The Future Of Retail Requires Creating Quality Opportunities And Investing In Associates

By Author: Frame Outlook
Total Articles: 8
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I owe everything to retail. I got my start at 14 years old in the backroom of a small shop where I zoned shelves and priced products for about £3 an hour. One of my earliest childhood memories was spending time in my nana’s grocery store when I was five years old, helping her prepare orders that were delivered by bike to customers’ homes.

Retail is one of those things that gets in your blood. These experiences turned into a 30-year vocation that’s taken me to nine countries on four continents to the helm of Sam’s Club. In the blue-collar town where I was raised, money was scant, and opportunity was scarce. Of the 350 students I graduated with, few went to college; for most of my classmates, the thought of a meaningful career plan wasn’t on their radar. For me, a job in retail was a first step. It gave me hope that I could pioneer my own path in life.

Three decades later, hope continues to pull me out of bed every morning and inspires me to find opportunities for every one of our associates across our 600 clubs to grow, evolve and pursue better lives. Now I'm putting the lessons I learned in my hometown ...
... to work again – to find ways to help our associates chart their own fulfilling career paths that can improve their lives and financial futures.

Today, I’m proud to share that we’ve made a pair of investments that do just that – reimagining our workforce compensation and providing longer-term financial predictability for nearly 100,000 hourly associates across our company. These include:

A new compensation plan that expands pay increases to between 3% and 6% based on years of service

An increase to our minimum start rate

This is just the latest milestone in what’s been a multi-year journey to improve our associate experience and provide more pathways to generational well-being. Since 2019, we have made a dozen wage investments, from starting pay increases to annual stock grants, that have impacted frontline associates at every level and in every area of our clubs. These complement other opportunities we’ve created for associates – such as block schedules to provide better work-life balance and new technology like the Me@Sams app that gives access to pay, learning and benefits details – to encourage growth, embrace ownership and bring greater simplicity and convenience to their roles.

More Predictable Financial Futures

A stubborn stigma persists around retail work: that it’s both temporary and transactional – roles defined by dollar-per-hour rates. It’s a tired narrative we’re eager to rewrite at Sam’s Club. Why? Because I’m a firm believer that providing good jobs translates to good business. Our hope and expectation for every associate who slips on that blue vest is to know there are opportunities for each of them to make our clubs the best place to shop; that our hourly positions aren’t merely stopgaps to better jobs elsewhere but steppingstones to fulfilling careers right here at Sam’s Club. Just ask our club managers, three of four of whom start in frontline roles.

Read More: https://www.frameoutlook.com/cxo-viewpoint/the-future-of-retail-requires-creating-quality-opportunities-and-investing-in-associates-nid-668.html

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