In the past couple of days, retailers at entirely different ends of the spectrum have made the headlines as they acted to address shortfalls. Famous department store Harrods and AIM-listed shoe group Stylo were the latest to take difficult decisions.
Harrods, whose fund is saddled with a deficit of£111 million, intends to shut its final salary scheme to new and existing employees and replace it with a defined contribution plan.
Stylo's interim balance sheet showed a deficit of£11 million. The retailer also intends to shut its final salary scheme and transfer chairman Michael Ziff's pension into a personal scheme - his pension accounted for£1.4 million of the total deficit.
Both retailers will also inject cash into their rejigged schemes. Harrods will pump in£90 million over 10 years, while Stylo will contribute a one-off lump sum of£5 million.
In the case of Harrods, there has been the inevitable controversy. Union T&G has accused the retailer of knocking away staff members' prop for the future.
But there are no easy answers to the pensions crisis afflicting so many businesses. As Harrods points out: 'The cost and volatility of the plan presented an unacceptable future risk for employees and the group.'
That is scant comfort for staff affected but, so far as pensions are concerned, businesses are being buffeted by forces beyond their control.
The point is that consultation between employer and employees is conducted with sensitivity and skill. The UK's pension problem is mind-boggling and ordinary employees' fears about their future income are compounded by the complex nature of the issues.
As retailers confront this conundrum, they need to educate staff about the difficulties they are grappling with. Staff are the frontline representatives of retail businesses, so resentment and ill-feeling on the shopfloor can soon affect the bottom line.
Competition to recruit top-flight directors is always intense, but when trading conditions are turbulent there is added urgency.
In this week's issue, we report two key hirings on Matalan's operational board, and report online about the latest senior appointment at Somerfield.
At one time, a top job with a quoted company was the aspiration of ambitious executives. These days, private-equity activity in the retail sector provides other options.
Equity stakes, speedy decision-making and the relative absence of City scrutiny make jobs with private companies increasingly attractive. And the rewards can easily exceed those at many quoted companies.
Attracting and retaining talent will be one of the big issues of the year.
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