The boom of the eighties and nineties is over and stock
option programs have been significantly reduced and in some
cases eliminated all together. Retail America has tightened up
and the average store coverage of an LP executive has risen over
33 percent, generically speaking. The big-box retailers have in
some cases doubled the coverage for each district LP manager.
The specialty store group has seen an increase of nearly 25
percent. The divisional director-level LP positions, which have
been impacted more by technology than anything else, have
been cut by 50 percent conservatively speaking. And this trend
will continue regretfully into the future.

     While technology has eliminated positions in the field, it has
also created a new breed of LP executive and added a dimension
of speed that really didn’t exist ten years ago. Real-time
reporting, the buzz phrase of the 21st century, is changing our
industry more than any other development in modern times.

A New Profile for Success

     The LP profile of 1997 does not fit the new profile of 2007
when looked at from a long-term prospective of who will be
successful in the future. The technological demands put upon
each executive will continue to increase to the point of actually
being a deciding factor as to whether or not an executive can
truly add value in an expanded role.

     In the last five years alone we’ve seen a significant increase in
retail America’s desire, if not demand, for college educations for
those who wish to attain officer-level positions. And with the fact
that less then 20 percent of our industry has college degrees,
this is an alarming trend that ultimately opens the doors for
non-LP executives to populate our senior-level positions…a
fact that has proven itself over the last few years in a number of
cases, much to our industry’s dismay.

     At the bottom of the pyramid we’ve seen an increased need
for single-unit LP managers (LPM) to match the store growth of
Expecting More with Less the last ten years. This increase is
causing additional pressures on an already thinned out
middle-management group. From staffing issues in a population
group that has actually decreased 16 percent over the same
period, to training issues, which hopefully The Loss Prevention
Foundation can have an impact on, to turnover issues, where
LPM compensation will continue to rise to slow it down.

     But at the end of the day, what we will have is a heavily
populated LPM group with fewer multilevel positions to compete
for. And with fewer multilevel LP executives operating on very
thin budgets, with virtually no training dollars, covering more
stores, and having less time, what we’re going to end up with
is a large number of under-trained young LP executives. At the
same time, the operators will be siphoning the best into their
operational roles, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but does
tend to decrease the best and the brightest from our ranks.

Adjusting to Changes

     The pyramid of yesteryear has changed from three-sided
to almost an hourglass with a much smaller top then bottom
obviously. How do we as an industry adjust to this? Do we even
recognize it and if so how to we respond?

     Certainly developing the academic standards for the LPM
population is a start. The growth of the analyst role has allowed
us to foster technological growth and increase our impact for
our customers. But evolution can be a painful process, and it is
impacting this industry. Are we truly preparing for this evolution,
or are we merely along for the ride?

     Certainly, we have seen a significant increase (almost
doubled) in the reporting structures of loss prevention to
operations over the last ten years, which from an academic
prospective goes hand-in-hand with increasing real-time
response and fits our speed-driven environment. But for
some, this structure is uncomfortable and brings out the
fox-watching-the-hen-house expression of yesteryear. This in and
of itself reflects the executives’ potential us-versus-them mentality
in an age where the phrase “building relationships” happens to
be the key to long-term success, impact, and political survival.

     Yes, times are changing and more stores, more technology,
less time, and higher expectations are here to stay and, for the
most part, will even increase further. So the true question is,
“How are you dealing with it?”