is. “We are terrible at explaining why retail is a great industry to work in… How do we make it more exciting?” asked David Sinclair, a partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants in the retail and consumer sector. An employee-focused strategy Retail has quickly adapted to meet the needs and demands of the consumer but has failed to recognise the changing needs and demands of frontline staff. The convenience retail industry averages a 36.5 per cent turnover rate in the first 30 days for full-time associates, according to the 2022 NACS State of the Industry Compensation Report. Southeastern Grocers is one of the largest conventional grocers in the United States, operating three separate brands – Harveys, Winn-Dixie and Fresco y Más – throughout five states. It credits its success to putting the customer at the centre of every decision. As CEO of Southeastern Grocers Anthony Hucker said, “We often say we’re in the people business, we just happen to sell groceries.” Since stepping into the CEO role in 2017, Hucker has applied this people-first mindset to create a playbook, not another report, on how to recruit and retain talented retail employees. Now, Southeastern Grocers applies a recruitment strategy that follows the ADMR acronym: attract, develop, motivate and retain. Ulrika Biesèrt, the chief people officer of Ingka group, which operates 367 Ikea stores worldwide, echoed Hucker’s sentiment about the rapidly evolving retail landscape that requires retailers to focus on employees’ mental state. “If it was 10 years ago or 15, it was much more about the work environment, the physical environment than business… Today, you see much more around stress, burnout and mental health,” said Biesèrt. “It’s very much about leadership, how do we equip our leaders to have conversations and provide support,” she added. Management as the face of retail Frontline workers have shared that competitive compensation, affordable transportation, schedule flexibility, and personal safety are the most critical factors in their desire to work in convenience retail, according to research by the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council. But retailers have to do more than simply meet these criteria to retain talent since employees are increasingly focussed on their relationship with management. This outlook drove Southeastern Grocers to rethink its hiring processes. It now hires for will and trains for skill because, as Hucker pointed out, “People don’t leave companies, it sounds cliche but it’s true, people leave leaders”. “We’ve actually completely overhauled our hiring methodology by using behavioural-based software, looking at someone’s behaviour character, and whether it fits the culture of the company versus verses that skill base hire for will train for skill,” he said. Effective and communicative leadership is paramount because managers often serve as the face of the company for frontline retail workers. “Really good managers are really good at also creating the virtuous circle of engaged employees, those engaged employees are actually helping me drive my sales,” said Sinclair. “People are searching for meaningfulness and belonging and so the human skills that you can call more soft skills, is something that is increasing quite rapidly,” added Biesèrt.