Frontline retail staff remain least happy despite wellbeing improvement in the sector
A new report has warned that frontline retail staff remain least happy and more likely to quit than their head office colleagues.
However, wellbeing across the retail sector was found to have improved for the first time in a year, due to better relationships between managers and their teams.
The latest Retail People Index from the charity Retail Trust and AlixPartners shows that overall wellbeing scores rose to 62 out of 100 between January and March this year, up from 57 at the end of 2025 when wellbeing had continued to deteriorate.
Subscribe to TRBThe improvement coincided with stronger relationships between managers and staff, which reached their highest level in 18 months during the first three months of the year.
The report shows a 9% drop in the number of retail employees likely to leave their jobs and an 11% drop in those going into work while feeling ill in the same period.
Yet the research also found that frontline staff remain less happy and more likely to quit or work while unwell than those in head office roles, with store and distribution centre workers reporting the industry’s highest flight risk and presenteeism scores.
Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of Retail Trust, said: “Retail workers are still battling job insecurity, high living costs and too many incidents of crime and abuse, and this is impacting those working on the frontline of retail the most, but the help they are receiving from their employers appears to have improved this year.
“This rise in overall wellbeing and relationships between managers and staff is testament to a renewed investment in leaders and the impact this can have on everyone’s ability to turn up to work feeling happier, healthier and more productive.
“Retail employers must now build on this great work by ensuring those in stores and distribution centres get even more targeted support to turn around still worryingly low levels of wellbeing.”
More than 1,300 staff were asked about their mental and physical health and how valued and fulfilled they felt at work to create an overall wellbeing score.
Laura Bond, a director at AlixPartners, said: “It is encouraging to see that retailer investment in employee wellbeing is starting to pay off. There is, however, still some way to go, as evidenced by the persistent gap between frontline and head office wellbeing scores.
“Workplace wellbeing is often framed solely as a people issue, yet the data in this report continues to highlight clear risks to overall business performance. Organisations that recognise and act on this will hold a distinct advantage.”
