A conference hosted by the Australian Centre for Retail Studies and headed up by Myer CEO Bernie Brookes highlighted a lack of staff engagement and generational disparity as major reasons for generally low employee satisfaction in the retail sector.
The event, which was sponsored by Myer, AMP Capital and Pacific Brands, included an array of executives and general representatives from both major and small businesses within the retail industry.
Brookes emphasised that while retailers were facing “tough times” it was essential for businesses to invest in nurturing staff talent and that: “investing on the way down is as important as it is on the way up," underlining his plans to invest $25 million into Myer staff training programs.
The ACRS research team revealed that surveys of retail industry employees, high school and university students showed that there was still significant stigma attached to pursuing careers in the retail industry.
When asked to rate the elements that were of the greatest importance to overall job satisfaction, retail workers listed salary as a relatively low priority, whilst organisational support and engagement topped the list.
ACRS also reported that Australian retail employees expressed a general feeling of lack of acknowledgement and support from superiors, whilst sighting communication issues amoung “gen y” and “baby boomers” as key barriers to staff satisfaction.
Research Director Dr Sean Sands said that interviews with CEOs across Australia underlined there was a strong link between staff satisfaction and overall business revenue.
“UK business White Stuff is an example of a business employing innovative strategies to engage staff... It has seen year on year improvement.”
The ACRS team concluded the conference encouraging retailers to adopt new business practices designed to target issues around organisational support and engagement by integrating greater opportunities for recognition and interaction.
For more information on this story, pick up a copy of Ragtrader.