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Anyone looking for retail work this holiday season will discover plenty of attractive options. Spurred by the continuing labor workforce shortage, retailers are hiring and training new employees at breakneck speed. Large stores, like Sam’s Club, are paying wages as high as $15 per hour.
A new Accenture survey of 120 retail executives and more than 1,500 consumers shows that companies are also taking aggressive steps to retain existing workers, such as offering permanent roles to temporary seasonal workers and providing more career growth opportunities
These fixes should help retailers staff up through the holidays, but they do not address what’s at the root of the ongoing labor woes. Shifting demands of employees and consumers, coupled with technological innovation, are revolutionizing the industry. Going forward, companies will need to appeal to a more diverse workforce, taking measures such as equipping employees with the skills needed to thrive in a digitally enabled, multi-channel world. It’s time for retail to reset its employment model.
Retailers are aware of the need for change. Since the start of the pandemic, nearly three-quarters of executives report feeling pressure to improve their treatment of employees. That pressure is not just coming from employees, but also consumers. Almost half of consumers say they won’t shop with retailers that have laid off staff or cut benefits during the global pandemic.
Nor will those shoppers engage with brands that are not socially conscious. About half of consumers say they won’t do business with companies that fall short on workforce diversity. Similarly, nearly 50% of workers also say they are paying more attention to their employers’ values. These shifting attitudes are pushing retailers to improve the inclusivity of their store environments, the diversity of their workforce, and their overall company culture and public image.
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Beyond working conditions and culture, the nature of retail work itself must change. The pandemic accelerated the shift to online shopping and new delivery channels. In response, retailers are developing innovative technology and analytics to create personalized and customized experiences, building strong relationships with customers across digital and physical channels.
The benefit of these changes extend beyond the consumer. For example, during the pandemic, some retailers asked associates to advise customers online, answering questions or, in some cases, conducting live product demonstrations to better inform people. Going forward, retailers will make other changes to create the versatile and flexible workforce needed for new multi-channel retail models. In addition to equipping employees with the expertise specific to one job (i.e., knowing about sneakers at a sporting goods store), retailers will train workers to read data and analytics, as well as manage end-to-end consumer experiences. The result? A much more rewarding and interesting role for the employee.
Many businesses are taking creative approaches to developing needed talent. Woolworths Australia is training more than 60,000 staff across multiple divisions in data analytics, machine learning, VR and robotics. UK grocer Co-Op is working with IRI and the University of Keele to create apprenticeships and internships in data science. These investments will increase both innovation and employee satisfaction. Fully 98% of workers say they would recommend an employer who enables continuous learning.
Others are rethinking their organizational structural. For instance, we have seen some of the larger retailers, which have traditionally operated with separate digital and store teams, look to consolidate buying teams into a single merchandising organization to better serve the customer.
These efforts should pay off. Companies with digital-savvy workforces far outperformed the industry in terms of revenue growth over the past three years and are more likely to maintain those growth rates in the next three years. That advantage will only increase as retailers invest heavily in new digital technologies that augment human intelligence, performance and productivity.
And even more important, as workers gain more retail knowledge and tech expertise, they will have the opportunity to fill roles once unimaginable, such as digitally enabled designer, data-driven marketer, end-to-end supply chain associate and brand ambassador. By rethinking their employment model, retailers will create a next-generation retail workforce capable of meeting the rapidly changing needs of both workers and consumers.
