WORKFORCE


Customers are increasingly differentiating between retailers according to the quality of customer service on offer. As competition becomes less about product pricing, issues around recruitment and retention are growing in importance


TRAINING THE RETAIL WORKFORCE FOR THE FUTURE AND BEYOND R


etail plays a crucial role in both local and global economic fortunes. The sector accounts for more than 10% of jobs in England alone and Tesco is the UK’s


second-largest employer after the National Health Service, as well as employing over half a billion worldwide. Despite this, retailers have tended to regard traditionally high levels of staff turnover as a natural characteristic of the sector. But the need to optimise staffing and customer service levels is highlighting sector


skills gaps as a result of a failure to train and develop staff, which is cited as a major reason why the sector suffers such a high rate of staff turnover, especially among sales assistant and retail cashiers. This should be a cause of concern, given that retailers recognise that these groups of employees are increasingly important to customer service and sales success. The advent of online shopping and digital marketing is also having an impact on


the types of people and skills retailers need to run their operations. These include more technologists and call centre operatives than store sales staff. Further pressures from the 24-hour nature of e-commerce have seen retailers respond to customer demand for shops to open longer, making the task of managing store, online and call centre operations and their associated workforce progressively more complex. The good news, according to the retail training provider Skillsmart Retail UK, is that the UK sector is at the forefront in developing employment policies such


42 Spring/Summer 2014 www.retailtechnology.co.uk


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