M&S has hired an all-female leadership team to head up its five new flagship stores set to open later this year.
The group of six women have more than 115 years of retail experience between them and will lead a combined team of more than 1,000 staff members.
Two of the new managers will job share the role under the retailer’s Worklife flexible working offering.
M&S has also launched a Job Share Finder app to make it easier for its employees to find roles available for job share.
The openings – in Leeds White Rose, Liverpool One, Birmingham Bullring, Manchester’s Trafford centre and Lakeside in Essex – are part of the retailer’s £480m investment into its store estate.
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M&S group HR director Sarah Findlater said: “We’re delighted to have such a fantastic group of women to lead our five biggest new store openings this year.
“Stores are key to M&S’s omnichannel future and we know from the performance of our recently opened and renewed locations that customers are responding well to the changes we’re making.”
“We also want to make sure that M&S is a great place to work for our colleagues [and] we’re determined to offer our colleagues the options to help them achieve a good work-life balance.
“Whether it’s working flexible hours or job sharing like Naomi and Emily in our new Birmingham Bullring store, our colleagues have told us that these options have given them more choice and freedom on how they’re able to make time for their families and themselves.”
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3 Comments. Leave new
Bit sexist
More than a bit sexist
I understand the intention to offer more leadership roles to women, I think that is amazing. More women definitely deserve to be in managerial positions.
However my problem with this is that this still isn’t promoting equality within the business. The focus shouldn’t just be on women. What if men end up being in the minority of people considered for managerial roles?
Despite the intent, this doesn’t justify the action. This is in my opinion sexist. I hate to be blunt, but I feel passionate about a future where we have a diverse team of people in managerial roles.
I am all for women being in leadership roles, but not at the expense where men or people with other gender identities become the minority. I think we need a fair mix of people with a more diverse range of backgrounds.
For example, what if someone who identifies as non-binary aspires to have a managerial role within M&S?
I think we need to focus on creating a more diverse team of people, not solely women.