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B&Q can teach us all a thing or two. I’m not talking in terms of sales performance – indeed, they were 4.5% down in the last set of results. No, I mean when it comes to employee relations.
A few weeks ago, B&Q celebrated the birthday of its eldest employee – Mr Sydney Prior, 95. He began working for the retailer at the tender age of 76, and works as a store greeter at their store in New Malden.
In fact, over a quarter of B&Q’s store employees are over 50; I don’t know of any other retailer who can boast statistics like that, do you? It’s an especially surprising thing to hear when you have the ‘hip’ Abercrombie & Fitch’s of the world worrying about employee image so much, and one that I highly commend.
Other B&Q staff incentives include featuring them in their advertisements for the last 12 years; launching a staff bonus scheme; and dishing out some Kingfisher shares.
Its nice to see a retailer realising the important of staff incentive and motivation for a change - and choosing to make head office staff redundant over shop floor workers – though unfortunate for the unlucky 40 or so who lost their jobs – is a refreshing response to the challenges of this tough market.
Well done B&Q – an encouragingly realistic view of the world at last.
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