Women dominate shop-floor teams in retail, but at managerial levels it's a different story. This report, involving a pilot study with Pets at Home, explores how flexible working can help retailers to progress their best talent and improve diversity.
1.5 million people currently work in low-paid roles in retail, and the majority work part time. Flexibility in working hours is one of the most important reasons cited for choosing to work in retail. However, much talent is wasted because retail staff who need to work flexibly or part-time are trapped in junior jobs: they cannot take their flexibility with them to progress to store management level.
Timewise, supported by the UK Futures programme and working alongside Pets at Home plc, piloted the redesign of retail management roles on a flexible and part-time basis. The aim was to find out if greater access to flexible working could unblock the retail talent pipeline and address diversity issues.
The project also aimed to identify a process for implementing wider access to flexible working, for other retailers to follow.
Pets at Home employs 8,000 store-based colleagues of whom 65% are women. The business suffers from high attrition rates for women. Research amongst employees found that:
Through data mapping, surveys and listening groups, and analysis of operational practices, Timewise helped Pets at Home to identify the challenges and opportunities within the business. The board made a commitment to job redesign for managerial roles, and set up a steering group to run the change process. Training for managers helped to facilitate the new approach, and role models have been championed through internal communications channels.
Through the pilot, Timewise developed a guide for retailers interested in using flexible working as a means to improving talent retention and progression. We recommend a five-stage process to implement flexible job redesign in retail management roles:
Published November 2016
