Retail Trust Leaders’ Summit.

9.30am Registration and breakfast

10.15am Welcome by Chris Brook-Carter

10.25am Keynote: your staff are your superpower

And why retail should adopt a progressive business-leading approach to wellbeing

Chris Brook-Carter in conversation with Dame Fiona Kendrick

We know the business benefits of a happy and engaged workforce. So what needs to happen at board level to make this cultural shift a reality? How can we shift the dial to such an extent that in the future, business can be seen as a benefit to our health? And what steps can retailers take now to build on its people-first reputation to develop a whole person, whole organisation wellbeing strategy?

10.50am The big work-life rethink

How do we solve the recruitment and retention issue and get everyone from Gen-Z to Gen-X to fall back in love with retail?

Panel and workshop

What does the panel love about retail? What makes our industry special? How can we harness this to attract top talent into the industry? The panel discusses the key ingredients (from purpose and opportunity to engagement and wellbeing) for a robust recruitment and retention strategy.

11.35am Break

11.55am It’s time to work together to tackle domestic abuse

How retailers can be key to helping employees in abusive relationships

Panel

With the cost-of-living-crisis and in the shadow of the World Cup and festive period, domestic abuse services prepared for a surge of people reaching out for help in January. Here we discussed the essential steps employers can take to help the colleagues who need it most. Let’s work together to save lives.

12.25pm Put your own oxygen mask on first

A special pre-lunch session that’s all about you

As people leaders, it’s your job to keep teams motivated and feel supported in the workplace. But in order to be there for everyone else, you need to start with yourself. This session provides insightful, inspiring and easy to implement tips that you can apply to your day-to-day to ensure you’re looking after you.

1.05pm Lunch

2.10pm Solving the intolerance epidemic: the customer isn’t always right

How to best protect your colleagues when faced with abuse

Panel and workshop

Nine out of ten employees have encountered abusive customers. Nearly a third of retailers flagged store abuse as one of the top three issues impacting employee wellbeing. This increasingly antisocial behaviour against those who have a customer-facing role (from in-store to customer-service helplines and delivery drivers) has a huge impact on wellbeing and happiness levels. This session builds on the Retail Trust’s respect retail campaign to deliver action plans retailers can put in place to better protect their workforce.

3.10pm Getting rid of the myth of the flawless leader

And how openness at board level helps all employees

Nearly half of directors in the UK have confidentially reported experiencing poor mental health. How does mental health openness at board level help to place wellbeing on the agenda in developing strategy and recognising the corporate risk of mental health issues? What steps can we take to encourage a top-down openness around mental health?

3.45pm Networking drinks

You can view some images from the day below.