‘How do I stop staff turnover and make sure customers get a personal touch?’

It’s easy to feel as though time is running away from us; what if you could slow down and learn to notice the world around you? Emily Elphinstone explores the amazing physical and mental benefits of forest bathing

Q

I co-own a successful retail chain which I’m happy to say is in expansion mode. At the moment recruitment is our number one issue due to staff turnover and a growing workforce. As a family business we’ve always prided ourselves on a personal touch with customers and, in the past, we have had long-standing employees and family members on the shop floor a lot of the time. I fear we’re losing that strong selling point as we grow and as more people see retail as a stop-gap instead of a job for life. My problem is I’m starting to hate interviewing new hires because I’m afraid they don’t ‘get’ it; don’t really understand the culture in our business and I’m afraid it will be lost. Help!

A

The current landscape, further complicated by the ‘great resignation’ phenomenon following Covid, underscores the universal struggle of talent retention. Expanding your successful retail chain is an exciting endeavour, but the accompanying recruitment challenges, exacerbated by staff turnover and a growing workforce, are understandably daunting.

Your concern about maintaining the personal touch that has long defined your family business is valid, particularly as the retail sector increasingly views employment as transient rather than long-term.

To address these challenges, consider implementing strategies to reduce turnover rates. This could involve developing employee retention programmes, conducting exit interviews to understand the reasons for departures, and providing opportunities for career growth within the company.

Moreover, reinforcing your company’s culture is crucial. Regular team-building activities, open communication channels, and recognition programmes for employees who embody your values can help foster a sense of belonging and commitment among your team. Investing in thorough training and onboarding processes is also essential. Ensuring that new hires understand your company’s culture, values, and expectations from the outset can set them up for success and contribute to long-term retention.

During interviews, focus on assessing a candidate’s alignment with your company culture, their capacity for collaboration, and their potential contribution to team dynamics. Emphasise the familial atmosphere, long-term growth opportunities, and the chance to create a meaningful impact to attract candidates who align with your values.

An ideal employee for your family business isn’t solely defined by their skillset; they must also embody the values of empathy, adaptability, and a strong work ethic. Candidates with prior experience in similar settings often demonstrate a deeper understanding and commitment to the company’s ethos.

Lastly, remember that continual improvement is key. Regularly evaluate and refine your recruitment and retention strategies based on feedback from employees, customers, and industry trends. Adaptability and agility are essential in navigating the evolving landscape of retail and maintaining your competitive edge.

Best of luck in your endeavours, and may you find renewed enjoyment in HR as you navigate the recruitment process with confidence and success.

About Vicki O’Toole

“An ideal employee for your family business isn’t solely defined by their skillset”

Ever get lost in your daily routines and stop noticing, well, anything? Many of us spend our days indoors, staring at screens. So it can be easy to lose meaningful connection with the natural world and find yourself wondering, ‘How is it May already?’ and ‘When did it stop getting dark at 4pm?’

But what if we could learn to notice again, and rebuild that connection with the natural world? Forest bathing, or shinrin yoku, was developed in 1980s Japan. Coined by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries; the practice — essentially bathing in the atmosphere of the forest — was introduced as an antidote to burnout in the increasingly fast-paced and tech-focused lives of the nation.

“Researchers in Japan conducted field experiments where subjects viewed either a forest or city area,” explains Professor Rose Anne Kenny in her book, Age Proof. “Objective stress markers, including hormones, blood pressure, heart rate and other biomarkers of nervous system activity, were measured before and after walking and viewing.

“The forest environments lowered all stress markers significantly compared with walks in the city. Forests promoted lower levels of cortisol, whereas activity in the section of the nervous system which calms the heart rate and other body systems (parasympathetic) was enhanced. Conversely, activity in the section of the nervous system responsible for fight-orflight responses (sympathetic) and stress reactions was reduced.”

Of course, humans’ connection with nature has been paramount through the ages but it is only in recent years, with increasing urbanisation, that the more structured practice of forest bathing — and research into its benefits — has begun to develop, encouraging people back into the natural world.

