‘With the world of retail rapidly changing, employers must move with the times’
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we work forever. Technology would eventually have driven a shift to more remote, flexible white-collar work, but the pace of that transition has skipped a generation. No longer is working from home every second Friday seen as a flexible arrangement; two days or fewer in the office each week is the new normal.
‘With the world of retail rapidly changing, employers must move with the times’
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we work forever. Technology would eventually have driven a shift to more remote, flexible white-collar work, but the pace of that transition has skipped a generation. No longer is working from home every second Friday seen as a flexible arrangement; two days or fewer in the office each week is the new normal.
Move of the Week: New Asda chair Lord Rose on hunt for CEO
Lord Stuart Rose’s appointment this week as chair of Asda came as no great surprise. It was rumoured over the summer that Rose was a leading candidate for the role, not least because he already holds the position of chair at EG Group, the petrol forecourt empire of Asda co-owners Mohsin and Zuber Issa.
Move of the Week: Perkins to lead In The Style growth journey
Sam Perkins describes himself as being “at my best in highly ambitious, entrepreneurial and collaborative organisations with a strong emphasis on data and technology”. On paper at least, Perkins has landed in the right place as chief executive of fast-growing online fashion brand In The Style (ITS).
Move of the Week: What will luxury veteran Jonathan Akeroyd bring to Burberry?
Jonathan Akeroyd’s appointment as new Burberry chief executive should serve to ease some of the concerns surrounding the future of the fashion giant. When predecessor Marco Gobbetti made the shock announcement in June of his plan to step down from the top job, Burberry’s share price plunged 15%, while its chairman Gerry Murphy admitted to his disappointment at losing the business’s highly-regarded leader.
Move of the Week: Feather’s return to retail is a boon for Very and the industry
Robbie Feather’s next executive role could hardly be more different to his last. Feather will join etail giant The Very Group as its new retail managing director 18 months after his abrupt departure from Fenwick where he was in the process of making an analogue retailer fit for the digital age.
‘Flexibility will be crucial for getting staff to stay during the Great Resignation’
It has been dubbed The Great Resignation: the trend for employees to leave their jobs voluntarily as the coronavirus pandemic unwinds. US Labor Department data showed 4 million people quit their jobs in the US in April of whom 650,000 worked in retail. Other data, including from the UK, supports the view that these are devilishly difficult times for businesses looking to keep hold of their staff.
Move of the Week: Retailers shift into recovery mode and shake up top teams
As always during the summer holiday season activity in the jobs market was relatively subdued during August albeit with one notable exception, which I shall come too shortly. Just one week into September, however, and things are starting to heat up with lots of new enquiries coming in as people return to the office (literally in many cases) and strategies for recovering from the pandemic are fine-tuned.
Move of the Week: Mitchell the latest savvy appointment for John Lewis
John Lewis has been among the most active recruiters since the turn of the year and this week it revealed another significant senior hire with Kathleen Mitchell joining as trading director. John Lewis has been among the most active recruiters since the turn of the year and this week it revealed another significant senior hire with Kathleen Mitchell joining as trading director.
Mitchell has been brought in to lead the department store’s trading strategy across all categories and I can see several reasons why she ticks John Lewis’s boxes.
Move of the Week: It’s no surprise Amazon looked to UK for grocery leadership
Tony Hoggett’s decision to leave Tesco for Amazon is a seismic move that will reverberate throughout the UK grocery sector. He joins fellow Tesco man John Farrell and ex-Sainsbury’s and Central England Co-op executive Matt Birch in swapping a senior role in an established UK grocery business for the opportunity to be part of Amazon’s assault on the UK.
‘For the retail jobs market, this is the calm before the storm’
Monday was meant to herald England’s so-called ‘Freedom Day’, initially planned for 21 June but now delayed until 19 July at the earliest.
It’s another blow for businesses operating in the consumer industries that rely on high levels of footfall to turn a profit. However, if the measures avoid a harsher lockdown later in the year then I suspect most business leaders will accept them as a necessity.