Our colleagues

We remain committed to investing time, energy and resource to support, engage and motivate colleagues right across the Group. This investment encompasses learning and development, the provision of employee benefits and driving high health and safety standards. However, it also includes enabling colleagues to feel good about the work they do, and the positive contribution our business makes to society and the environment. We cannot run a successful customer facing business without the engagement of our colleagues, so we see our investment in these activities as maintaining competitive advantage.

Our annual employee engagement survey is a key measure of the drivers and extent of employee engagement. This year we have launched our first Group-wide survey, which will allow us to compare results, successes and areas of opportunity across different parts of the business. It will also provide us with benchmarks of our performance against a range of high-performing companies.

Our way of working is part of our culture and reflected in the values of the Group. Both retail brands emphasise key themes such as:

• Teamwork
• Great customer service
• The difference individuals can make in delivering great performance

During the course of the year, a number of parts of the Group have undergone change. These changes have been part of the ongoing process of running our business as efficiently as possible, both in terms of organisational efficiency as well as cost. The reorganisations have included a streamlining of head office functions across all parts of the Group, restructuring of store-based staff to better match demand levels and trading patterns, and a consolidation of home delivery warehouses.

Unfortunately, these changes have resulted in redundancies. We have strived to make the process of these reorganisations clear and objective at all times. The consultation process involved collective consultation with elected representatives alongside individual consultation, allowing each area affected to have an influence on the process and outcomes of the reorganisations.

A management group, meeting quarterly, and chaired by the Group HR director, focuses on issues relating to the workplace, community affairs, and financial services and reports into the CR steering group.