Store managerial structure

Stores were graded annually according to their revenue for the previous 12 months, a

figure referred to internally as ‘moving annual turnover’ (MAT)9. There were 7 store grades, 5 being the smallest (<£1.4m), then 4, 3, 2, 1, 1A and 1S, which corresponded to the

company’s 7 largest stores with annual revenues in excess of £20m each. Both the store

grading system and the actual grades assigned to stores were reassessed annually, with a

mid-year partial review to accommodate exceptional circumstances (new stores, refits, etc.).

9

New and newly-refitted stores were given provisional store grades according to MAT estimates.

Chapter 5 – HR function and HRM system

The structure and salary pack included an alphabetical list of all stores and their current

grade. The store grade determined the senior management structure of the store, and their

individual grades, including the store manager, assistant store manager, operations manager,

commercial manager, and Sunday manager positions. Some adjustments were made for

stores which opened longer hours (>70h). The grade of the store manager was the same as

the store’s, while commercial, operations and assistant store managers were set 2 grades

lower. The operational structure of each store, including delivery manager, stockroom

manager, replenishment manager and office manager, was also determined by its MAT plus

a few operational variables, such as whether delivery was done out of hours, or whether there

was an off-site warehouse.

The managerial structure of each of the sales floors was determined separately. Each

of them was individually graded into 10 bands, according to their own annual revenues. The

measure used was again based on MAT, but this was adjusted for the four product groups, so

that men’s wear had less cover, and children’s and home more cover, than the women’s wear

floor for the same amount of MAT. Three separate target structures were defined according

to weekly opening hours. Each of the target structures specified the number and grade of

positions available to a department, depending on their MAT and their opening hours, with

some flexibility in how coverage of Sunday trading was arranged. For instance, a women’s

wear floor with a MAT of £4 million and trading 70 hours per week was headed by a Grade

5 Sales Manager, who was supported by a Grade 7 Sales Manager and two Supervisors, one

of them part-time (20hrs).

In strict terms, Supervisors – also called ‘Senior Sales’ – were not managers and were

limited in some of the activities they could be involved in:

the only real difference is that I am not able to do disciplinaries or things like that, things that actually involve HR, but everything else I do virtually the same as if I was a manager

(MGR09)

In many ways, however, Supervisors functioned as the most junior level of store

manager. Supervisor positions were included in the managerial structure in the Store

Structure and Salary Pack.

The standard structures defined in the Structure and Salary Pack were almost

universally applied. There were however some exceptions where a store might obtain

additional staff. Such exceptions needed to be grounded on operational issues, such as a

difficult sales floor layout or exceptional operating conditions, and had to be supported by

senior management in the Retail Division.

Both the commercial and the operational structures of the stores were subject to

adjustments due to changes in store procedures. For instance, in the past a significant

amount of the workload of office staff involved the control of shifts and actual working

times. However, the implementation of a new automated clocking system eliminated that

workload, which in turn led to cuts and downgrades of office roles in many stores.

Occasionally, stores and individual floors grew beyond, or performed below, their

MAT banding and were upgraded or downgraded accordingly. This was normally made

effective in February taking into account MAT in December10. Increases of one grade usually led to the automatic promotion of the managers in the affected structure, whereas an

upgrade involving two or more grades meant the position was advertised and the incumbent

needed to reapply. Downgrades, on the other hand, triggered the so-called ‘red ring policy’

which established procedures to adapt the store structure to the new requirements through a

number of different arrangements that often meant managers were transferred to positions in

other stores.

As an example of how fluid the store grading system could be, one of the stores

visited during this research was downgraded after a midyear MAT review in which it

became apparent that new store openings in the vicinity were affecting its business. The

structure was adapted and consultations carried out with affected employees. Some

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Exceptionally, stores and floors could be re-graded at other times in the year, especially following events that significantly altered their business prospects, such as a refit or a store closing or opening in the vicinity.

Chapter 5 – HR function and HRM system

managers moved to other stores, while others chose to stay and take a downgrade and a pay

cut. Part-time staff members had their contract hours changed. By the end of the year,

however, MAT had recovered to previous levels and the store was reinstated to its former

grade. Changes were then reversed to again adapt the structure to the new MAT banding.