Award nominations open as retailers share their reward strategies
To coincide with the opening of the People in Retail Awards, we asked the retail community how they reward and recognise their talent.
As the competition for talent escalates, the way organisations show that they value their employees’ contributions is more important than ever.
To create and retain a workforce of top performers, you need to build a culture where employee recognition is a normal part of day-to-day life. Don’t let your people’s enthusiasm, knowledge and commitment go unrecognised. Reward their achievements. Make those individuals feel truly valued and reinforce what great service looks like.
IAG Loyalty – Invest in your people:
We spoke to IAG Loyalty, the owner of Avios and the experts in the field of employee experience and loyalty.
Helen Miller, Chief People Officer said: “During an economic downturn the competition for talent escalates and businesses must show they value employees beyond short-term benefits, in favour of a holistic approach that keeps a workforce engaged, fulfilled, growing and learning. In essence, creating a rewarding culture.
“For instance, whilst travel perks are one of the ways we reward our colleagues in their day to day at IAG Loyalty, we make a promise to invest for the long term, with a focus on career development and agile, inclusive workplaces where people feel they belong and can thrive.
“Ultimately, when colleagues feel valued and supported to grow, we’ll be rewarded with their loyalty too.”
Holland & Barrett – Show appreciation:
“As a health and wellness business, it’s really important that our colleagues look forward to coming to work and feel appreciated.
“EPIC Extras is our one-stop-shop for all things discounts, recognition, and benefits. Colleagues can send e-cards to each other to thank peers for the work they’ve done or something they’ve achieved and can receive gift cards for living the H&B values”. Holland & Barrett spokesperson.
Tails.com – be flexible, make it easy and make it fun:
In 2021, tails.com was recognised by Best Companies in the top ten of the 100 Best Large UK Companies to work for. The brand is in the midst of trialling a new working pattern for its employees, a 9 day fortnight, without a reduction in pay or leave allowance.
“We believe that at tails.com, we have the capability to find ways to work more effectively and reduce our working hours without losing productivity overall. Having this extra time off will hopefully help us be more rested and energised, with studies having found that similar trials reduced stress, sick days and carbon emissions.” – Henrik Malmquist, Head of People
The retailer also has a ‘compliment bot’ which allows employees to anonymously send (monitored) compliments to other colleagues to thank them for the work they’ve done.
“The compliment bot came into fruition as we wanted a fun and easy way for employees to be able to send quick thank yous to one another. We release the compliment bot on specific occasions (such as Blue Monday) to cheer our Pack up – to date over 1000 compliments have been sent.” Allison Dunnings, Workplace Experience Manager
Ocushield – Communication and wellbeing are very important:
Dhruvin Patel, Founder of Ocushield: “We use Slack as a communication channel across the business and we use an app called Kudos which allows the team to send messages of congratulations on jobs well done to each other. The app prompts everyone to remind them each week to get involved and even says the individual most recognised!
We also offer benefits via ‘Heka’, which is a wellness platform to help employees spend money on things they want and care about and can be topped up for employees recognised for doing a fantastic job.
We also provide a mentor platform called ‘Mentorpass’ so employees who are succeeding can access guidance from experts in their field
Sue Ryder – Say thank you:
Recognition and staff development has been an important focus of charity retailer Sue Ryder. Glynn Taylor, retail regional manager at Sue Ryder said: ““Recognition of our retail teams is a key area of focus and has been one of the key reasons why our culture has shifted positively in recent months.
“Without our staff, we wouldn’t be able to raise vital funds for the palliative, neurological and bereavement support that Sue Ryder offers, so we want to ensure our staff know how important they are and to encourage them to stay working with us.
“As a way to recognise and celebrate successes, our senior leaders send thank-you cards to staff that demonstrate our values and behaviours through their work. Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen a positive uptake in the use of these cards. We also send performance-related certificates relating to sales, audits and compliance.”
The Retail Bulletin – Recognise and reward:
In 2023, why not nominate your star employees for a People in Retail Awards? Submit your nominations to honour your very best people, and show the industry what your organisation has to offer employees. More.
