Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.
Hari (centre) is a part-time Sales Executive in our Swords store, just outside of Dublin, Ireland. One year on from his initial training with us, Hari delivered the second-highest sales performance across all our Ireland stores during Black Friday week 2023. So, what helped Hari achieve this, considering he had no previous retail experience before joining Currys? Hari says: “All we need is an opportunity and someone to back us. On this occasion, I am very much grateful for the managers in my branch who have always had my back regardless of anything. So never ever stay inside your comfort zone, go explore because you never know what it holds for you.” And if that wasn’t enough, Hari also recently graduated from university with a Masters Degree! 🎓 What an incredible colleague!
When Sales Coach Paul saw an opportunity to upskill colleagues, he didn’t think twice. As leader of the Retail Forum, he realised he could share his expertise with our Forum Reps. “I wanted to use my skillset to help upskill, develop and support the reps to be more effective in their Forum Rep roles, but also give them skills they can use every day,” says Paul. And the verdict? A fantastic 4.8 out of 5 so far: “Colleagues liked the conversational, non-judgemental, non biased approach to delivery and they could easily relate it to their work and personal life. They also loved the tools they could take away to refer back and use to support themselves in building the skills.” “The end goal is for this development programme to form part of an official Forum Induction process. Ensuring all our Reps have the necessary skills to be amazing, effective and represent the voice of the colleagues within the business.” What a great idea. Nice one, Paul.
The new Women’s Network is here! The official launch took place at our Waterloo WeWork office, and kicked off with an enjoyable and engaging agenda. 📝 First up, was the network’s co-founder Diane Spindley (pictured) who gave an intro to Women’s Network, and shared her career journey story. 🧭 Michelle Gorringe-Smith also described her professional journey, from Retail Buying through to her current role as Director of Stores. 🎤 We then had talks on striking the perfect work/family balance, and on becoming an ally for female inclusion (regardless of your own gender). Reflecting on the event, the network’s other co-founder, Kirsty Littlemore said: “Phenomenal speakers, amazing turn out.. and a genuine belief that together we can make a difference! Thank you to everyone who made the effort to come! 🎉” #WomensNetwork #FemaleInclusion #Allyship
When Stephen, our Internal Comms Manager and the amazing Co-Chair of the Pride At Currys Employee Resource Group, said he was interested in starring in one of our latest ads, the marketing team cast him immediately. For us, the greatest thing isn't that he’s stepping out of his comfort zone and trying something new, but that he's actively supporting inclusivity at Currys. “Actions speak louder than words in my world. I want to make sure LGBTQ+ people are represented in our customer and colleague marketing. It’s high on the priority list for our LGBTQ+ colleague network,” says Stephen. Judging by the snaps, he was a true natural in front of the camera. Kudos, Stephen.
Our newest grads joined our Technology & Supply Chain pathways recently, completing an in-depth induction that included meeting our CEO, and getting out on the road with our Delivery & Install teams. Induction complete, now it's over to them to help shape the future of Currys.
Our colleagues regularly have Career Conversations with their managers to discuss their aspirations and how to reach them. To help Retail colleagues get ready, our Talent Acquisition Team visited stores and provided handy career toolkits and resources. "It's been fantastic to be out in stores meeting a whole range of our amazing colleagues; some who have only just joined us and others who have been here for 25 years. Each with a different story to tell and a top tip for reaching your career goals" — Charlotte, Talent Attraction Manager. It's our way of helping our team take charge of their futures, and their career direction. Find out more about our learning and development here: https://bit.ly/3y9NJA1
Over in Advertising, it was just another day, filming a colleague sitting in a tubful of cold beans. "Did you say ‘beans’?" We hear you ask... Yep. It was all part of the new TV ad we’re filming – and we can’t wait to see it live. The action was overseen by Philip, our Advertising Manager, who told us all about it: “These new campaigns make me proud to work for Currys because they show our ability to cater for everyone, whether big into tech or not at all, and ultimately promote how new tech can help enrich people’s lives. “What I enjoy most about this part of my role is getting to work with capable, creative people to help reach a commercial & brand goal.”
Here’s our National Forum getting together to share, listen and learn. Justin Smyth, the Forum Chair, led the proceedings, making sure everyone’s voice was heard. “It was great to be able to get Currys Retail Forum together at our brilliant Academy at Fort Dunlop in Birmingham. Colleague engagement is key to any successful business and over the past two years, there has been lots of work done to have an effective voice of the colleague. With reps there from all across the UK, it was exciting to have our Chief People Officer Paula Coughlan at the meeting answering questions from the team, showing how much our senior leadership teams value the work that we are doing.” We’re looking forward to the next session, Justin. #RetailForum #EmployeeEngagement #WeWinTogether
Woo-hoo! This is the pose you take when you’re one of our 23,088 colleagues who, collectively, have trained for 310,937 hours over the last 12 months! That means, on average, each of these colleagues has trained for 13 hours and 25 minutes. Incredible. 👏 #WeWinTogether #Learning #Development #CareerGrowth
Meet Ashley. When tech goes wrong, can he fix it? Yes, he can! Based at our Newark hub – the biggest electrical repairs centre in Europe – he’s got the skills to breathe new life into all kinds of tech, and get it back in the hands of our customers before you can say ‘Bob’s your uncle’. We asked him to share three weird or wonderful facts about his role and one in particular was very unexpected: 1. He loves how interactive his team are, sharing ideas and solutions between each other. 2. He loves the fact that TV technology is always evolving. It means his role, his repairs knowledge, and his day-to-day challenges evolve too. 3. The strangest tech fault he’s ever had? A customer whose TV wasn’t working as their ‘missing pet snake’ was hidden in it! 🐍 Wow! Definitely not an everyday repair job.
