A Bench Jewelers Guide
Brad Simon
TIME ROBBERS
A Bench Jeweler’s Guide to Handling Interruptions
A major area of wasted time for the bench jeweler is interruptions. Interruptions are a normal part of anyone’s work day, a necessary part of doing business, and can never be completely eliminated. However, when they become excessive, unnecessary, or when they are not handled properly, they have a detrimental effect on the productivity in the shop. Without a doubt, interruptions are one of the biggest Time Robbers that jewelers face.
Often the bench jeweler is interrupted with questions. This is not because they are the best person to ask, but because they are the easiest person to ask. Since they are sitting at their bench everybody knows where to find them. Because they are quietly working it is assumed they don’t mind being interrupted. However, to disturb a jeweler while working at their bench is just as much of an interruption as asking a salesperson a question while they are selling jewelry to a customer.
Salespeople taking in repair work should be familiar with what can be done in the shop and with the store’s price sheet. They should be able to give price estimates on most routine jobs without asking for the bench jeweler’s assistance. Then interruptions to the jeweler can be minimized. During the day, however, there are situations where technical assistance is needed, or where the jeweler must figure price estimates. On these occasions, one should not hesitate to bring this to the attention of the jeweler for their assistance. There are also occasions where additional work must be performed, interrupting the jeweler's schedule. This work may need to be done while the customer waits, or finished in a few hours.
While You Wait Jobs
When bench jewelers speak of interruptions they are usually referring to situations where salespeople come back into the shop with a special request for a customer. This is NOT an interruption to your work; IT IS YOUR WORK!
It is the responsibility of the bench jeweler to balance the salesperson’s pressure for priority service and completing work already in the shop, and should always strive to see that any additional work is executed with the minimum amount of disruption.
Jewelers need to keep in mind that change is inevitable. Customer’s requests are NOT an interruption to their work, it IS their work. This does not mean however that every request can be accomplished. There are times when a request can not be met, and the bench jeweler needs to say NO. Saying no up front can save many problems down the road. Do not accept a job you know you cannot finish in time. For example, if the salesperson states that the customer will be back in 30 minutes for the job and you know it will take you at least an hour or more, it’s best to say that up front. Otherwise when the promised time arrives it must be explained to the customer why it is not finished on time; and the customer’s work that was delayed in an attempt to finish the new work may not be completed when expected either.
You might also have the situation where you are trying to finish jobs for other salespeople. You need to explain that you already have these other jobs that customers are waiting for and you have another job that the customer has been calling about it for the last two days and you will not be able to get to another request right now. Sometimes in these situations the store owner or manager needs to be brought in to set some priorities. If that happens, take the jobs they want you to put off out of your daily work tray, go to the safe and put them back into your work box. There is no reason to have those jobs in your daily work tray staring you in the face adding to your stress during the day.
Remember, everything you say YES to, is a NO to something else. Keep the following in mind: Never make a promise you can’t keep. Never say YES without thinking about it first. Learn to pause before you say Yes. Give yourself at least a moment to think through what the job involves, and what effect it will have on your schedule. The next time you are tempted to say YES stop and think, What am I doing? What should I be doing? What should I be doing next? What should I not do?
A useful device used in many stores is a while-you-wait envelope. The envelope is filled out and placed on the jeweler’s bench. The jeweler has all the information needed to complete the job and exactly when the customer will return for it. They can then work the job into their schedule. This is done without disturbing the jeweler to hand them the jewelry and verbally explain what needs to be done.
Just because you CAN do it doesn’t mean you should do it. A prime example is changing watch batteries. Often the bench jeweler is called upon to perform this simple task. Changing batteries in one or two watches has little effect on a jeweler’s schedule. However, in larger stores with several salespeople all bringing watches to the jeweler it can become a major problem.
One stores solution to this problem was to train all the salespeople how to change watch batteries. When a customer came in with a watch, the salesperson would give it to another salesperson that did not have a customer at the time, to change the battery. Then, the first salesperson could stay on the sales floor showing the customer jewelry from the cases and the jeweler was not interrupted with the menial task of changing watch batteries.
Bench Jewelers need to learn to discern the necessary from the unimportant. Often we do not have time to complete the necessary work because we spent too much time on trivial tasks and true interruptions.
Plan for Extra Work
Practical steps can be taken to maintain efficiency. When setting a schedule for the day the jeweler should allow for flexibility. In this way change can be accomplished with little effect on productivity.
If you work an 8 hour day, plan on only 5 or 6 hours of work. Then when the new rush job comes in, you have time for it and won’t feel you are putting off other customer’s work you already have. If you do not get any rush jobs or just a few simple ones, you can always go back to your work box and pull out a few more jobs later in the day.
Stock jobs make great schedule filler. Instead of leaving holes in your schedule as above, plan a full day’s work scheduling stock jobs for later in the afternoon. Then, if you receive several while you wait jobs you can put the stock jobs off until the next day without effecting the scheduling of customer’s jobs.
Schedule more difficult work that requires concentration (such as setting emeralds or intricate fabrication) during times when the store is quieter. The chance for interruptions is diminished during these times. Plan to work on simpler jobs (such as chains or ring sizings) during times when the store may be busier (during lunch for example). Then, any new work brought to you during those times will have less effect on your productivity.
Inform the sales staff on days that are particularly busy. Explain that you have a large amount of work to accomplish. Express your appreciation for them to keep interruptions to a minimum.
Whenever possible, tend to the interruption between groups of work. It is less distracting from the work you were doing. It also serves as a break, instead of being an interruption; it becomes a welcomed change of pace from the rest of the work.
True Interruptions
True interruptions are when someone interrupts you with something other than work related issues, such as phone calls from friends or family, co-workers talking about activities outside the store, reading through the mail, etc.
The best way to deal with these types of interruptions is to treat them as a break. If the phone is for you come quickly to a place you can stop your work or inform them you will call them right back. Then call them back as soon as you come to a natural place in your work that you can stop. When the mail comes place it aside until you take your next break and then look through it. Don’t stop what you are working on to read the mail.
Treat co-workers who want to talk the same as phone calls. If the situation is that you can easily stop your work without having it affect work flow, then stop and take a break and spend a short time chatting with them. If you are in the middle of something that really requires your concentration and you need to finish before stopping, say something like, Give me a minute to finish this and I’ll be right with you. Learn to excuse yourself graciously from unnecessary chit-chat when important work is waiting on you, and develop the self-discipline to do so.
Remember: Interruptions will happen. They are the normal part of anyone’s workday and a necessary part of doing business. An efficient, productive shop results when salespeople keep them to a minimum, and jewelers learn to handle them properly.
~ Brad | 
