Leading retailers recognise key role of happy staff

No sooner do you enter the doors of any retail outlet than you get the sense of whether or not staff are happy to be there. When they’re not, one’s overall retail experience deteriorates and ultimately leads to market loss for the retailer in question. While some say there’s no great secret to keeping staff happy, management must still make efforts to adapt to the needs and expectations of new recruits.

Woodies employs 1,300 people in Ireland and has an excellent reputation for top-grade staff conditions, an inclusive culture and overall working environment.

“The job we do for our customers is probably the best way for us to attract the right people to come work with us,” explains Declan Ronayne, chief executive of Woodies.

“As well as constantly developing our existing talent, we’ve noticed how many people proactively seek us out from other parts of the retail industry. There’s a very obvious transformation going on in our stores. We’ve a third of our 35-store estate now converted to a new format with a much improved customer shopping experience and will have over half the estate completed by year-end. Great retailers love fast-paced change and want to be a part of it .”

Ronayne doesn’t believe there’s any particular magic spell for retaining good staff. “We’ve three pillars to our business,” he says. “The first and most important is: ‘We value our colleagues.’ Putting that into practice is key. We work quite hard on that by investing in leadership and developing programmes for our managers, as well as quality training programmes for colleagues. It’s important to show a clear and easily understood career path, so that we can support anyone aspiring to a management role.”

Staff expectations

Woodies just completed its “Great Place to Work” survey for 2016. Staff answered a comprehensive set of questions but were also able to post comments anonymously regarding any concerns or expectations they might have had. Strictly for the attention of the leadership team, they received 143 pages of feedback. “I was struck by one response in particular,”

says Ronayne. “It was from a colleague who said what they really wanted from management was more praise for a job done well and “a good chat now and then”.

“Authentic leadership in any environment needs to be cognisant that people have lives and families and interests outside of work. A genuine interest in these aspects from management creates a far happier workplace. In so doing, it makes it easier for everyone to continue striving for the company’s main goal: to continually exceed our customers’ wants, needs and expectations.”

‘Where culture goes, commerce follows’

Management at Woodies defined a number of core values some years ago, which have been vital in creating the unique culture that exists at the organisation today. “We measure performance based on those core values,” says Ronayne. In other words, they’re not just stuck on a board somewhere and forgotten about. So far they have worked well for us.

“I don’t know how things differ at other retailers but I can say that I’m very proud to lead 1,300 enthusiastic colleagues who support each other, have fun, are genuine in their commitment to doing a good job for our customers, and know more than their fair share about DIY, home enhancement and gardening projects and products.”

Global reach, local insight – Lidl

Having recently welcomed its 5,000th Irish staff team member in 2016, globally the Lidl Group employs over 215,000 people. Clearly the company is doing something right when it comes to hiring and retaining staff. “Getting the match-ups right in recruitment is a key part of our strategy,” explains John Paul Scally, managing director for Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland.

“We need people with a passion for retail who thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic environment. No two days are the same in Lidl and that doesn’t suit everyone. That’s okay, but we want people to have a very clear understanding of who we are and how we operate. We have invested a lot of resources into getting our employer brand right. It not only tells the story of Lidl, but also the people behind the brand and the values that we as a business stand for.”

When recruiting, it always helps when companies looking to hire the brightest and best can offer market-leading salaries, which Lidl is proud to be able to do. The company has also introduced the living wage for its hourly paid employees.

“Money is only a motivator to a point though,” stresses Scally. “Keeping the business in tune with the employer brand and our core values helps to retain talent, but it’s also what makes us who we are. At a very basic level it’s about looking after the best interests of the business and of each individual in the business so that they feel valued and respected and empowered to be at their best.”

Everyday senior management teams must make decisions that affect the entire business and its team. The challenge is making these tough decisions while staying true to the core values. “We don’t always get that right, but we will always reflect and learn how to do things better the next time,” says Scally.

“People are different and have different motivations at various phases in their lives. As managing director, one of the hardest things I have to battle with is the inevitability that not everyone can be happy all of the time. That being said, we invest in developing strong leaders who can adapt their leadership style and management approach to meet the needs of the individuals on their teams.

“We also have good mechanisms for listening to feedback from all sections of enterprise. We place a lot of importance on conversation and dialogue. It’s important to act on that feedback so that people feel like their opinion matters.”

Over the years Scally has seen the needs and motivations of his staff change on two major fronts. “We’re in Ireland 18 years now and we have people that have been with us for a long time,” he says. “When we first opened we had a very young workforce, whereas now we have a range of ages. While diversity adds huge value to the business in many ways, it also means we must cater to differing needs, such as introducing new employee benefits around healthcare and pensions, or looking at flexible approaches to working.”

Lidl also invested in the creation of a “health and wellbeing” offering for staff. “Our health and safety and HR teams collaborated to make one overarching offering that looks after each individual’s physical and emotional safety in the workplace. They took a very holistic approach and we feel it is a great example of placing the employee at the centre of design.” The programme covers everything from food and fire safety training, to nutritional and physical fitness advice initiatives, as well as mindfulness and mental health advice and support.

The rise and rise of millennials

The second major change seen within Lidl ranks is the introduction of millennials to the fray. “This is a generation coming with a whole new set of needs,” says Scally. “Being socially connected is hugely important, as well as having a shared sense of values and a sense of social responsibility. These are very real needs for this group and we welcome it.

“Over the last few years we have tried to address these needs through new digital communication channels with two-way functionality, as well as the development of a new company vision and mission – one that talks about how we want to make our customers’ lives better. In doing so we feel it humanises our business and provides our employees with a strong sense of shared purpose.”