If the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that retail simply wouldn’t be possible without the commitment, passion and engagement of its people.

From navigating a revolving wheel of restrictions, to reassuring anxious or confused shoppers, to creating store environments that feel calm, comfortable and exciting places to browse, those working on shopfloors, warehouses or at retail HQs all play a critical role in creating a resilient retail business.

Which is why it is vital that those same businesses take the time to understand the factors that influence the health, wellbeing and engagement of their often-diverse workforce.

Not least as the last two years has taken its toll. A 2021 survey by the Retail Trust found retail employees’ mental wellbeing is ‘among the lowest of any occupational group in the UK,’ closely followed by those working in distribution or warehousing.

It found:

• 50% of retail staff said they ‘rarely’ felt optimistic about the future
• 73% that they ‘rarely’ had energy to spare
• 43% said they ‘rarely’ felt useful.

What’s more this rising sense of overwhelm is leaving many considering quitting their jobs altogether. According to a 2021 study by Axonify, nearly 50 percent of frontline workers are preparing to leave their current jobs citing burnout as the top reason (58%).

It’s vital then that retail business leaders explore how they can make best use of emerging tools and technologies to enable and empower their workforce – and ensure they don’t head for the exit.

Here we’ll explore the three key avenues that retailers need to explore – and some of the forward-thinking businesses already doing so.

Carving out a career path with professional development
Too often retail is regarded as largely unskilled work. It’s dogged by perceptions of monotony, a lack of progression and – critically – a real lack of internal opportunities for professional development (PD).

The reality is though that retail requires a real breadth of skills from its employees. From delivering excellent customer service, to in-depth product knowledge, data literacy and an ability to quickly master new software. In fact, retailers that equip staff with the right skills, through a programme of ongoing PD, are quickly able to differentiate themselves from the competition, with staff that can offer superior product knowledge and levels of customer care.  For the individual too it creates a sense of personal investment in the products sold, and the company, bolstering engagement and satisfaction. In fact, according to one study, those companies that rate highly in employee training see 53% lower performance erosion over time.

There are two big challenges retailers face in delivering ongoing training for their workforce though. One is how best to upskill or reskill employees, particularly given the geographically disparate nature of staff in a retail business. And second, how to continuously assess current skill levels, in order to accurately plan future needs – and thereby offer the right training to help close the gap. After all, this isn’t a one-off task. It requires a consistent and constant way to evaluate skills. Not least as retail is both a high turnover sector – at around 8% per annum – but also a constantly evolving one. The shift to an omnichannel business model, for example, has required retail staff to quickly master brand new digital skills in a short space of time.

There are solutions to both these challenges though. Indeed, some early movers are already demonstrating how clever use of the latest technologies can deliver intuitive ways to identify the skills gaps in their workforce – and provide tailored ways to close them.

Take US telecoms giant AT&T. In 2014, it introduced an online self-service platform for its more than 200,000 employees that allows them to track their own personal development and access a host of training and workshops tailored to their needs. For example, its ‘Career Profile’ tool quantifies each person’s current skills and generates an individualised profile that the employee can cross-reference with job requirements to identify any skills gap. The training opportunities it then directs them to range from short courses in new technologies or tuition reimbursement, all the way to an online Master’s degree in computer science, development with Georgia Tech and Udacity.

Fashion brand Levi’s meanwhile has proactively sought to prepare its workforce for a digital-first future. In 2021, it announced it was rolling out a company-wide digital upskilling initiative, an internal curriculum that equips employees with a grounding in coding, machine learning and design thinking. Its Machine Learning Bootcamp goes one step further, providing participants with a full-time, two-month, all-paid course in coding, machine learning and ‘agile ways of working.’ By doing so the brand aims to create new career growth opportunities, providing a significant volume of its staff with the knowledge they’ll need to succeed going forward.

Beyond pay – creating holistic remuneration packages
Low pay is another sticking point in retail. Understandably too, given that in the last 40 years, high-income workers have watched wages soar, while those in entry-level positions have seen hourly pay hardly budge. According to the Economic Policy Institute, from 1979 to 2019, wages for the lowest-paid decile of workers rose 3.3% when adjusted for inflation, while wages for the top 5% of workers rose 63.2%. Some retailers have tweaked their pay structures in order to close this gap. At the John Lewis Partnership, for example, the retailer has adopted a 75:1 ratio, whereby the salary of its highest paid earner is capped at 75 times the salary of its lowest paid.

But as competition rapidly increases for hourly workers in retail more needs to be done to address this gap. Addressing remuneration packages will need to be top of the to-do list for businesses looking to expand in the coming years.

For some retailers, the response has been to raise starting wages and give themselves a competitive edge on base pay. Discount supermarket chains Aldi and Lidl, for example, have consistently raised hourly pay above the other major grocers, championing themselves as among the top payers in retail, and citing this as a key facilitator behind their successful recruitment campaigners, and employee performance.

Others have sought to supplement pay with more non-traditional benefits. This could range from college-scholarship programs to free mental health resources, purpose-driven volunteering opportunities, or more simple perks, such as discounts, extra paid holiday or free lunches. Doing so allows retailers to both incentivize employees – and new recruits – without the need to increase basic pay, and also support staff in a more holistic way, providing help with emotional and physical needs, as well as financial ones.

