The case for upskilling your retail talent (before someone else does) 

Why upskilling is worth the investment 

Most of us are ambitious. As humans, it’s just how we’re wired. And if people are working for you, you should rate them highly enough to assume employee development is something they’re thinking about. 

If you want them to picture their future career with you still in the frame, you’ve got to make that long-term investment crystal clear. Offering chances to upskill does exactly that. 

Career growth = loyalty  

Did you know retailers who promote from within see 50% lower turnover? That’s what happens when people can see a path forward. But that kind of visibility is rare in frontline-heavy roles like retail, which just makes it all the more valuable when you offer it.  

Promoting from within is more efficient  

Hiring externally can be slow and expensive – and if you’ve already got great talent on board, why let it slip away for a “better” opportunity? Promoting from within makes you the better opportunity. 

Plus, internal talent’s already aligned, trained, and culturally embedded – so there’s no need to start from scratch with someone new. Bonus.  

Skills = business resilience  

When your people can shift roles, cover gaps and stretch into new areas, your business becomes more agile by default. You can react faster and keep things moving while the competition stalls.    

Adaptability like that makes a real difference, especially when things are unpredictable, urgent – or, let’s face it, both. 

Kickstart your employee development journey 

To start harnessing the full power of L&D, all it takes is a little intention, a decent structure, and a few smart moves across different parts of the business.  

Microlearning for stores  

Store teams don’t have time for long modules – and honestly, why should they? Come to think of it, why should anyone have to sit through three hours of awkward workplace training delivered by someone who definitely won’t be hearing from Spielberg any time soon?  

Five-minute videos, quick tip cards, or a bite-sized session before or after a shift are way more useful (and way less painful).  

Cross-skilling in warehouses  

Warehouses live and die by timing – like “live by the sword, die by the sword,” but with fewer swords and more pallet jacks. Cross-skilling keeps things moving.  

Teach pickers to use basic logistics software and let forklift drivers shadow your inventory teams. The more skills your team shares, the more agile and efficient the whole operation becomes.  

Development pathways in office roles  

In office environments, long-term growth is pretty much expected. The trouble is, they can’t always see how they’ll get there.    

Map out clear pathways and bring them to life with things like buddy systems, lunch-and-learns, or the chance to take on something new. People who can clearly picture their next move – and know you’ll support them to get there – are far more likely to stay and grow with you.   

Smart, low-cost learning ideas 

Sure, having a big budget to splash around is great. But you don’t necessarily need one to make an impact. These grassroots tactics work in any retail setting: 

Shadowing and mentoring  

Nothing beats real-life experience. Let employees follow a peer or manager for a shift, or pair new starters with seasoned pros who know the ropes (and how to pass them on).  

Learning rewards  

Finished a short course? Nice one, here’s a little treat. Helped a teammate learn a new skill? A shoutout’s coming your way. Sometimes the effort matters more than the big achievements. 

Peer teaching  

There’s already a heap of knowledge in your team. It’s just that most of it never makes it out of people’s heads. So why not get them to share it? One tool, one shortcut, one better way of doing something. It sounds like simple stuff, but it can build confidence and make everyone’s job a bit easier. 

Practical ways to champion development

You’ve probably got a lot of amazing ideas about how to shine more of a light on L&D in your organisation. Here at Perkbox, we can help you with a lot of them.  

Celebrate learning wins  

Whether it’s shadowing a colleague or putting themselves out there to learn a new skill, make sure it gets noticed.  

Perkbox gives you a way to shout about wins – big or small – and recognise the people behind them, wherever they’re based. 

You can link shoutouts to your values, add custom rewards, or even run polls to highlight standout moments. It gets your whole business involved and makes recognition part of the everyday. 

Use rewards as incentives for development milestones  

A reward means a lot more when it feels like it’s truly meant for you. Not one of those weird, branded fuzzy pom-poms with googly eyes that no one’s been excited about since 2003. Stretch for something with a bit of meaning.  

That’s why points-based incentives work so well. They let people choose something they’ll genuinely enjoy and choose form gift cards from thousands of leading brands.

Wellbeing support for growth-phase stress  

Learning something new isn’t always the empowering, career-defining moment we like to pretend it is. Sometimes it’s just plain hard. 

Perkbox includes content on things like confidence, resilience and self-leadership: the kind of stuff that helps people keep going when things get difficult or stressful. 

Now listen, you’re not trying to solve everything with a meditation video. But giving people a way to steady themselves while they learn is a great foundation to lay.  

A final word

There’s always been a link between development and retention – that’s nothing new. But the businesses that make learning part of the everyday are the ones seeing better results across the board. 

Take this: a whopping 94% of employees would stay longer at a company that invests in their career development. And companies known for rich recognition cultures experience 31% lower voluntary turnover. 

So if you’re looking to build loyalty, improve performance and future-proof your business, helping your people learn might be the least complicated way to do it.