The document discusses how Zappos is transforming its retail environment by adopting a holacracy philosophy that places trust at the heart of the employee experience and allows employees to break from traditional hierarchies. This has led to increased associate engagement and customer satisfaction, as well as changes to compensation structures that better align with the self-organized work environment and impact the bottom line.

1. The challenge
How do we provide a more purpose-driven
working environment in retail to inspire our front
line employees to feel they have the trust and
the support to deliver remarkable experiences
for every single customer every time they shop
to keep them coming back over and over again?
The LEAP
Zappos is becoming a self organized and self
managing retailer placing trust at the heart
of the employee experience. Adopting a
holocracy philosophy, it is creating a unique retail
envionment where people feel comfortable
breaking out of the traditional hierarchy and
learning a new way to work.
The result
Associate engagement – and customer
satisfaction – have been taken to new levels,
and the move to a holocracy has opened up
new approaches to compensation and benefits
structures which align with a self organized
working environment and have an immediate
bottom line impact.
The inspiration
Hollie Delaney
Head of People Operations
Zappos
We need the employees closest to our
customers to be more engaged in, committed
to and passionate about their work than ever to
deliver the experiences our customers expect.
Only by continually pushing the envelope on
how our organizations are structured and
function will we create an environment where
that is possible.
Hollie Delaney
The full story
Lift the lid on the full story at
LEAP HR: Retail
www.leaphr-retail.com
How ZAPPOS is making
the retail organization of
tomorrow a reality today
LEAP HR
Radical Change Through People
Retail

2. The challenge
How do we find a new way to engage our
distributed retail populations on a real-time basis
and democratize the workplace to drive collective
ownership and improved performance from our
front-line staff?
The LEAP
Patagonia has introduced family-affirming policies
to reduce turnover costs, increase productivity
and transform engagement, and has started
on the path to measuring morale in real time
to remain connected with a distributed
workforce and ultimately to predict and
prevent unwanted turnover.
The result
By challenging traditional retail people practices
in this way and by making what appear - at first
glance - to be counterintuitive business decisions
like these, Patagonia has transformed culture
and engagement and at the same time has
tripled profits.
The inspiration
Dean Carter
Vice President HR and
Shared Services
Patagonia
The challenges for multi-store and digital
retailers are so different than the challenges
faced by other industries that it’s vital to work
together to find new ways to affect systemic
change.
Dean Carter
The full story
Lift the lid on the full story at
LEAP HR: Retail
www.leaphr-retail.com
How PATAGONIA is
rethinking how to engage
a new retail workforce
LEAP HR
Radical Change Through People
Retail

3. The challenge
How do we solve the challenge of high turnover
in fast paced retail environments, replace the
unstable, just-in-time schedules that have been
the norm in retailing for years and effectively
transform engagement across our retail and
consumer organizations?
The LEAP
Gap has discovered that work-life integration
beats work-life balance in transforming
engagement in retail. It was the first retailer to pilot
ground-breaking research around flexible working
and smart scheduling, and in implementing the
world’s largest results-only work environment.
The result
By applying leading-edge thinking around the way
we work in retail, Gap has provided statistically
significant results which have demonstrated its
ability to cut turnover in half, drive engagement,
and revolutionize service scores.
The inspiration
Eric Severson
most recently Co-CHRO
& SVP HR
Gap
By sharing evidence-based, leading-edge
solutions to the unique challenges retailers
share, we can transform the associate and the
customer experience at the same time.
Eric Severson
The full story
Lift the lid on the full story at
LEAP HR: Retail
www.leaphr-retail.com
How GAP is changing
how retailers think about
work-life integration
LEAP HR
Radical Change Through People
Retail

4. The challenge
How do we more effectively develop a reliable
pipeline of ‘ready-now’ leaders at the rate we
need to solve the unique challenge of operating
profitably in a fast-paced, high-turnover retail
environment?
The LEAP
Valvoline is breaking the rules of succession
planning by transforming it from a complex,
annual activity to a streamlined monthly process
and the team is actively challenging traditional
assumptions to deal with the whole employee
population, not just senior level leadership.
The result
Rapid-fire succession planning is now the norm,
and accelerated bench planning has become the
driving force behind training and development.
The business is now able to develop fantastic
managers faster to keep pace with growth and
turnover and eliminate the risk of managerial gaps.
The inspiration
Jamie Hinely, Head of Talent
Development, Valvoline
Our industry is unique and are business
moves so fast that we need to create our own
solutions unique to the operating environment
we work in.
Jamie Hinely
The full story
Lift the lid on the full story at
LEAP HR: Retail
www.leaphr-retail.com
How VALVOLINE is rewriting
the rules of succession
planning in retail
LEAP HR
Radical Change Through People
Retail

5. The challenge
Given the inflationary wage pressures we are all
facing, combined with regulatory changes which
have far-reaching implications for retailers of all
sizes, what creative compensation strategies can
be deployed to incentivize great performance
whilst protecting profit margins?
The LEAP
By radically rethinking pay for performance across
its operations, Texas Roadhouse has been able
to change the way teams operate and how they
are rewarded and incentivized, allowing them to
spend more time focusing on how to provide a
legendary experience for customers.
The result
By making these changes, Texas Roadhouse has
been able to more effectively drive the associate
behaviors, engagement levels, staff attraction
and employee retention metrics in the direction
it needs them to go in to enable the business
to thrive.
The inspiration
Mark Simpson,
Vice President Legendary People
Texas Roadhouse
Our industry is facing fundamental
challenges right now, and if we are to solve
them, we need a new way of thinking about
everything we do, from recruitment, to rewards,
to retention.
Mark Simpson
The full story
Lift the lid on the full story at
LEAP HR: Retail
www.leaphr-retail.com
How TEXAS ROADHOUSE is
reinventing rewards to incentivize
legendary performance
LEAP HR
Radical Change Through People
Retail

6. The challenge
As the profile of employees we need in a future
retail workforce changes, how do we best balance
the multiple implications of hiring, engaging,
leading and retaining digital, technological,
fashion and retail workforces inside the same
organization?
The LEAP
Warby Parker has built a roadmap for building and
scaling a retail business on a digital foundation,
ensuring the retail culture feeds back to a digital
DNA. In this way, it has managed to balance the
implications of finding and keeping digital and
retail workforces under the same roof.
The result
By retaining a start-up culture whilst the company
grows at pace towards being a majority brick
and mortar business, Warby Parker has become
Fast Company’s most innovative company and is
planning to triple the size of it’s retail business.
The inspiration
Susan Lee
Head of People
Warby Parker
A lot of retailers ask us how we do things,
but we are curious about them too – the idea
of bringing us all together in a disruptive
environment at LEAP HR: Retail promises to
be both exciting and valuable.
Susan Lee
The full story
Lift the lid on the full story at
LEAP HR: Retail
www.leaphr-retail.com
How WARBY PARKER is
building a future retail
workforce right now
LEAP HR
Radical Change Through People
Retail