Yodel expands Retail Trust partnership for staff wellbeing

Parcel carrier Yodel has expanded its partnership with the Retail Trust to enhance employee wellbeing support and address workplace challenges in the retail sector.

The relationship between Yodel and the Retail Trust began in 2018. Since then, the Retail Trust has supported nearly 1,000 Yodel employees, representing 34% of the company's workforce, through various support services.

These services have included over 10,300 interactions via the Retail Trust's website, helpline, and retail rewards app. Yodel has facilitated almost 400 online and in-person counselling sessions, assisting employees with issues such as trauma, loss, and anxiety.

The partnership also offers helpline support, financial wellbeing advice, and financial aid to staff. In addition, employees have received access to retail discounts and rewards totalling more than GBP £55,175 since the partnership's inception.

Yodel now utilises the Retail Trust's generative AI-powered dashboard, which helps employers monitor mental health trends and provides actionable insights to improve workforce wellbeing. This tool enables Yodel to track the impact of its wellbeing strategies in real-time, benchmark them against industry standards, and identify the financial value of its initiatives for both the company and the wider economy.

As part of the enhanced collaboration, Yodel is supporting the Retail Trust's 'respect retail' campaign. The campaign aims to address abuse experienced by retail workers and includes dedicated training to help staff feel safer and manage difficult situations. Yodel already conducts internal briefings on these matters and plans to introduce formal training sessions in 2025 in conjunction with the Retail Trust.

Yodel has also placed stickers supporting the 'respect retail' campaign on its fleet of vehicles as a show of solidarity with the initiative.

In addition to programme implementation, Yodel contributed to the Retail Trust through a charity golf day held in September 2024, raising over GBP £10,000. The funds will be used to provide further support for retail workers in need.

Ali Richardson, HR Director at Yodel, said, "We are incredibly proud to strengthen our long-standing partnership with the Retail Trust, an organisation that shares our commitment to the wellbeing of our colleagues. Throughout the partnership, the Retail Trust has provided invaluable support to our team members, with great success and feedback."

"We look forward to rolling out further offerings and competitive benefits for our colleagues in 2025, while standing in support of the Retail Trust's 'respect retail' campaign."

Chris Brook-Carter, Chief Executive of the Retail Trust, said, "We're helping more and more retail businesses build healthier and happier workplaces by providing their people with new tools and resources to manage their mental, physical and financial wellbeing and supporting employers to identify the right steps they need to take.

"Yodel is a great example of a logistics brand championing the health and happiness of its staff, so we are looking forward to providing everyone working there even more support this year as we continue to build on our existing partnership."