Retail for Good interview… Joseph Clark-Bland of Morrisons
In the first of our series of Retail for Good interviews, we chat with Joseph Clark-Bland, Morrisons’ corporate affairs manager – community and Morrisons Foundation.
From working in community fundraising to leading social impact initiatives, Clark-Bland has built a career rooted in community connection and meaningful change. Here we learn more about his journey, what “retail for good” means to him, and how Morrisons is working to make a lasting difference.
Tell us how you got into retail.
My first job after university was in event management, organising pharmaceutical events. I vividly remember a particular event where we spent months arranging everything, only for it to be cancelled at the last minute with a real cavalier attitude to the wasted cost and effort. That experience made me realise I wanted to do something more meaningful, something that could have a positive impact.
Never Miss a Retail Update!I then moved into community fundraising at Wheatfields Hospice in Leeds, which is part of the Sue Ryder charity. It was an amazing introduction to the social impact space and really helped me understand what it means to make a difference.
In 2014, Morrisons chose Sue Ryder as its national charity partner, and I applied to manage that partnership. It was a shift from a more informal setting to a corporate office, but I learned so much from some fantastic colleagues and leaders.
Then in 2016 I joined Morrisons where I am now Corporate Affairs Manager – Community & Morrisons Foundation. Over time, my role expanded to focus more on community and social impact, especially during the pandemic when supporting food banks became central to Morrisons’ purpose.
So, what does “retail for good” mean to you, and what role do you think large retailers like Morrisons should play in their communities?
We praise organisations that aim to be ‘carbon-neutral’. But for me ‘retail for good’ is about being ‘social-positive’. Businesses should overall be contributing more to society than we take out. It’s about understanding our customers and the communities we serve, being a part of them day to day, and being there for them when they need us.
With almost 100,000 colleagues and 500 stores, Morrisons and our Foundation has the platform to have a genuine impact. It’s a blend of having an impact in the communities outside our stores – raising money, supporting local events, donating grants. As well as thinking about the operations and fabric of our stores to support communities improve their experience – using cafes as warm spaces, sensory support schemes, being dementia friendly.
It’s also important we bring people along with us. There’s been some great collaboration, for example, between our Café Team and suppliers like Kellogg’s to offer free breakfasts in our café’s over the school holidays. We can achieve more in these spaces when we work together.
Have you seen this expectation grow over time?
Definitely. We’ve spent a lot of time listening to our customers to understand what they want from us in this space. Since the pandemic, people are more aware of social issues like food poverty, and they expect businesses to take a stand. They want businesses to act with purpose, and they’re increasingly aligning themselves with brands that reflect their values.
Customers also want long-term, consistent impact. They can tell when a company is being performative, and they expect genuine commitment, not just one-off campaigns.
We also know that customers don’t just see shopping with us as a transaction – they feel like they’re ‘supporting’ us, much like they’d support a local business. And in return, they expect us to support them in their communities.
That support shows up in different ways: good value, quality products, great customer service. But they also want us to be tackling key social issues, contributing to local causes, saying “yes” when asked for a raffle prize for a charity event.
If we’re not doing that, we’re falling short of their expectations.
It sounds like Morrisons is delivering across several dimensions.
Yes. I feel like there are touch points of social impact across a number of teams.
Our team works to ensure we have a positive impact for our communities. Whether that’s through our Foundation grants, national fundraising partnerships or programmes to tackle the key macro issues.
We also try to understand local issues. Yes, on a macro level, we hear a lot about food poverty, loneliness, social isolation, and children’s welfare. However, it’s also about recognising that local communities might face very different challenges. A coastal town or a community with a large armed forces population might need something different from what’s happening nationally. So, we build a strategy that can address both, empowering colleagues to support the things that matter to their communities. This is largely through our Community Champions, colleagues in every store with dedicated time to support causes in their area.
Our sustainability and ethical trade teams do a fantastic job working to lower our environmental impact and protect human rights within our supply chain. Things like ensuring our products are sourced both responsibly and sustainably, and working with suppliers to lower the carbon footprint of products. This also includes reducing food waste and plastic packaging.
And we have a team that works on local sourcing, getting products from very local producers and growers onto our shelves, delivered direct to store. That way, a local store really feels like a local store.
What have been the most rewarding projects you’ve worked on?
One initiative I’m really proud of is our Quieter Hour, which we launched back in 2018. Other retailers were trialling it, but we were the first to roll it out across all our stores.
It took a cross-functional team and a lot of drive, but we made it happen in a traditionally noisy environment.
It’s evolved over time but is still going strong, and that means a lot.
Another is our “Pick-Up Pack” scheme, which came directly from a colleague’s idea. During the pandemic, we realised local food banks needed more varied donations and customers appreciated a prompt. So we created pre-packed donation bags for customers to buy and donate. Since 2021, we’ve provided over 15,000,000 meals. The scheme is evolving now as well, which we hope will see even more donations for our food banks.
I was also part of the team that launched the Morrisons LGBT+ network back in 2018. It was one of our first ERGs. We’ve done some great work with LGBT+ charities and spotlighted key issues like those facing our community. Have we done everything we want to? No. But it feels good that we’re standing behind our people.
What does success look like for you in your role?
Success is when I hear about the impact we’ve had for our customers and communities, or when colleagues tell me how rewarding their community involvement has been. It’s about human impact – seeing the difference we make to individuals and communities.
Morrisons is committed to making a positive difference. It’s about consistency, collaboration, and listening. We don’t just do things for the headlines; we do them because they matter to our colleagues, customers, and communities.
How do you empower staff to get involved in community initiatives?
We have a devolved approach to decision-making. Colleagues can decide which causes to support based on what matters in their community.
When colleagues feel their work has purpose beyond the daily tasks, they become more engaged and committed. Our Community Champions are a great example of this – they build lasting relationships that we in the office could never replicate.
We also devolve the budget. We put power in the hands of the stores. We can’t possibly know what’s most important in 500 different communities, but our colleagues on the ground do. So, we give them the autonomy to make those decisions, within a framework that ensures impact and minimises risk.
Finally, we support and celebrate them – some have even awarded British Empire Medals. We use internal communications to highlight their work, and it’s not just us saying it’s important; it comes from the top – our CEO, regional managers, all showing support. That sends a powerful message.
What’s your favourite part of the job?
To be honest, it’s the unpredictability. You never know what’s just around the corner – a complex hyper-local issue, or a high profile campaign to galvanise support for. All whilst trying to deliver your well-laid plans.
For every customer and every community group that contacts us about a campaign, event or issue… it’s the most important thing in the world to them. So it has to be important to us. It’s intense, but it’s also what makes it so fulfilling. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished, and it’s amazing to see how much we can do when we all pull together.
