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Is Career Development Underdeveloped in Retail?
In a recent interview with Harvard Business Review, Whole Foods’ CEO Jason Buechel said a primary employee retention tool for the organic grocer is creating opportunities for advancement.
At the store level, apprentice programs for butchers, certified cheese professionals, and bakery decorators help associates develop skills and trades they can not only employ at Whole Foods but elsewhere in life.
“It’s not only great for the team member, but it’s great for our customers,” stated Buechel. “Our customers are actually coming to Whole Foods Market for the great expertise and experience we can provide.”
Broader career development programs supported 11,000 promotions at Whole Foods over the prior 12 months, with store leadership programs available across multiple levels within the store. Buechel said, “Team members not only see their current next-step opportunities, but they see the growth and support they’re going to have at future levels as well.”
Also helping with retention is Whole Foods’ Cultivate mentoring program, which Buechel believes extends further than similar retail efforts. Buechel explained, “Most other retailers might offer this type of program for their store team leader or store leadership. We open up all this for our team members so they have opportunities to connect with other folks to get supporting, coaching, mentoring experiences.”
A 2022 survey from McKinsey found that the desire for more flexibility was the top reason frontline retail employees wanted to leave their jobs within the next three to six months. However, having inadequate career development opportunities was a close second.
Among other grocers, Giant Food has several programs that support the careers of front-line workers, including formal and informal mentoring processes and access to leadership and professional development courses, including public speaking and similar management training courses. Giant also conducts engagement surveys to ensure its associates are having conversations about their careers with managers and leaders outside of their direct supervisors to gain different perspectives on their potential career paths, according to SHRM.
Cristina Ciorna, director of learning, organization development, engagement, and internal communications at Giant Food, told SHRM, “We talk about career pathing from the first day—stories and constant communications around associates’ upward movement.”
Discussion Questions
How would you rate how the retail industry supports career development opportunities for store associates? What are the unique challenges in a retail setting, and how can they be overcome?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Kevin Graff
President, Graff Retail
Dave Wendland
Vice President, Strategic RelationsHamacher Resource Group
If you want satisfied and happy employees then it’s obvious that you need to treat them well and give them opportunities for advancement and progression. Generally, people like learning new things and enjoy being challenged, within reason. The skills Whole Foods is offering are good examples of things that benefit employees and also make a difference for customers. All that said, good training does not replace the basics such as solid pay, reasonable benefits, and properly staffed stores.
I worked for the Apparel Division of the then-successful Kmart Corporation. The company had a well-defined career and education path for all the merchants. It consisted of starting as almost a clerk in the department going to work in the field, coming back to higher position and on, and on, at least three times, at which point both the employe and the employer knew if they were going to make it. At the end of such a defined program, you knew merchandise and you knew customers and you knew stores. I don’t know how many companies have similar, rigorous programs, but they are essential for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that one would have been exposed to the core of the business and could go all the way to the presidency from there.
Retailers and QSR chains that fail to understand why a career approach is better for business are forced to engage in bidding wars to attract “frontline staff” that they’re unlikely to retain.
Unfortunately, I think retail in general has digressed instead of progressing by improving growth from within. When I started in retail, we had store associates who where identified early in their careers as being stars. They were then groomed to go to corporate or moved up within the store operations hierarchy. I don’t see the same commitment in many organizations today. We need to go back to creating a retail career, not just a job.
On the other end of the spectrum, just look at the excellent results Whole Foods sees from its combination of active mentoring and treating employees as retailers, and not just “staff.” It’s not easy to change a retail organization’s culture in order to gain chainwide rewards. But it’s at least worth thinking about.
What a welcome conversation! It seems like all I read about is how AI is going to solve all of retails problems, but I read very little about non-digital skill and career development for retail associates. Of course AI, and other digital tools, will have a huge role in the future of retail. But so will store associates, and they’ll need explicit training in how to perform best in an evolving retail environment.
Way back when, I went through the Executive Training program at the Bullock’s division of Federated. I had never worked a day in retail and my degree in finance didn’t include a single class in retail. But retail seemed like the path I wanted to follow. The existence of those programs is now a blind spot to me. I simply am not aware what retailers may or may not offer any kind of program these days. On the other hand, I have very much enjoyed watching, and participating in, the retail program offered at George Mason University.
