Ubi mel ibi apes is a classical adage for our age. Literally meaning “where there is honey there are bees”, it is a metaphor for the effort that lies behind success and the sweet reward for those who support it.
Shopkeeping and bee-keeping have surprisingly much in common. Our high streets are no longer the hives of activity they once were (so far this year 19,000 outlets have shut up shop and voids are the burgeoning curse of many suburban precincts). Beehives too are closing down: in parts of the world, since October 2006, numbers have been decimated.
When shops and hives cease to function, the consequences go far beyond the parochial interests of retailers and apiarists themselves. Colony collapse disorder, as the beehive demise is known, has many parallels with the banking crisis (or economy collapse disorder, as it could be called): both were dramatically sudden, unexpected and inexplicable with equally cataclysmic potential impact.
The banks and the bees are essential to the prosperity and health of us all. The flow of money and of honey must never be allowed to dry up. The business world is well aware of the consequences of illiquidity. But without honey bee pollination, at least a third of the world’s food supplies would be at risk – and this in a world where malnutrition is already rife.
“As busy as a bee” is the most demanding simile for every worker. Bees set the gold standard in busyness: they build combs from their own wax, clean, defend and repair their hives, feed the larva, the queen and the drones, gather nectar, pollen, water and resin and ventilate, cool and heat the workplace. With a lifespan as short as 30 days, they rarely rest and never mate, and fly up to 20 miles a day – maybe carrying 85 per cent of their bodyweight.
Although store staff might have less onerous a load, they are the worker bees of the high street. But their light can lie as hidden under a bushel as that of their honey-making counterparts.
As the Government considers introducing a new bank holiday in honour of the country’s workers, it’s timely to praise those in the retail sector (11 per cent of the country’s workforce) who contribute so much to the national economy.
Store closures and labour cost savings are leaving a dwindling number of positions facing higher competition from migrant workers, more job-seekers (the under-25s are approaching 40 per cent of the total unemployed) and procrastinating retirees. This adds considerable pressure on incumbent employees whose performance targets simply get tougher.
And they are expected more than ever to offer untiring excellence of service, treating every customer as a veritable queen bee.
Michael Poynor chief retail adviser to PricewaterhouseCoopers
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