By Amy Butterworth, Principal Consultant, Timewise
It’s just over a year since we launched our Retail Pioneers programme, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and endorsed by the British Retail Consortium. An innovative piece of action research, it focused on embedding flexibility into store management roles, to create a pathway for progression for retail team members who need to work in this way.
Now, as the programme draws to a close, we’ve written a report setting out what we and the pioneers have learned, which we hope will help steer other organisations in the right direction.
The programme was carried out in partnership with five pioneer retailers: B&Q, COOK, Dixons Carphone, Tesco and The John Lewis Partnership, led by our team of flexible working specialists. We began by bringing them together to discuss the issues they were facing, share their insights and challenge each other’s assumptions and assertions. We then worked with them individually, using our experience to help them understand what their data was telling them and explore potential routes for change.
The feedback we’ve had from the pioneers has been universally positive. It’s clear that the programme was immensely useful, helping them get to grips with the issues they knew about and highlighting others that they didn’t know they had, as well as developing practical, personalised solutions. Or, in the words of Alison Payne, Cook’s Head of People Operations:
“Working with Timewise on the Retail Pioneers programme has given us a rich understanding of the business case for flexibility in our stores, and the potential benefits for our people and our organisation.”
Whilst the programme revealed some recurring themes which were common to all of the retailers, it also underlined the importance of developing bespoke solutions for each one. All their business models are different and so their requirements are too; when it comes to flexible working, it’s clear that there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
As a result, the five pioneers are exploring a range of actions tailored to their particular organisation. From Tesco’s piloting of a team-based approach to flexible job design, to Cook’s creation of a bank of flexible and part-time job descriptions, each one is rooted in the needs of their business and their workforce.
As for us, we believe this is just a starting point. We’re keen to see more retailers, and other sectors, taking a similar approach to delivering flexible roles at management level, and my colleague Emma Stewart is calling on government to invest in making it happen. We’ll keep you posted.
You can read more about the approach each of the pioneers is taking in the full report.
If you would like to take part in a similar programme, or find out more about our flexible audit service, please call 020 7633 4444 or email info@timewise.co.uk
Published April 2018
