Nigel's Blog
Hi, I'm Nigel the Chief Executive of Retail Trust.
The coming year will be a time of growth and change for Retail Trust. The charity will be working more closely than ever with organisations in the retail sector as we cement ourselves as the charity committed to the well-being of employees in the retail industry.
Part of working more closely with the industry is communication. Technology allows me to communicate with you through this blog – spelling mistakes and all! So please feel free to email me on the Contact page with feedback, ideas, or just to swap stories about our blogs. Enjoy!
You can read my biography on our Trustees and Chief Executive page.
Nigel J L Rothband
Chief Executive
Read Nigel's Blog
09 March 2010 : Supermarket Sweep.
I have often been told that the best way of explaining what Retail Trust does is to share peoples experiences. Today we received an email from a senior executive from one of the country's largest supermarkets. They sent the following quote from one of their employees and have given us permission to use it as a testimonial in our literature.
“Firstly I would like to express my deepest gratitude with regards to your help and support through the hardest time of sadness & grief of the loss of my mum, for this support. I am eternally grateful as I now know I have the inner strength to move forward, as I can now see I have a purpose in life with my husband son and career, where as before nothing else mattered as the grief and pain was so bad I needed to be in peace with my mum. I feel this turning point would not have come without both of your beliefs in me and putting me in touch with retail trust. My counselling session's have now come to an end and with in the past 6 weeks the change with in myself and my thought's have positively changed due to the understanding and compassion of my bereavement counsellor.Before meeting with her I had tried another bereavement counsellor with no success, it just goes to show that once again Morrison's have found the best for their colleagues.
We continue to work in partnership with all retailers to provide a free, independent and confidential Helpline 0808 801 0808 to all of their staff.
08 March 2010 : Traffic Stopped on Oxford Street.
What a day on Oxford Street!
Traffic was stopped and people turned up in their thousands to hear our four finalists from Retail Trust Search For A Star sing in House of Fraser's window!
The morning started with the finalists singing to the staff before they started their shift on the shop floor. Then GMTV's Mark Heyes took the girls round the store and dressed them for their gig. Make up followed and then one by one; Winner Nicola, Victoria, Leanne and then Louise sang five songs each with Mark Heyes acting as compare for the day. Finally they all sang Perfect Day together.
A huge thank you to Anthony, Maureen and all the staff who helped make it happen.
I agreed with Anthony that next year is already booked!
Photos will be uploaded soon- watch this space!
05 March 2010 : Awards Night Benefits Retail Trust
Last night's Retail Week awards were the best yet. I was very impressed with Jeremy Vine who kept the awards rolling along and the entertainment was first class. I didn't know too much about Tim Minchin - he was superb!
I was delighted to be on a great table that included Nicola Harrison, Senior Reporter at Retail Week, Peter Cross from Yellow Door, Andrew Jennings from Woolworths SA and Geoff Lancaster from ABF.
Retail Trust were charity partner for the evening and the charity programme was stuffed full of adverts and we will get the proceeds.
Main awards were as follows:
Retailer of the year - Primark
Retail Leader - Mark Price - Waitrose
Award for Outstanding Contribution - Arthur Ryan
I'm delighted for the excellent team at Pets at Home who picked up two awards - Speciality Retailer and Innovative Employer.
The support from Tim Danaher and his team is outstanding and we value it highly.
If you are free tomorrow afternoon and are around Oxford St. in London then why not pop along to House of Fraser to see the Retail Trust Search For A Star finalists singing in the shop window!
04 March 2010 : Second Most Important Night Of The Year
Well it's been a long time since my last Blog entry.
A lot has happened in that time.
My wisdon tooth has been removed, I've returned to work, Spring is here and Manchester City have been knocked out of the F.A. Cup!
At Retail Trust I have appointed Kathy MacIntyre as senior housing manager supporting me in running the five housing estates. Kathy, who is general manager in Glasgow, has a wealth of experience and has the support of all the general managers. Our first meeting on Friday last week was brilliant with true collaboration around the table and excellent input from the rest of my executive team John and Rob.
It has been a struggle, due to time out over the last couple of weeks, however the Board pack for next week's Board meeting has gone out in the post today.
