Boots invites top staff back to the floor
Focus on front line over Christmas
September 16 2003
Boots is encouraging its senior staff to get back into the front line of the business during the key Christmas trading period.
In addition to recruiting 5,000 extra temporary staff, the high street health and beauty retailet is inviting all its 3,000 head office workers back to the sales floor. Last year, 600 staff took up the challenge and the aim is to see even more head office personnel leave their desks and help out, with an expectation that people will work from two or three days to a week at a store to help with the Christmas rush.
David Kneale, Boots chief operating officer, said: “Christmas is a lively time in stores and in recent years we have found that people who have gone back to the floor have not only helped out on the shop floor but also learned a great deal.
“The experience of meeting customers and colleagues in the store environment is a fantastic experience for the people who normally carry out essential non-shop activities. The result should be in the short term an even better level of service for our customers in the festive season and in the long run an organisation even more in tune with its customers’ needs.”
Although the jobs being filled from outside will be for the Christmas period only, in recent years many people have gone on to establish full time careers in Boots after such a stint.
Kneale said: “We are the best health and beauty retailer and we want the best people serving our customers. Christmas is our busiest season and we want to recruit now so that people can receive the training needed in retail skills.
“Service is incredibly important to our customers and we just want to keep on improving. All new staff will work closely with our existing high calibre store teams. Christmas promises to be exciting and extremely busy so there couldn’t be a more exhilarating time to work in a Boots store.”
