The days when supermarkets recruited like crazy are long gone. France is experiencing a labour shortage, as is the United States, which is going through a massive wave of resignations, with 5 million people suddenly leaving the labour market. Marked by the health crisis, during which they were much in demand, employees now know what they want: more consideration, a better balance between personal and professional life, a re-evaluation of their remuneration… The major retailers have understood: taking care of their employees and putting them back at the heart of customer relations has become essential… and urgent. Investing to retain employees and recruit new ones Against this backdrop of tightness in the employment market, Lidl has been a pioneer this year with its ‘Much more than a job’ TV and poster advertising campaign, in which employees’ friends and family talk about what they see as a real life experience. The aim is to capitalise on the experience of its employees, whose skills, motivation and competitiveness are helping to move the brand upmarket and, ultimately, improve customer satisfaction. Lidl reports that 20% of its 45,000 employees in France – 1,570 supermarkets, 25 logistics platforms and head office – have been with the company for more than 10 years. At Lidl, we pride ourselves on taking care of our employees, giving them a chance regardless of their culture, origin or qualifications, and supporting them as they develop their autonomy so that everyone can take responsibility within their own sphere of action. Let’s Talk Financing employee skills development As the retail sector becomes increasingly digital, more and more retailers are realising that they can no longer leave their employees out in the cold. Customers arrive in shops with their smartphones, well-informed about what the store has to offer, and it’s now hard to imagine a department manager working in isolation, without a source of information and digital communication. This means that retailers need to invest in training their staff, but above all they need to offer them real skills upgrading. For the past 4 years, Walmart has been anticipating this phenomenon by investing in its employees. 700 million dollars have already been used to fund digital training for shop employees in order to upgrade their knowledge and match the digital maturity of customers. In addition, 740,000 employees have been given new smartphones to mark the launch of Walmart’s business application, which enables them to geo-report themselves in-store, help each other and access a database of information on items, stocks, locations, etc. via the virtual assistant connected to Walmart’s AI. Finally, $2.7 billion has been invested in training and salary increases for 1.2 million shop employees over the past two years. This investment reflects the pressures facing the company in the retail sector and the digitisation of customer processes. Far from being seen as an expense, the wage bill is increasingly seen as an investment. And that’s good news.
