Our Employment team works side-by-side with retail and leisure businesses navigating the unique challenges of their fast-moving and cyclical sector. From reviewing workplace culture and holiday pay compliance to succession planning and strategic workforce planning, our work with HR teams goes far beyond reactive employment law advice.
In a sector known for lean margins and high staff turnover, we’re helping organisations unlock long-term value by strengthening their HR infrastructure, empowering line managers, and embedding compliance into their day-to-day operations.
A sector under new pressures
The UK’s retail and leisure sector has had to deal with significant economic and social upheavals in recent years, namely Brexit and the pandemic.
However, just as retailers have begun to get grips with the issues caused by Brexit and the pandemic, they have been the hardest hit by recent economic and regulatory changes, including the rise in national insurance contributions, increases in the national minimum wage and stricter immigration rules. While many industries are feeling these pressures, retail and leisure businesses are especially squeezed due to their high dependency on labour and tight operating margins.
But for many organisations in this sector, there is still plenty of opportunity for growth. To facilitate this, HR teams are often tasked with unlocking this through talent attraction and retention schemes. However, without the correct foundational processes and systems in place, it can be difficult to make this happen. That’s where we come in.
Laying the foundations
Organisations in the retail and leisure sector often experience rapid growth, which can place significant strain on their infrastructure. In many cases, they begin with basic contracts and policies that may not scale effectively. Our tailored approach helps align these foundational elements with industry best practices, ensuring that contracts and policies are robust, compliant, and fit for future expansion
We’re particularly focused on those that could lead to future liabilities such as underpaid holiday entitlements, which is one of the most common compliance risks we see in retail. Holiday pay calculations are often not up to date to reflect changes in law that include commission, overtime, and tips, which open up employers to potential of claims from employees. Acquisitive organisations often inherit businesses that have not been culturally or operationally integrated, leading to poor engagement, high attrition, and HR confusion.
By identifying these liabilities and ensuring HR teams have the fundamentals in place, we’re helping them to operate more efficiently and compliantly, enabling them to focus on strategic growth, including retention of staff and attracting the best talent.
Empowering managers with practical tools
With the foundations in place, we then shift our focus to helping organisations address important skills gaps among their managerial staff. While managers are usually promoted internally based on operational performance, they often lack the tools to handle people issues effectively. If managers are not trained in handling core responsibilities such as performance management, absence, and conduct issues, it can result in unresolved internal problems, escalation of issues, increased risk to the business, and the potential loss of valuable employees. Equipping managers with these essential skills is critical to maintaining a healthy, productive, and stable work environment.
To support this, we offer a suite of online training tools covering everything from absence management and conduct issues to performance reviews and difficult conversations. This cost-effective digital solution allows retailers to train large numbers of managers quickly and consistently, reducing turnover and improving compliance. We also provide training in key compliance areas, including anti-sexual harassment - an important focus in the retail and leisure sectors due to the heightened risk associated with third-party interactions.
We are also able to assist clients on designing internal career paths and succession plans by assisting with the strategic plans and embedding the operational elements of a good performance programme. In many successful retail businesses, general managers usually start as shop assistants or, in the hospitality sector, in housekeeping roles. By identifying high-potential individuals early and supporting their growth, retailers can reduce dependency on external recruitment and improve retention.
Supporting cultural and strategic change
When retail and leisure organisations have multiple teams - especially those formed through acquisitions or led by different managers - it's common for each group to operate in silos, with their own ways of working, leadership styles and culture which can create friction and disengagement. We help clients unify these diverse teams under a single, cohesive brand and culture, aligning them around shared values and a common purpose involving everything from communications and management training to new performance frameworks.
Empowering HR for long-term impact
Our work with clients in the retail and leisure sectors goes far beyond one-off advice. Through our unlimited advice model we provide real-time support to HR teams and managers, helping them address issues as they arise - while offering cost certainty and building internal capability.
We act as a true partner, supporting both day-to-day employee relations matters and more complex challenges. By intervening early, we help prevent issues from escalating. This proactive approach provides cost certainty for the business and allows HR professionals to focus on other strategic areas of their role, such as talent acquisition and workforce planning and employee engagement and wellbeing.
With our ongoing support, HR teams are empowered to drive broader business impact while knowing they have expert guidance at their fingertips.
HR teams in retail have so much potential to drive change and support growth, but often need the right support to help achieve this. That’s where we come in.Caroline Prosser
Employment Partner at Hill Dickinson
Caroline Prosser, employment law partner, said: “Retail and leisure is one of the most dynamic sectors out there, and that’s exactly why we love working in it. HR teams in retail have so much potential to drive change and support growth, but often need the right support to help achieve this. We often see HR teams brought in to focus on strategy, but they’re starting from a shaky foundation. Basic operations may be underdeveloped or outdated, managers aren’t trained to manage performance or culture effectively, and HR is still seen as a blocker, not a business partner. That’s where we come in.
“We help HR teams become a proactive and strategic asset that plays a long-term and crucial role in a business’ growth. When HR is empowered and equipped, it becomes one of the most valuable drivers of commercial success.”
