The Wellspace Solution: Corporate Wellbeing In The Retail Industry

The retail sector has some sector-specific challenges around geography, size of stores, time and resources when developing a workplace wellbeing strategy. Wellspace provides an end-to-end solution that covers all bases, even in challenging industries like retail. 

We are a leading provider of a wellbeing app and training that enables employees to keep on top of their health and wellness, and access specialist support or training. 

Our comprehensive employee wellbeing app enables retail workers to record different aspects of their health, including sleep quality. Employees can also access useful resources and training via their app. 

Store managers or HR functions can easily measure key indicators of workforce wellness, such as mood, using the Wellspace portal. The anonymously gathered data can be used for overall employee wellness reports and to allocate additional resources such as training, where there is a need – at a particular store, for example.

Challenges To Employee Wellness In The Retail Sector

Working in retail can be incredibly stressful for employees. Like hospitality workers, those in the retail sector are public facing, must work through extremely busy periods, and may have irregular work patterns. Combined, these factors can influence workers’ sleep, productivity, wellness, and overall mental health. 

Added on top of those stressors, retail bosses have had an unsteady decade due to the rising popularity of online shopping. Store closures and downsizing affects all employees in the sector, even those that remain in their positions who may feel vulnerable when it comes to job security. 

“Within the retail sector, the annual cost of poor mental health to employers is between £1045 and £1601 per person annually.” – Deloitte 

The COVID19 pandemic also heavily affected workers in the sector; RetailTRUST Group found that retail workers were “suffering the lowest mental wellbeing of any employee group” with the ongoing pandemic increasing this effect.

This highlights the importance of corporate wellbeing in the retail industry.