Comment: Celebrating the uncelebrated
Some of the biggest societal trends we are living through today are the work from home (WFH) phenomenon and the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which have the worrying common thread of further reducing the need for people to physically interact.
The arguments for such developments invariably centre on improving efficiency and/or reducing costs in some way or other but this all too often comes at the cost of separating people from each other.
Lockdowns during Covid-19 resulted in e-commerce and home delivery being the sole routes for retailers to engage with shoppers and it drove plenty of efficiencies when store staff were temporarily redundant from the process and other costs could be taken out of the traditional model. There was also much talk about an accelerated death of the high street during this period.
This proved to be a false dawn for the end of physical shops and they have enjoyed an impressive renaissance since we saw the back of the pandemic. The reality for most people is that they rushed back to high streets and shopping centres when the doors were thrown open and this has continued. As a result we’ve seen numerous retailers commit increased investment and resources to opening more stores and developing new physical concepts including large flagship outlets whose days looked seriously numbered in the heat of the lockdowns.
But it was not for the new concepts that shoppers returned to stores with a new-found appreciation for real-world activities but because of the people. E-commerce, AI and WFH have their attributes but it is the people in the stores and behind the scenes helping store colleagues that makes the real difference in retail and what ultimately attracts customers.
All too often it is senior management and the executives with high levels of strategic responsibility (in management speak they oversee the P&L) that receive the plaudits when things go well and step up onto stages to collect industry awards. To their credit the more aware make it clear that they are accepting them on behalf of a wider group of colleagues. But the reality is there is something of a disconnection between retail awards and the people on the coalface.
It was to address this gaping hole that the People in Retail Awards (PiRA) was launched by The Retail Bulletin in 2023 and last week it handed out its second batch of awards at a ceremony in London. The idea is to celebrate the many people and teams who are undoubtedly recognised in their own organisations as being exceptional but not necessarily praised on an industry-wide platform.
Employee of the year, customer service team of the year, people development team of the year and future leader awards were among the accolades handed out on the night as an array of people from all parts of the retail industry were celebrated for the part they play in making it an industry that is inclusive, diverse and welcoming to all – from those who simply want to work part-time to the more career-minded who fancy a shot of sitting in the CEOs seat.
As a judge it was a privilege to play a part in the process and peek through some windows into the positive things that are happening in many retail organisations across the industry. It also gave me a grandstand seat at an evening ceremony that differs from those management-focused variants in its truly celebratory atmosphere. It’s largely about celebrating the uncelebrated and that’s a recipe for a good night. All the WFH and AI in the world isn’t going to replace that.
