Canadian HR Reporter

N E W S 12 www.hrreporter.com Mental health a focus as risks rise for retail Innovation and anxiety were two defining features of the retail sector as it coped with the pandemic lockdown. Along with major safety changes, employers are focusing on workers' mental health, writes John Dujay Rexall undergoes major redesign For one major Canadian pharmacy, the entire store design had to be reimagined. "The changes have been dramatic; it's been a big shift in how we operate," says Frank Monteleone, senior vice president of human resources and president of Rexall Care Network in Toronto. "We had to put a number of different practices in place to ensure the health and safety of our employees and customers, from social distancing to increased cleaning, [and] visitors and vendors that come into the store have certain processes they need to follow to make sure that they can enter the store," he says. "We have acrylic barriers up at the pharmacy in the cash counters, increased cleaning protocol for high- touch areas. We've also let staff know that if they're not well, stay home." through a day at work, going home and then coming back to work again — it really took a toll on our members' mental health." "It took probably six to eight weeks before things settled in terms of… shopping for your groceries with plexiglass and spacing and customer flow-through," says Hanley. Major revamp of safety measures Many stores undertook massive changes to layouts, says Diane Brisebois, president and CEO of the Retail Council of Canada (RCC) in Toronto. "The most obvious one has been signage at the entrance and signage on doors and windows and walls but also on floors. They've had to reconfigure their layout to respect social distancing and they've had to move displays or eliminate some displays to allow for more space." In addition, there are ground-breaking ideas that are transforming the retail environment, she says. "For example, if you're selling beauty products — creams and lotions and makeup — some retailers are testing augmented reality. You would stand in front of a screen and identify the product you want to try. The screen would replicate your image and would allow you to virtually try different eyeshadows or lipsticks without having to test them in the stores. There's a lot of innovation going on." As well, many large retailers are adding "contactless" technology in washrooms and with entrance doors, resulting in fewer surfaces needing to be touched by the public, says Brisebois. To manage the transition, Rexall immediately brought in new training procedures, says Monteleone. "Health and safety training has always been mandatory, but we added additional courses for things like proper hand washing, use of masks and gloves and additional training on COVID- 19. We've trained people on physical distancing, and store sanitization." Boosting worker's mental health Another issue plaguing the retail industr y during the coronavirus outbreak was keeping up employee morale during anxious times. For Rexall, it was an opportunity to reimagine engagement with the workforce, says Monteleone. " We have been ver y good with keeping regular touchpoints with our employees through virtual town halls or team meetings, to make sure people are being connected and we're giving them information as often as we can so people still feel connected," he says. "We're also really good at sharing positive feedback that we get from customers and it's gone over very well." That's one "silver lining" that's emerged from the pandemic, says Brisebois, CANADIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY SEES SLOW GROWTH "We have been very good with keeping regular touchpoints with our employees through virtual town halls or team meetings." Frank Monteleone, Rexall Care Network 29.6% Fall in part-time work from February to April 4.6% Growth in the number of people employed in retail trade in July 92.7% Percentage of retail workers back on the job in July WHEN the COVID-19 emergency was declared and lockdowns were imposed, large parts of one sector remained open — retail — which had a profound effect on both employers and employees. While many office workers stayed home and manufacturing and service workers were laid off, front-line retail employees soldiered on, especially those declared essential. Many employees experienced levels of anxiety while remaining on the job, says Wayne Hanley, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada, Local 1006A in Toronto. "We did experience a death, we've experienced some serious illnesses among our membership and we still have members that are off," he says. "But that uncertainty of not knowing whether you were going to get it, making it Source: Statistics Canada 90.9% Percentage of workers saying their workplace had been reorganized due to COVID-19

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