Retail Support Manager

Without staff and volunteers, our shops can’t open. And if our shops aren’t open, they’re not generating vital income to help fund the support we provide to local children and families.
That’s where you come in. By providing manager cover for sickness, holidays and vacancies rotating across a number of our shops, you’ll help us ensure we never lose a day of sales.
Flexible and adaptable, you’ll love the chance to get stuck in, ensuring our teams continue to hit their sales targets, deliver great customer service and maintain excellent merchandising standards, whichever shop you’re in.
Your experience in retail will mean you can hit the ground running and, because this is a permanent not bank role, you’ll be able to build good working relationships with the teams across the shops. And don’t worry, you won’t be out of pocket – we’ll pay your travel to each shop.
If you’re looking for a role that’s full of variety and makes good use of your retail skills, then we want to hear from you!
Retail Support Manager - Benefits: Entry into Peoples Pension, death in service benefit (3 x salary), out of pocket expenses, free access to confidential and extensive wellbeing support, generous holiday entitlement (26 days plus bank holidays rising to 31 days after 5 years for a full time employee), free tea / coffee, sight tests and flu jabs and excellent learning and development opportunities.
Retail Support Manager - Role Summary
Our vision is to deliver pioneering care through pregnancy, childhood and loss, wherever families need us, whatever the future holds. This role supports our vision by ensuring our shops continue to generate vital income for the charity, during periods of staff sickness, holidays or recruitment.
As our retail support manager, you’ll provide support to shop managers in our shops across West Yorkshire. Stepping in to provide holiday and sickness cover, you’ll support the shop team of staff and volunteers to achieve sales targets and maintain excellent merchandising standards whichever shop you’re in.
You’ll help us deliver class-leading customer service, while also complying with hospice and retail policies and procedures and security, health and safety standards.
Retail Support Manager - Main Duties and Key Responsibilities
Income and budgets
* Achieve and wherever possible exceed sales budgets for the shop/shops being covered, and proactively address any shortfall in sales with support from the shop manager and area manager.
* Support the shops in ensuring the gift aid process effectively and efficiently.
* Ensure pricing structures are adhered to, to enable the shop to maximise profit.
Customer service / public relations
* Proactively drive excellent customer service in shops being covered.
* Proactively promote Forget Me Not campaigns and core messages as directed by area manager.
Merchandising and premises
* Maintain high standards of merchandising throughout the shops being covered.
* Achieve and maintain a high standard of housekeeping and cleanliness throughout the shops being covered.
* Be a designated shop key holder for multiple locations, opening and closing the premises.
Stock
* Adhere to stock management procedures
* Ensure that the stock sorting areas in shops being covered are organised efficiently and safely at all times.
* Accept, sort, price and display stock in accordance with our guidelines, acknowledging receipt and arranging furniture collection and deliveries where necessary.
Team and cost management responsibilities
* Lead by example and adhere to all hospice and retail policies and procedures.
* Attend and be actively involved in team meetings when requested by area manager.
* Promote a happy working environment for all staff and volunteers in shops being covered.
Administration
* Assist shops in ensuring all administration is completed within hospice and retail guidelines.
* Assist shops in ensuring that all electronic records and emails are actioned or responded to appropriately and within timeframes set, complying with the GDPR and hospice security procedures.
* Complete mandatory training when requested.
Security
* Ensure all shops covered are secure and report any concerns to the area manager.
* Ensure that all staff and volunteers follow the correct cash handling and stock handling procedures within the shops being covered at all times.
For all of our roles we expect employees to abide by the expectations set out within the Together for Families Framework (attached). Complying with Together for Families means that we will all act with integrity to ensure we are trusted the people we care for, the people we work with and everyone who supports Forget Me Not.
Retail Support Manager - Person specification
Skills and experience
Essential
* Excellent organisational skills
* Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing
* Ability to motivate people
* Strong team player with the ability to work hands on across any of the in store functions.
* IT Literate, excellent skills using Microsoft packages
* Excellent standards of record keeping, both written and computerised
* Ability to work flexibly.
Desirable
* Previous charity retail experience
* Previous experience managing or supervising a team.
As this role involves working out in the community, you will need to have a full, driving licence and access to a car for work purposes.
This role will involve weekend work on a rota basis and so flexibility is essential.
Equality and Diversity
Please note that we are committed to equality and diversity and make the following pledge in relation to our recruitment practices;
- We will actively encourage and support under-represented groups to join us as employees
- ​We will always interview you if you are an applicant with disability who meets the essential requirements of the job and will provide adjustments to the recruitment process if required.
- We are committed to supporting part time and flexible working; we will consider part time working requests for all our roles
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions