A chance discussion with a member threatening to leave the union gave Usdaw Mobile Union Learning Rep (MULR) and stand down Rep Shelley Middleton an idea to launch a new campaign in Tesco Express and Metro stores.

Shelley covers the Leicester area and she works in an Express store, so knows the operation well. During a stand down and whilst visiting an Express site in Loughborough, a member told her she was thinking of leaving Usdaw.

Shelley said:

She said it was dead money for something she didn’t use and what does the union really do for me? This is something our stand down reps here every day”.

Shelley`s response was to inform her of what Usdaw does and the educational opportunities Usdaw offers. The member listened, enrolled onto a distance learning course and stayed as member. It was a good result for the union and the member.

But Shelley’s light-bulb moment was to link this complaint to the lack of Usdaw’s learning profile in smaller stores. Raising this profile could not only help to retain members but to recruit new ones and to make sure members got the most out of their membership.

Within the Leicester area there are 25 Express / Metro stores and it’s difficult to find the resources to cover the smaller units even when issues have come to light. Shelley’s idea was to use the Tesco Area Forum to raise the issue of learning, brief store managers and get the company to buy into the learning project,

Meetings were arranged with the Tesco Area People Partner and Group Trainer, who is an also an Usdaw ULR and understood what the campaign could deliver for Tesco staff. The company were keen on the idea and an approach was agreed to promote learning in the 25 smaller stores. The package agreed was a learning offer and a promotion strategy for the stores.

The learning offer was based around Functional Skills, Distance Learning courses and Deaf awareness/British Sign Language (BSL). These are all popular subjects in retail and, except for BSL, could be delivered through distance and blended learning. This is an approach that is suited to small workplaces.

The promotion strategy was linked to the Check Out learning campaign and included ideas on how to engage colleagues, get buy in from store management, how to get the message across, ensure colleagues had time to attend and to get involvement from providers

Both sides agreed that it was essential to embed this into Tesco Process, with People Partners, Area Managers and Store managers and to use all internal mechanisms to communicate out to colleague’s opportunities available.

The first stage is briefing for staff and managers from stores and is planned for late July.

Shelley said:

We anticipate we will get at least 10 colleagues from each store to attend, and we will also be providing an email address to contact for enquiries.”

Midlands Project Worker Neil Chapman said:

It’s the first step in an ambitious project, but it’s a great idea. Well done Shelley from turning a conversation with a disgruntled member into a great opportunity.”