“For virtually all of our development, us humans have been completely dependent on nature,” explains Sarah Hourigan of Nature Therapy Ireland. “With increasing industrialisation and urbanisation, we’re becoming disconnected from the natural world. And this is both physically and mentally. We’re all moving towards the cities, we’re getting corporate jobs, we’re working in offices. And it’s this disconnection that’s now being viewed as a real threat to our health. So what is one of the remedies of this disconnection? It’s reconnecting to nature.”

Time to reconnect

Forest bathing allows us to slow down and use our five senses to reawaken a connection with nature. On a guided forest bathing walk, participants are offered “invitations”, simple tasks to help build awareness of the senses and shift focus from the mind down into the body.

“The focus is not about strenuous exercise, we actually don’t cover a lot of ground at all,” explains Hourigan. “It’s a gentle walk through natural surroundings with lots of different opportunities to slow down and pause.

“The idea is to rebalance your body and mind, and to calm your nervous system, hopefully allowing you to float away from the forest back into your life.”

After a busy week, I had my misgivings about standing in a wood on a Saturday morning as the rain clouds rolled in. “The forecast is great for this afternoon,” Sarah laughed. But away from the roads, the weekend joggers and dog walkers of Dublin’s Phoenix Park, I could already feel my heartrate dropping, helped by a short breathing exercise.

In a small group, we made our way over to Old Town Wood, an area of native woodland within the park. Soon we were moving further into the forest, spending time away from the group with simple tasks inviting us to slow down and experience the world around us

— the textures of the bark, the squelch of the mossy ground underfoot and the sound of the wind, high in the canopy — before coming back together to share our experiences.

At first, even the simple task of moving at a slower pace felt alien, and I found letting go of ideas of what I ‘should’ be doing or feeling a challenge. But there was something magical in the surround-sound of birdsong echoing around us, as well as the feeling of sun (when it did appear) on the face and noticing the bright green shoots springing from wind-damaged branches that showed no other signs of life.

I even had a real moment with a tree (not something I anticipated saying) as one invitation led me to examine an incredible fallen trunk, eventually sitting in the space underneath created by branches that were reminiscent of the beams of a house, surrounded by the scent of pine. It felt like I was in a den. Meanwhile, another participant had a similarly joyful moment walking along fallen branches, finding new meaning in ‘balance’ and, she shared, finding new drive for a decision she had been mulling over for some time.

Going into the forest at this time of year, “you’re still going to see leaves on the ground from autumn, and you’re going to see buds on the trees for spring and you’re going to see bare branches and dead trees from winter. And you’re going to see wildflowers that will remind you of the summer that’s coming, and it’s all there together,” says Hourigan.

“It’s not all living in or existing in compartmentalisation from each other, which I think is really lovely. It shows us that nature is just ticking away, whether we’re there or not to observe it … it reassures me [about] the resilience of nature. It keeps going in its perfectly imperfect

‘The idea is to rebalance your body and mind, and to calm your nervous system, allowing you to float away from the forest back into your life’

way, and can help us to hopefully reflect that in our own lives.”

Though simply taking in the atmosphere of native Irish woodland can offer a myriad of benefits, there is more at play when it comes to forest bathing, including the release of phytoncides — volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from plants which have antibacterial and antifungal qualities. These can lower blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol [stress hormone] levels, and have also been linked to increased ‘natural killer cell’ (NK) activity, thought to enhance the body’s ability to fight cancerous cells and pathogens.

Imagine trees working like an essential oil diffuser, Sarah says. “Phytoncides are diffusing into the atmosphere all around, and you’re breathing them in when you are standing in a forest or among the trees. It’s incredible that these have been shown to improve so many things — phytoncides can reduce cortisol in our bodies, and can also improve your cardiovascular health, so reduce your blood pressure and pulse rate. And can also boost your immune system. Phytoncides can actually increase the natural killer cells in your system. There’s so much science telling us that this makes sense.”

Indeed, according to research by Dr Qing Li of Tokyo’s Nippon Medical School, time spent in the forest “significantly increased human NK activity and the numbers of NK cells”.

