‘As more jobs go, leaders can never forget responsibility for lives and livelihoods’

Sainsbury’s has put 3,500 jobs at risk with plans to close 420 standalone Argos and its in-store service counters. 

John Lewis expects to make 1,500 redundancies at its head office as it strives to create “more flexible” central teams. 

And Clarks has placed almost 4,000 shopfloor staff in consultation as part of a store management restructure. 

For all of those retailers and others struggling to adapt to the new normal being moulded by the coronavirus pandemic, such cuts represent a necessary evil – one that chief executives would much rather avoid.

But having taken such decisions, they must now work harder to deliver on the “fewer, better jobs” rhetoric that has been talked about, but so far has not been delivered in any meaningful way, across the industry.

There are people behind all of these headlines – not just those losing their jobs but those making the extremely difficult decisions to cut them – who will be eager to do that. 

No member of the Sainsbury’s leadership team is as well-liked and respected by store teams as chief executive Simon Roberts. He is a people person, someone who genuinely cares about the health, wellbeing and job satisfaction of his shopfloor staff and who takes pride in seeing those employees progress in their careers.

Making the call to remove thousands of those roles is one Roberts would have made with a heavy heart, but these are the decisions that, in his new role, he has to take for the long-term good of the Sainsbury’s business.

Commercially, the decision to close standalone Argos stores, in particular, makes sense. The Argos business increased sales year on year during the first lockdown, despite the fact that all of its standalone shops were forced to close, as sales shifted rapidly online.

If you were starting that company from scratch today, no one in their right mind would put hundreds of standalone shops at the heart of their business plan. That is the stark reality that Roberts and his executive team have to face, as testing as the emotional toll may be.

Difficult decisions

Dame Sharon White is having to make similar calls at the John Lewis Partnership but is already commanding similar respect from her colleagues for the way in which she has brought fresh perspectives to the business while maintaining its values and leading with a distinctly human touch.   

Pret a Manger boss Pano Christou is of a similar mould. He has worked his way up from the shop floor and is as approachable and humble a figure as you are likely to find in a chief executive. 

“Do jobs picking, packing and delivering online orders represent better roles than those that will be lost in Argos stores or on meat, fish and deli counters?”

But he, too, has made some difficult decisions, cutting almost 4,000 roles this year as Pret adapts to the exodus of consumers from city centre offices during the pandemic.

Christou told me this week: “Our team has been wonderful throughout and that’s why it’s so heartbreaking to take the call to let go of so many thousands of people.

“Managing cash and the stresses of business is one thing but having people’s lives and livelihoods in your hands comes with great, great responsibility.”

Christou is right. Employees, now more than ever, are looking to leaders to take responsibility by offering a sense of strategic direction, a sense of purpose and a sense of security in their business’ future.

Future of the industry

The cold, hard fact remains that without taking such difficult decisions in the present, the future could look bleak for retailers such as Sainsbury’s, John Lewis and Pret.

But as jobs disappear that only heightens the responsibility of leaders to deliver the compensatory “better jobs” that have been talked about for so long – including, once again, by the British Retail Consortium at its annual lecture last night.

Another sobering week for retail has offered plenty of evidence of fewer jobs, but are retail jobs really getting any better?

Do jobs picking, packing and delivering online orders – many of the 6,000 new jobs Sainsbury’s is creating will fall into these categories – represent better roles than those that will be lost in Argos stores or on the grocer’s meat, fish and deli counters?

“More needs to be done to create genuinely better jobs across the industry. Achieving that poses big questions for retail’s leadership”

Does the creation of genuinely better jobs require a level of tech and digital upskilling that many retailers are not yet properly investing in?  

And do these new roles promote the same level of meritocratic progression that attracted so much talent into the industry in the past? 

Retail is changing fast and the coronavirus crisis has accelerated that transformation. Industry leaders have worked hard to establish firmer financial footings for their companies, reshape store estates, ramp up online capabilities and streamline workforces to cope with the challenges the pandemic has brought.

But more needs to be done to create genuinely better jobs across the industry. 

Achieving that poses big questions for retail’s leadership. But as the workforce continues to diminish, coming up with the answers is becoming increasingly important for the future of the industry.