same questions ran through my mind:

❓ Would Christmas still happen?

❓ Should I continue buying inventory?

❓ What if the stores couldn't reopen for months?

❓ Would the people leaving today ever have the chance to come back?

When I told my team about the decision over a video call, I could still feel their disappointment and uncertainty, even through a screen.

I was carrying the same weight myself. They had to rethink their lives. I had to find a way to keep the business alive.

Looking back, I realised that empathy is essential. As business owners, we need to understand our customers, and we need to understand our employees.

But we also carry another responsibility.

👉 Once the emotions settle, we still have to face reality and make the decisions that nobody wants to make but someone has to. Because a business doesn't pause simply because those decisions are painful.

📍This was the first time I truly understood that running a business isn't just about celebrating success. It's also about carrying the responsibility that no one else can carry for you.

If you’re on a similar journey in retail, you’re not alone , we’ve been through many of the same challenges. Always happy to connect.- Lily