Positioning Retail as a Desirable Industry for High Quality Talent

Like many other industries right now, the retail business is experiencing a talent crisis. Ever since the global COVID-19 pandemic, retail brands have struggled to attract high quality talent to staff their stores in both customer facing and back-office roles.

According to Fourth’s latest whitepaper Cost of living: Supporting your retail workforce as the crisis deepens a staggering 99% (up 5% compared to Fourth’s 2021 report) of leading retail brands have gone on the record to say they are concerned about their organization’s ability to attract staff. What’s more is that these concerns grow with the size of the business in question with 63% of retailers with 3,000-3,999 employees and 40% of retailers with 4,000-4,999 employees ‘extremely worried’.

This means extra pressure is now being placed on the heads of retail HR departments to address the issues which are leading to the crisis and place retail back in a competitive space when it comes to attracting talent.

The Numbers Behind the Crisis

Before we can go about solving the issue, we need to understand what factors are driving workers to abandon the retail sector or not even consider it as a serious option. Thankfully, the Fourth report has drilled down into the data to solicit exactly the information we need.

When asked what they believed was behind the shortages in the talent pool, those same retail leader stated:

• Lack of available people in the sector 39%
• People making career changes out of retail 37%
• Lack of correctly skilled people in the sector 37%
• Salary expectations are too competitive/high 32%
• People experiencing burnout or poor mental health as a result of the pandemic 23%

"With coronavirus cases rising again in the UK, we will see continued instability in retail workforces as talent shortage problems combine with staff being off sick,” said Managing Director EMEA, Fourth, Sebastien Sepierre. "With a lack of available people in the sector being a key issue, retail leaders need to consider how they engage and reward their employees to limit turnover, how they can diversify their recruitment and talent processes, and consider candidates with translatable skills from other industries.”

Compensation and Benefits

If you read around this topic online, you will see a staggering number of commentators waxing lyrically about building authentic relationships with staff and leveraging automated technology to better manage training and development, etc.

However, most people are not in their job for these reasons – especially in retail. They are looking for an employer which rewards their work with reasonable compensation and an attractive package of benefits. That’s it. That’s the big secret. Sure, all that relationship building stuff is a great extra and people would generally agree they would like to work for a company which values them and treats them with respect, but that respect and value begins with money and benefits.

It is a fact the retail business – especially when it comes to larger brands – does not have the greatest reputation when it comes to treating staff well, with an absolutely astonishing number seeming to believe the occasional pizza party – which staff must clock out for, of course – is an adequate replacement for fair compensation and benefits.

You can install all the high-tech employee management technology you want, but it will all count for naught if you can’t encourage quality candidates to send in an application in the first place. And, if you are offering a wage staff will struggle to live on, do not offer benefits such as healthcare and dental or even worse, obfuscate your salary/benefit offering behind terms such as "competitive,” you will have quality talent moving onto the next listing.

"Firms in one camp bemoan the hiring crisis, talent shortfall and dearth of successors to the ageing c-suite,” says Managing Director at Core-Asset Consulting, Mike Stirton. "The other camp appears not to be blighted by these problems in the slightest. Whether they need permanent or contractor staff, they move quickly and secure the talent they need. The biggest difference? The latter cohort is willing to stump up and pay higher salaries from the outset, most notably to junior and mid-level staff allowing them to attract individuals from other firms. […] pay more money and you are more likely to attract - and keep - talent.”

Final Thoughts

The retail business needs to have a serious word with itself if it wants to address the talent crisis and attract high quality talent into the fold. Employee expectations have shifted in the wake of the pandemic and today’s job market favors the buyer. By all means focus on relationship building and HR technology once you have the staff with which to do so, but it all begins with compensation and benefits.

You can hear Patti Claus, VP, Global Talent Acquisition, Williams-Sonoma speak on this topic and more at HR Retail 2023, being held in April at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront, WA.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.