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The Retail Trust, in association with consultants Alix Partners, has just released its quarterly Retail People Index report, a measure of employee wellbeing in the UK’s retail industry spanning the period from July 2023 to December 2024.

In recent years there has been a recognition that workplace wellbeing is not only important for employees’ personal hope, health and happiness, but also that a workplace that prioritises employee wellbeing - where people feel engaged, valued and respected - has a direct impact on business productivity by retaining and recruiting great talent and reducing presenteeism and absenteeism.

Key findings from the report include:

- Presenteeism (being at work but not feeling at your best) due to poor mental health accounted for 46% of total costs in the workplace in 2022, costing UK businesses £51 billion in 2024.

- In 2023, according to a study by CIPD, the professional body for human resources, employees were absent for an average of 7.8 days — a significant increase from the pre-pandemic rate of 5.8 days.

- Stress plays a significant role in both short- and long-term absences, with over 76% of respondents reporting stress-related absenteeism in the past year.

- Gen Z and younger millennials are least happy. As seen in previous indexes, employees under 35 years old consistently report lower levels of wellbeing at all times of the year, but in Q4 2024 those aged 19-34 hit a significant low, reporting a worryingly low score of 54%.

Speaking in the report, Chris Brook Carter (pictured), CEO of the Retail Trust, said: “The festive period always brings added pressures for retail workers but there was a noticeable increase in the number of people suffering last Christmas compared to the year before. We must put some of this down to the economic uncertainty facing the country and retail jobs in particular following the tax rises announced in last autumn’s budget.

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“It remains to be seen whether wellbeing will improve this spring, as it did last year, or if insecurities around jobs, finances and the political climate will continue to take their toll on employees’ physical and mental health.

”Either way, it’s clear that employers need to ensure staff have the right resources and reassurance to recover and rebuild their resilience following a difficult autumn and winter.

“The retailers we work with are committed to their people’s hope, health and happiness and take the findings of this index extremely seriously when it comes to developing their wellbeing strategies. They do this because it’s the right thing to do and because they understand more than ever the link between their staff’s wellbeing and the economic resilience of their businesses.”

To view or download the report in full, click here. 

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