Vancouver-based Spark Group, which has been supporting travel retail staffing and recruitment in Canada and the U.S. for the past 10 years, is a finalist for the 2023 Frontier Award: People and Planet / Diversity and Inclusion for its campaign called Elevating Travel Retail Careers.
The campaign proposes a modernized Human Resources framework that rests on the values of Diversity and Inclusion, Equity and Equality as a mission critical agenda for our industry, says company President & Founder Heidi Van Roon.
“The airport employment brand is perfectly positioned for a more formalized ESG agenda that emphasizes workforce design for top tier talent. It promises to elevate jobs to careers for our work teams that extend societal benefits to our communities while improving the customer experience in our stores,” says Van Roon. “We believe the TR industry has an opportunity to become the most dynamic retail experience anywhere if our people priorities are designed and supported more intentionally.”
Van Roon insists that the new era of Travel Retail is rebuilding around People and Planet priorities. Toward that end, SPARK proposes that in order to take good care of our customers, we first need to take care of our people who are at the front line of the customer experience working a bespoke magic into every engagement.
Speaking with TMI, Van Roon explains further:
“I think especially for North America it will be essential for the industry to elevate the messaging, the positioning and the practices around our employment offers. In broad strokes we really need to move away from a jobs mindset and more competitively towards a careers mindset. In many cases our roles are under-represented or stigmatized. This perception needs to change.
“The reality is that TR careers have much to offer if we update what we do and build a more intentional plan that ensures top tier candidates for our stores. We want to help amplify this call with one message at a time and many messages over time because I really don’t think this will go away. Among the costs that are hardly mentioned are the opportunity costs of attrition, disengaged staff, outdated customer service models and understaffed counters, particularly in the categories that are not self-serve.”
Spark prepared a four-minute video that explains the ideas, the priorities, and the action plans around recruiting, staffing, and digitalization for a new era of retail. It can be seen on youtube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIaakI7kQ2k
This campaign was also a finalist in the 2022 Trinity Challenge that champions sustainable and innovative industry practices in travel retail. The recognitions to date signal that elevated professionalism in our stores is on the global radar.
For more information, contact heidi.vanroon@sparkgroupinc.
