“What action plans do you have in place to improve employee loyalty in your stores? Particularly the most senior, who are twice as loyal as those under 30?” This question, raised by David Sinclair, Partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants at the World Retail Congress conference on April 18, 2024, grabbed retailers’ attention. According to the OC&C study published in January 2024, the turnover rate for specialty retailers reached 56% in 2023 in the U.S.A (data from the JOLTS database, operated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics). In the grocery retail sector (supermarkets and hypermarkets), this rate climbed to 69% (data from the North American Coca Cola Regional Retail Council). In the leisure and hospitality sector, it reached 75% in the U.S.A.
“If the situation is bad overall in retail, the problem of employee retention is even more acute in food, and it’s getting worse as time goes by, said David Sinclair. In a low-margin sector like supermarkets, team turnover is a challenge that no-one can afford. It absorbs between 10% and 20% of the sector’s profits. This model is not sustainable.” In food retailing, staff turnover rose twice as fast in 2023 as in other sectors.
