Comment: Let’s be bold and shout about what retail has to offer

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“We could be the ones who step up for our heroes just as they stood for us.” I heard Walmart’s US president Bill Simon telling the National Retail Federation conference in New York.

He was using his speech to commit to employing 100,000 US forces veterans over five years. The response he got included whooping cheers and thunderous applause from the audience.

It got me thinking about the much broader role that retail plays in developing talent right across the workforce.

As the largest private sector employer, the economics are obvious.

But less visible to the outside world are the opportunities we provide in creating jobs for the young entering the workforce for the first time, flexible working, skills training and apprenticeships, helping the long-term unemployed back into work, training, offering a real career path and so on.

Maybe we should be bolder in shouting about what retail does, which is why we’re making this a big BRC theme this year.

‘Equality of opportunity’ and social mobility have rarely left the political narrative - they’re seen as part of the solution to poverty, a route to a more stable society - and, with fears of a ‘lost generation’, are especially high on the agenda now.

The Government has added social mobility to the remit of what was its Child Poverty Commission.

The Commission’s deputy chair, Gillian Shephard, helped us launch our new report, Retail in Society: Opportunities For All, in Parliament earlier this week.

She clearly recognises the big part retail plays, and the even bigger part it could play, in providing opportunities and raising living standards.

The personal stories we’ve gathered show retail is so much more than stacking shelves. Innovation and creativity abound.

Retail is a people business with progression based on aptitude and attitude. You really can climb from shopfloor to boardroom.

Just how crucial getting on the work ladder is for many people has been reinforced for me by Working Chance, a charity I chair that works with female ex-offenders helping them get work-ready and matching them with employers.

Many of these women have harrowing personal stories and that new job has halted a downward spiral and given them stability and hope for the future.

Retailers are in a unique position to help the Government deliver on growth, jobs and skills priorities and to promote social mobility. But politicians shouldn’t take this for granted. There must be a genuine partnership with business.

To continue engaging in new job creation and skills programmes, retailers must be involved in designing them.

We must not let our investment in people be stifled by allowing red tape to get in the way.

We’re ready to step up but the Government must step up for us too.