Management of The Warehouse are in state of anticipation as they await the results of several international employer and retailer awards.
The retail giant is finalist in the World Retail Awards for Employer of the Year and Responsible Retailer of the Year and has also made the finals in the ERE Recruiting Excellence Awards out of San Diego.
Talent manager Jane Davis says the Group has around 8500 employees ranging in age from teenagers through to workers in their mid 60s. As one of New Zealand’s largest employers, running large team – especially given current record low levels of unemployment – means the company has to think smarter when it comes to recruitment and staff development.
Enter www.thewarehousecareers.co.nz site designed to make The Warehouse attractive, flexible and accessible to prospective employees from executive level down to the shop floor. The site allows job seekers to learn about the company and the benefits it offers, find out about different roles and to follow an online path to registering their interest in working for the Group. Through the initiative, the Group now has potential talent pool of over 16,000 people from around New Zealand and the world.
Davis says the company works hard to overcome the stigma attached to career in retail and the site allows it to showcase the career development and training programmes available to staff.
“So much about recruiting and retaining staff these days is around education and opportunities,” she says, adding that retention is vital as it costs around $3500 per team member to re-hire staff. While the Warehouse’s HR function is run from head office, each store manager is responsible for his or her own team – for hiring, managing and upskilling the workers. rigorous and regular reporting system back to head office each month means issues can be easily and rapidly identified and dealt with.
Davis says it’s “massive thrill” for the Group to reach the finals of prestigious international awards and reflects the fact that The Warehouse “has good story and gets the good results”.
The World Retail Awards will be announced this month at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona.
For more information:
www.worldretailawards.com/awfinalists08.asp