Retail definitely has strong pockets of career development across the country and across the range of career paths. But my blind spots prevent me from saying whether or not it’s enough.
Jeff, I passed up med school, to the dismay of my father, for a career in retail. I had the opportunity to participate in programs which interested me and led me to the next step to continue in retail. By the way, my father eventually forgave me for not going to med school.
Yep. Retail programs made both access and advancement totally possible to those willing to invest the work. The early days in retail can be challenging. Actually, all the days in retail can be challenging…but also fun and engaging!
There are few, if any, other sectors that have ability to quickly advance the careers of their team members. Start as a part-time employee and before you know it you’re a Store Manager. Blink again and your a VP.
We’ve seen it, and proven it, so many times with our clients that a solid career development results in higher engagement levels, lower staff turnover and better results.
While most big retail chains have improved their career development at the corporate level, many of these same companies are lagging behind at the store level. Many hourly associates are there to earn a paycheck (and the employee discount) without a clear picture of how they can gain responsibility and eventually management positions. This has been endemic in retail for as long as I can remember, and programs like the one at Whole Foods are just the first step toward changing the narrative.
Employees who feel valued and respected by their employers and who feel like they have opportunities for growth are going far more likey to stick around longer. Sadly this is an area where retail has really dropped the ball in many places. Kudos to Whole Foods for recognizing this and working to create an environment where their teams can feel valued. This investment will pay off for Whole Foods in better retention and happier team members. Happy teams contribute to happy customers. I wish more companies would recognize this.
This is one area where I do give props to Whole Foods Market. I know the company has been historically very good to its front line workers.
but a few years ago, n one of our store surveys, we asked how many hours PER YEAR stores spend on training employees. The vast majority said 10 hours or less.
Retailers really do have to decide what level of training they want to give employees.
I would like to call on the NRF or RILA to convene a summit for retailer (mid-sized and large) to discuss and strategize what the next store model should be. The one that has been in place for at least 75 years, which presumes a large transient part-time workforce (no fringe benefits or raises required), worked for a long time. We have to face that it doesn’t anymore. Yes, we can automate non-selling functions, and should, but it’s pretty important to give consumers a reason to go to the store. This is not so much proprietary, it is an industry-wide issue. Store Contribution funds the whole retail machine. How to keep the store profitable while also making it a good place to work and shop is the key problem. We should solve it together.
Love this topic. I’ve been advocating that retailers need to proactively put plans in place to attract, retain, and retrain their teams to provide reliable service levels to their customers and a passionate work environment for employees. Upskilling, reskilling, and career path planning are essential to the success of any operation (especially retail!).
Career development to what end? Headquarters? Maybe. In the case of positions like butcher, requiring subject matter expertise, where would one aspire to go to? Regional butcher supervisor?
Maybe, for entry level jobs in retail, you offer college support for you career outside of retail. But that simply helps your positioning in the short term.
I see a larger, somewhat hidden issue here…as the workforce ages out and gets younger, the more appealing jobs/career paths are in support of online retail. What brick and mortar leaders are “celebrated” as business people someone new to the workforce would want to emulate?
There are many companies, that have taken steps to create opportunities for advancement and progression which is always a great thing, but what matters more in the present is competitive pay and good benefits for the associates.
The retail industry places strong emphasis on prioritizing & supporting career development for store associates, by offering various programs and mentorship opportunities, fostering growth and advancement. Brands like Whole foods, Target and Costco emphasize on the career development for the store associates.
Starbucks, Delta Air Lines and Google are other examples of successful career development program implementation and long-term retention. High turnover, limited advancement paths, seasonal peaks and balancing flexible schedules pose unique challenges in retail career development.
Retailers can do, need to do better with career development. They have an imbedded base of team members who already know the product and company operations. Not everyone wants to further their career in retail, but for those open to, hungry for it, having a few development options in place helps keep them engaged, challenged. This costs resources and time, but the upside is happier, more knowledgable, and more effective teams, along with customers having a better experience.
In addition to specific role development mentioned at Whole Foods or Giant, the USC Marshall school has an excellent Food Industry Management programs to help round out skills in management.