The UK retail industry is currently facing a severe labour shortage. As lockdown restrictions have eased, retailers have struggled to hire staff amidst an exodus of overseas workers, as a result of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is a worrying problem because a major part of the customer experience in brick-and-mortar stores is having quality members of shop floor staff who are knowledgeable and helpful, something that is not a requirement online. In addition to providing great customer service, store staff are essential to keeping the cogs of a store turning: they are needed for stock replenishment, keeping the store looking presentable, and for ensuring that retail stores remain safe places for the customer. Not being able to hire sufficient retail experts is only going to make the plight of the physical retailer even more difficult than it has already been for the past year.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and recruitment firm Adecco, recently stated that the reopening of retail is driving plans to hire at the fastest rate in 8 years following mass redundancies since the onset of the pandemic. Almost 180,000 retail jobs were lost last year in the UK, and the industry is struggling to fill their vacancies now that we are on the road to recovery.
In this article, we look at the various reasons that have caused the labour shortage, while also highlighting our own efforts in finding quality people who can make a difference to our retail partners’ stores.
The Brexit Effect
Foreign workers in the UK, especially those from EU countries, have been in decline since the Brexit referendum 5 years ago. The decline has accelerated since the final stage of the Brexit process was completed at the end of last year.
Shopworkers have been hard to recruit this year, with 1 in 3 retail leaders struggling to fill roles. In addition, there is estimated to be a 70,000 shortfall of lorry drivers, principally fuelled by EU workers leaving the UK. More than two-fifths of smaller retailers have said that Brexit has made hiring more difficult, compared to more than a third of larger retailers with over 5,000 employees, according to a survey conducted by Fourth, a workforce specialist, and Censuswide in April. In the short term, retailers are likely to see a workforce shortage in areas where they’ve previously relied on migrant workers. In the long term, they will need to recruit staff from the pool of UK nationals looking for work or migrants with EU settlement status or a current visa.
COVID-19 Pandemic
This is arguably the biggest cause of the labour shortage in the retail industry. In 2020, thousands of roles were made redundant and many people more were furloughed.
Now that non-essential retail has reopened, and the country traverses the long road to economic recovery, there is fierce competition for staff, with many retail workers having left the industry to look for more secure work after the unpredictability of last year. As many as 1.3 million non-UK born workers are estimated to have left the UK since late 2019 as many returned to their country of birth to see through the pandemic at home, and many have not returned.
There are also far fewer foreign workers seeking employment in the UK, with overseas interest in UK jobs more than halving from before the pandemic. Employers in the UK can no longer depend on overseas workers to fill their job vacancies.
Shifting Job Expectations
COVID-19 has also affected retail recruitment in a less obvious way. Like how customer shopping habits have changed because of the pandemic, so have our job expectations. In the last year, there has been a fundamental shift in the way many people work, and this has led to people seeking out new opportunities that differ from a typical retail store job.
In 2020, companies across the country had to experiment with having their staff work from home. It was done out of necessity and survival, but interestingly, many companies noticed an increase in productivity and staff contentment levels.
2020 was a watershed moment; business leaders realised they didn’t need to have everyone in the office from Monday to Friday, from 9 until 5. Members of staff could be trusted and relied on to take the initiative and work from the safety of their homes while utilising technology to stay in touch and collaborate.
There is fierce competition for staff, with many retail workers having left the industry to look for more secure work after the turbulence of 2020. A quick look through a job website will display many adverts offering the opportunity to work from home, something which is not possible for most roles in the retail sector. Working from home does not suit everyone, but for some, it is the Holy Grail, and it is undoubtedly a contributing factor that has led to the labour shortage.
Finding the Right People for RMS
As a supplier of merchandising and retail support services, the labour shortage in retail will naturally affect RMS. However, over the past couple of years, we have developed our recruitment process so that it is simple to navigate and easy to complete. Our process ensures that we hire the right people who share our core values, and if they lack retail store experience, our trainers are available to impart the required skills and knowledge which will enable them to fulfil our mission: To support our retail partners by delivering a better shopping experience.
Even amidst the current labour shortage, RMS is confident in attracting high-quality people, as we offer a level of flexibility and have vacancies in locations around the UK and Ireland. With many people looking to change careers, our commitment to providing our new recruits with comprehensive merchandising training before they begin working in our partners’ stores is something which appeals to many people.
An Obstacle to Recovery
It’s clear that retailers are facing the challenge of a Brexit-induced talent shortage, exacerbated by the pandemic. In addition, the events of the past year have altered many people’s expectations in terms of what they want from a job.
For some, it’s not all about the money. What is most important to some people is having the freedom to create an ideal work-life balance, which is why working from home is such an appealing prospect. However, we as a nation have learned since the onset of the pandemic that retail workers are key workers. They are vital cogs in the food supply chain and without them, supermarket shelves would be bare in no time and then chaos would ensue. If the labour shortage in retail continues to worsen, it will put a handbrake on the industry’s recovery.
RMS is one of the leading providers of merchandising and retail support services in the UK and Ireland. By utilising a nationwide workforce of skilled, flexible merchandisers, supported by flex, our state-of-the-art resource management system, we deploy teams of staff to support retailers across the country.
