By Arron Buchanan, HR Business Partner (Four Square / LiquorLand)
From Four Square Houhora in the Far North, to New World Island Bay in the world’s coolest little capital, as the country’s largest grocery retailer, Foodstuffs are proud to be a homegrown co-op who feel privileged to have served New Zealanders for over 100 years.
Local grocers own and operate every one of Foodstuffs stores and are committed to delivering what’s right for their customers and communities. And, while each grocer is local, they also have huge scale that allows them to deliver awesome experiences for their customers every day.
Can you tell us a little more about the work you do at Foodstuffs, the suppliers you work with, and your professional journey so far?
Can you tell us a little more about the work you do at Foodstuffs, the suppliers you work with, and your professional journey so far?
In my role with Foodstuffs, I support our Four Square stores and the Liquorland team to be the best they can be with their people. Every area of Foodstuffs and our stores are so different so there is always a huge variety of projects which I get to be involved with – from things as basic as how to structure an employment agreement right through to running values session. I’m very privileged to be involved with some great people doing great things.
In terms of my professional journey, I first started in Pak’n Save Upper Hutt back in 2004 and have had a variety of roles in different stores for most of my career since this point. I was fortunate enough to be given an opportunity in HR back at New World New Lynn back in 2014. Foodies is such a great place to work and being in HR roles is a great way to help others unlock their potential and create better working experiences for all the teams I have been lucky enough to be a part of.
Since it’s such a critical business conversation amongst many businesses currently, can you share your thoughts on the importance of wellbeing in a modern workplace?
Working in a retail environment has never been easy. Our teams have always put in a massive effort into every part of what they do in our stores, and every day is just as busy, if not busier, than the last. Adding COVID into the mix, and everything that came with it, has only intensified how tough it can be for our teams. Add again the stresses people can be under in their personal lives and you have the perfect storm when it comes to wellbeing.
With everything that is going on it’s only becoming more and more important that we’re aware how our team members are doing – not just in the workplace but also outside of work. There are many areas of someone’s life which can impact on their wellbeing – including things such as physical and financial wellbeing, and what we do in our stores can affect all of these areas. If we’re aware of how people are doing, then we’re in a much better position to do what we can to assist with their wellbeing.
Our store owners do a pretty great job of this, some are simply a person that their team members can talk to, some offer opportunities to increase physical wellbeing – by providing things such as yoga classes, bootcamps or gym discounts, paying people fairly is important, and some of our stores have provided their teams with a discount to assist them with the pressures of inflation. Whatever the pressures our teams face, we need to ensure that we always know how our team members are doing and to do what we can to support them.
We understand Foodstuffs reached a 100-year milestone recently. Can you share a little insight into what this means to you and how you think the needs of your teams and customers have changed over the years?
Obviously, the co-op has been around for a lot longer than I have, but things have changed a lot since I first started in my career with Foodstuffs. We’re a lot more focused on the development of our team members, and in my opinion, we offer the best in-house training opportunities in New Zealand. Our store-based roles have evolved from ‘a first job’ to a role which can lead to many different opportunities across the co-op. I can genuinely say that there is a much stronger focus on how we can help our people get more out of life than when I first started.
Our customer driven journey is also one which has put customers and their needs at the heart of everything we do. Shopping habits have changed significantly over the years, and we’re constantly looking at what our customers want and making decisions that deliver a better experience for them based on solid data and insights.
How do you think local trends have impacted the cost of doing business in New Zealand, and how does this have an impact on your core role or your wider teams?
Inflation is affecting everyone – not just those in business but everyone in New Zealand. Within my role specifically, we’re always needing to consider how much we’re able to spend on wages; considering both the overall cost to each store and the need to look after our people.
It’s always going to be a tight balance, but our stores are nothing without the great teams we have working in them so it’s so important to always be looking at how we can be better for those people in our teams. To help balance things from a cost perspective we need to consider where we might be able to get efficiencies in our store operations – looking at everything from how we order and receive stock, to putting stock on the shelves and finally how that stock leaves our stores.
As a partner of the EMA, can you tell us how you’ve accessed EMA services or attend any of our events over the past year, and if so, how has this helped your team and your people?
EMA provide a great range of training, webinars and advice services. I’ve always loved attending the range of free webinars that provide information on what is happening within the legislative environment and the more general updates on what is happening within the economy as a whole. The AdviceLine is great for our stores, so when issues arise, we can know that we’re treating our people in a fair and reasonable manner.
What impact, if any, does COVID still have on your services, team and/or customers?
COVID has changed things significantly for everyone. We’re slowly heading back to some sense of normality but who knows what might happen in 2023! For the most part, I can say that everyone has dealt with COVID in a really positive manner. We’ve needed to implement a range of measures to keep people safe, and the general buy in from our teams and customers has been fantastic. There’s certainly been challenges, and our teams have dealt with these and are all probably enjoying the increased freedom we now have – particularly now we don’t have to worry as much about face masks!
Reflecting on 2022, what do you think the future might look like for Foodstuffs in 2023?
I’m not sure anyone can accurately predict what might happen in 2023 – if COVID has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. I’d like to hope we can continue our return to some sense of normality. We’ll definitely continue our journey to becoming the one of the most customer driven organisations in the world – ensuring that all of our decisions are made around what our customers want from us.
In the Four Square space, we’ll have new stores and store upgrades which will amplify the offer and experience to our customers. In the people space, we’ll also be looking at what our people are telling us and looking to continue making their experiences with us even better than they are now.
Finally, what’s the best piece of advice you can give to fellow New Zealand businesses and business owners to help them on their future journey?
The best piece of advice I could give is to listen to what our customers and team members are telling us, and to make any necessary changes to ensure that they all have better experiences with our businesses. Given I work in the HR space, I would have to reinforce the importance of making sure our team members have great experiences with us when they come to work.
Looking at global trends is also important. The business landscape is constantly changing, and no business will ever succeed unless they adapt and keep ahead of those changes.
For more information about Foodstuffs, please visit – https://www.foodstuffs.co.nz/
