More retail staff were at risk of leaving their jobs at the start of this summer than at any other time in the last two years, new data has shown, as concerns around the insecurity of retail employment deepened.
The latest Retail People Index from charity the Retail Trust and analysts AlixPartners found that 54% of retail workers were a ‘flight risk’ between April and June 2025.
This figure represents a 19% increase from the previous year and is also the highest percentage the Retail People Index has recorded since it began tracking wellbeing across the sector two years ago.
More than 600 employees were surveyed, and answers to questions about pay, recognition, development and work-related anxiety were among those used to help calculate the flight risk score, which shows the likelihood of employees leaving their jobs.
Overall, wellbeing fell seven points year-on-year, from 66 to 59, and the number of retail staff working while feeling physically or mentally unwell rose by 12%, to 44% of all employees.
According to the new research, the impact of leading under-resourced teams has contributed to a decline in happiness levels amongst retail managers, which fell by 11%. This marks the first time that managers have reported feeling unhappier than non-managers since the publication of the first Retail People Index.
Many managers reported feeling unfairly paid and unrecognised for doing something well. Meanwhile, the number of retail workers reporting a positive relationship with their manager also dropped to its lowest level in two years.
Chris Brook-Carter (left), chief executive of the Retail Trust: “Our research has previously shown retail workers tend to be at their happiest going into the summer, once the busy winter is well behind them, but ongoing insecurities around jobs, finances and the political climate are continuing to take their toll on people working in retail.
“The rising employment costs announced in last year’s budget are placing huge economic pressures on the sector and we’re seeing this felt most severely by those working in management roles right now. They are the ones having to hold often under-resourced and unhappy teams together, and our findings suggest they feel inadequately supported for doing so.
“The financial pressures impacting the retail sector are largely outside of employers’ control, but there’s an urgent need to address the particular burden this is now having on managers.”
“The financial pressures impacting the retail sector are largely outside of employers’ control, but there’s an urgent need to address the particular burden this is now having on managers and to prevent the knock-on effect it will also have on their teams.”
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