This more holistic approach has only been fuelled by the pandemic, with many companies now focused on supporting the mental wellbeing of their staff. Many are providing dedicated Employee Assistance Programs with free counselling and support, or the opportunities to apply for On-Demand Pay to help during a crisis. Half of chief experience officers (CXOs) now say they embrace the responsibility to support employees’ holistic needs in this way – up from 15% since the start of COVID-19. Going forward, the future retail workforce will need to be holistically supported and fully engaged in order to drive productivity.

Forward-thinking retailers will need to explore both avenues in order to bolster recruitment and performance then, i.e., increases to basic salary and non-traditional, more holistic benefits.

In September 2021, Amazon did just this, increasing its hourly pay to more than $18 in order to entice in 125,000 new recruits in fulfilment and transportation. In addition to this wage increase though, the online retailer also offered candidates signing bonuses of up to $3,000, as well as paid tuition and access to training programs that ‘makes these roles a springboard into a long-term career.’

At waste and environmental services company Waste Management, the company successfully attracted 1,200 people to their recent recruitment drive (with 420 offers ultimately made, and 70% having started work for the company) thanks to its new educational benefit. Announced in May 2021, the ‘Your Tomorrow’ initiative provides employees – and some eligible family members – with access to a huge range of educational opportunities, including college degrees, at absolutely zero cost to the employee. More than half the applicants mentioned this was a driver behind their application.

Designing work environments that boost performance and productivity
Retailers shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the physical workspace when it comes to the satisfaction and productivity of their employees either. The quality of air, temperature, access to natural light, comfortable spaces to relax during breaks… all of these can have a big affect on health and wellbeing in both offices, as well as the store environment. The same goes for retail customers.

In fact, employees that say they’re satisfied with their work environments are also 16% more productive, 18% more likely to stay with the company, and 30% more attracted to their existing employer compared to competitors. Another study found that feeling ‘safe and comfortable’ in their workplace ranked among the top three priorities for retail frontline workers, who cited cleanliness, inviting breakrooms, and even the availability of phone chargers as ways that employers could support their emotional and physical needs.

Retailers therefore need to pay attention to this part of the experience for their workforce. They need to be mindful of the various emotional, physical and environmental influences that the shopfloor, warehouse or office can have on staff, and explore initiatives that can help maximize health and wellbeing.

There are all sorts of possibilities here. Boost physical wellness with healthy, nutritious lunch options, or ergonomically designed workstations, with chairs and desks carefully fitted to each employee. Support emotional wellness by providing quiet, work-free spaces where employees can take a break or catch up with colleagues. Or cater to their environmental wellness by checking metrics such as air quality, and acoustics.

There are opportunities to be really creative here. At food brand Charlie Bigham, for instance, the creation of its new food production campus in Somerset included adjusting the architecture to allow plenty of natural light for its warehouse staff – something practically unheard of in the sector, but significant in attracting talent in a rural location. At the height of the pandemic too, retailers such as Asda and the Co-op, even looked closely at the music they were playing in stores, carefully tweaking soundtracks to keep both staff and shoppers calmer and more upbeat during the peak of the crisis.

The pandemic also, created the need for retailers to implement additional workplace safety measures – in order to support all three. This proved to be a critical component in reducing absenteeism and improving retention.

At Target, for instance, all staff were provided with face masks and gloves during their shift, rigourous cleaning routines were implemented, and plexiglass partitions were installed in checkout lanes. To reflect the additional stress of their workplace environment, the US retailer also offered staff additional benefits as part of an additional $1bn investment in the wellbeing and safety of its workers as a result of coronavirus. It also provided US staff with personal thermometers in some cases.

Clothing and outdoor retailer LL Bean meanwhile focused on supporting physical wellness during the pandemic, providing its distribution centre workers with packages of groceries sent straight to their workplace to reflect the challenges faced by its frontline workers.

Building a workforce fit for retail’s future
The competition for talent in retail is heating up.

Retailers looking to grow – and stay ahead of their competition – will need to ensure they’re investing in initiatives that will help them both recruit and retain staff in the coming months and years and empower those same staff with the skills and knowledge they need to deliver an excellent experience to customers.

As we’ve explored in this report there are three key areas on which companies should focus in doing so.

Professional development: Push back against perceptions that retail requires little opportunities for professional development. Create ongoing programmes that both assess any skills gaps across your workforce, and identify opportunities to close this gap, highlighting either internal or external workshops, courses or even degree programmes. The benefits will far outweigh any investment, with a more engaged workforce, delivering higher levels of both performance and productivity.

Pay and benefits: Design remuneration packages that give your business a competitive edge in recruitment. This can include higher base pay but should also be supplemented with less traditional, more holistic benefits, that support employees with their physical and emotional wellbeing.

Workplace environment: The devil is in the detail when it comes to physical work environments. Pay close attention to all the metrics that could influence performance, from air quality to acoustics and the availability of natural light. And, of course, any tools that can improve workplace safety. All these can be a critical, if underrated, element of job satisfaction.

To find out more about the latest tools and technologies that can support your business – and your workforce – take a look at all the latest resources available from REPL here.