Trust Retail has become a corporate partner of the Retail Trust, supporting the charity’s work to improve the health and wellbeing of people working across the UK retail sector.
The partnership comes as research for the Retail Trust’s new living well in retail handbook found that 71% of workers were experiencing deteriorating mental health, with nearly one-in-five struggling to meet monthly outgoings and two-thirds of managers concerned about the impact of abusive customers.
Trust Retail and the Retail Trust will work together to help more retail workers access the support, advice and resources they need to protect their wellbeing and raise awareness of the challenges facing the sector’s workforce.
The partnership reflects Trust Retail’s wider relationship with the retail industry. As a technology provider working closely with retailers on their day-to-day operations, Trust Retail sees the welfare and resilience of the people behind those businesses as an important part of the sector’s long-term success.
The Retail Trust’s latest Retail People Index also found that 49% of distribution workers and 47% of store staff are at risk of leaving their jobs, and 40% of both groups are going into work despite feeling physically or mentally unwell.
The report highlights the wider commercial impact of employee wellbeing, with changes in how colleagues feel increasingly linked to retention, productivity, presenteeism and absence.
The partnership will also create opportunities for Trust Retail employees to engage with the Retail Trust’s work and for both organisations to collaborate more widely across the industry. This will include raising awareness of workforce wellbeing and encouraging greater focus on the support retail colleagues need to thrive at work.
The partnership will bring together Trust Retail’s experience supporting retailers through technology and payment solutions with the Retail Trust’s mission to create hope, health and happiness for people working in retail.
Mike Dotson, managing director at Trust Retail, said: “Working with retailers every day gives us a clear view of the pressures facing the sector, not just operationally, but at a people level too. Technology can help businesses operate more effectively, but the strength of any retailer ultimately depends on the people behind it.
“Partnering with the Retail Trust gives us the opportunity to contribute beyond technology and payments. By putting practical resources behind its work and engaging our own people in the partnership, we can help extend the support available to retail workers and raise awareness of the pressures many colleagues continue to face.”
Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the Retail Trust, added: “This partnership will help us build on the progress being made to improve wellbeing across the retail industry by strengthening the support our charity can provide and helping us to reach even more people.
“We are grateful for Trust Retail’s support in creating healthier, happier and more resilient retail workplaces.”
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