“Shinrin-yoku directly acts on NK cells by phytoncides released from trees and induces increases in the number of NK cells and the levels of intracellular anti-cancer proteins such as perforin, GRN, and GrA/B”, Dr Qing Li’s study reports, adding: “Shinrin-yoku indirectly increases human NK activity, the number of NK cells and the levels of intracellular anti-cancer proteins by reducing stress hormones.”

It’s no wonder then that forest bathing is one of the practises used for ‘social prescribing’, in which medical professionals empower patients to make healthy choices and improve their well-being with hobbies and activities, as well as traditional medications or therapies.

Social Prescribing

“In Japan, they have over 60 dedicated forest bathing forests, so it’s very much part of their healthcare system,” says Hourigan. “This idea of social prescribing, where you could go to sort out a problem and you might be prescribed time in a forest or other types of activities, is all over the world. We have a really committed network of social prescribers here in Ireland now. Not necessarily dedicated to nature connection practises [other examples include park runs, art classes, community gardening and men’s sheds] but all this stuff is coming.”

But what if you struggle to access these wild areas? Hourigan is keen to make nature therapy as accessible as possible, working with people with visual impairments and disabilities as well as running corporate and public events. She is keen to emphasise that we can all benefit from

nature, even in a more urban environment.

“While there’s definitely a certain sense of magic that you might get from being in an ancient woodland, or you know, deep in nature, where you’re in a fairly remote place, honestly, so much of the research is telling us that we can experience as many of the benefits in an urban area,” Hourigan says.

“I practice all over the country. Here [in Tipperary], in Waterford in the Comeragh mountains… and I do find just as many benefits from my groups that I do in Phoenix Park or in a more urban park as I do down here. You can do some of this in your own garden.

“If you are looking to deepen your connection to nature, this is where Nature Therapy Ireland comes in. Our aim is to develop an enhanced sense of appreciation for nature connection, and in doing so, rebalance your body and mind … I really strive to make nature connection work as accessible and inclusive as possible, working with all the different groups that I do.

“But there are ways that you can do this on your own. A brilliant place to start with that is through your senses: next time you are on a walk or a jog, wherever you are out in nature, just add in three to five minutes of nature connection. It doesn’t need to be this huge, big change to your life [but it’s] something you can build on.”

Hourigan recommends tuning into each of your senses in turn (we finally explored ‘taste’ with fresh mint tea) and “the sensations that you notice on your skin and in your body. That’s a brilliant place to start awakening yourself to what’s actually around you rather than just moving past it.

“A deeper way to do this is to choose a sit spot — a place near your workplace or your home that you can go to easily and regularly. If you’re lucky enough to have a garden, that’s the perfect place but you can also do it in an urban park or by the river, wherever you feel comfortable. Come back to this for at least 15 minutes once a week, if you can, and by doing this, you’re going to watch the seasons changing in front of your eyes. It’s a really beautiful thing.

“The research does tell us that ideally, two hours of nature connection outside per week is the sweet spot for being able to experience all the benefits. You can split that into as many small chunks as you need, and you can do it in any green space that you can access.”

Since taking part, I have certainly felt more comfortable taking a moment to slow down and notice the natural world, trying to adopt some of that wonder my two-year-old so clearly embraces as he stops to look at the woodlice under a log or sees a bird. But I also like the idea Hourigan mentions of joining at least one dedicated forest bathing event every season.

But what about the changing — and changeable — weather? “My theory is that if you live on Irish land, it’s really important for you to have a relationship with the rain and the cold. And with the grey days and the dreary days, and not just to go outside on the sunny days, because they are few and far between sometimes,” Hourigan says. “So by slowing down and connecting to the seasons, it really helps you to feel that life is moving at a gentler pace, and not rushing past you.

“I know when I was living that city, rat-race lifestyle, I would be like, ‘Oh, it’s summer now, it’s sunny’. ‘Oh it’s winter, it’s snowing’. I wouldn’t actually be spending time noticing that during the year. I think it’s something many people can experience — that life is running away with them. I know I definitely did. So this has helped me a lot.”