Tonight sees the second most important night in the retail calendar, the Retail Week Awards dinner at Grosvenor House. I don't need to tell you which is the most important. If you are still not sure then click here to find out.
22 February 2010 : Helpline Anger
I am shocked and angered at Christine Pratt's comments as CEO of The National Bullying Helpline.
Her helpline is "confidential" and as a result she should not be going public and should be dealing with the issue privately.
It is interesting to see that a Patron of her charity, Prof. Cary Cooper, an expert in workplace bullying, resigned this morning. If I were in his position I would have done the same.
The Retail Trust Helpline 0808 801 0808 is confidential and independent and I will not be discussing who rings about what publicly.
20 February 2010 : Picture Suprise!
My mother in-law rang me to tell me that I was pictured in today's Times Magazine!
Having got my hands on a copy, the picture was included in an excellent article on one of our biggest supporters, Sir Philip Green, taken at the Retail Trust London Ball 2009.
We are selling tables and tickets for the retail party of the year 2011. Book early to avoid dissapointment!
18 February 2010 : Four Estates and a Dentist
A busy couple of days.
A trip to our retirement estates in Salford and Liverpool yesterday was informative. The two estates are our newest and have different challenges. Good to spend quality time with the Managers of each estate and their staff.
The newly installed trial video conferencing equipment here in Mill Hill and Glasgow allowed me to have an excellent conversation with our General manager up in Scotland today too. If the trial works then I can see us rolling this out across all our estates and I want to challenge the team in using the system to its full capacity. It is not just about saving some money on travelling expenses, it's about thinking differently.
Two ex colleagues from Arcadia Group days spent some time here this morning, Tess Gomm from izio design and Sandra Bull came to discuss getting our message out to the three million people who work in retail through company's internal comms. departments. I look forward to developing our thinking.
Then this evening I filmed a piece to camera for DMI, our excellent media production company. The guys did a fantastic job at our London Ball, from video production through to Retail Trust Search For A Star to the fundraising asks on the night.
Delighted to have got an appointment tomorrow to get my "impacted wisdom tooth with bone cyst" sorted!
15 February 2010 : "OK" To Be Back!
I have been away from the office for a week.
A week is a long time in retail!
The difficult economic conditions have continued to impact on our sector. Speciallity Retail Group (SRG) look to have got landlords backing for their company voluntary arrangement which will see around 40 shops close. In addition, Ethel Austin's administrators seem to have identified around 130 stores for closure.
Our ReWork programme has been introduced to help anyone facing the prospect of redundancy from the retail sector. See details here.
Look out for tomorrow's OK Magazine who should be covering our London Ball.
04 February 2010 : Board Renewal
What an exciting, refreshing and entertaining meeting this morning with Leo McKee, CEO of Brighthouse, our London Ball Chairman for 2011. There aren't too many CEOs with Leo's kind of enthusiasm for his Brand and his people.
We talked about our plans for the London ball 2011 (31st January) book early to avoid dissapointment!
Angela Harvey, who has pulled together Retail Trust Search For A Star, is off back to Australia this weekend. Good luck, have a great trip and we will see you back here soon!
Most of this afternoon was spent pulling together notes for next week's Board meeting. We are setting up a new Nominations and Governance Committee that will oversee the regeneration of our Board. With one or two retirements and a couple stepping down from the Board, there are going to be some opportunities for new blood to join our exciting Board. Watch this space and appropriate press if you are interested!
03 February 2010 : From Redundancy To Recruitment
We have just announced our ReWork programme for the Spring which is designed to help retail staff move from Redundancy to Recruitment details can be found here.
In addition we have been asked by The Appointment to take part in their Redundancy Seminar at the Mayfair Suite, Marriot Grosvenor Hotel on 4th February. Retail Trust will have a stand at the event and Anthony Mills, our EAP Manager, will be presenting.
Also "doing a turn" is Lucy Funnell, who I worked with at The Body Shop. Lucy is an excellent Executive Coach and will be well worth going along to hear.
If you have been affected, or know anyone who has, why not go along tomorrow.
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