Lydia Christie speaks with Chris Brook-Carter, Chief Executive Officer of the Retail Trust, about modernising one of the retail sector’s oldest institutions for today’s realities. Chris reflects on the leadership lessons of the past five years, the growing wellbeing crisis facing retail workers, and why happy, healthy people are now critical to business resilience.
Their conversation spans the pressures reshaping retail – from economic uncertainty and generational change to the rise of AI – and explores how data, culture, and better people leadership can help the industry thrive.
Lydia: You’ve been at the Trust for five years now and there has been significant and rapid change during that time. What have been the biggest leadership lessons from modernising a very old organisation in a modern, retail-focused world?
Chris Brook-Carter: I think one of the biggest lessons is around relevance – the constant search for it, and the need to make sure your organisation stays relevant over time. That’s as true for us as it is for a retailer. Fundamentally, it comes down to asking: who are you there to serve, and why do you exist in the first place?
When I look back at the transformation of the last five years, the most important thing we did was go right back to the beginning – January 3rd, 1832 – and really understand why the founding patrons set the organisation up in the first place. When you do that, you almost always rediscover a very clear sense of purpose.
What was remarkable is that those founding principles – nearly 200 years old – still felt just as relevant today. The idea that happy, healthy people create thriving industry; that real change requires as many people as possible feeling connected to a shared cause; and that investing in people’s health is ultimately an investment in productivity and prosperity. Those principles became the foundation of our strategy.
Lydia: You mentioned that those founding ideas are still relevant today. From a mental wellbeing perspective, have you seen shifts over time that perhaps wouldn’t have been envisaged originally?
Chris Brook-Carter: Yes, definitely. Over the last five years, one of our biggest achievements has been repositioning the Trust so it sits right at the centre of how the retail sector looks after its people. We now act as something of an umbrella organisation, helping the industry develop a stronger sense of identity around wellbeing.
There’s no doubt we’re the right organisation at the right time. Covid fundamentally opened up conversations around mental health that were long overdue. Business has a critical role to play in public health – especially when the state is struggling to cope with rising mental health issues, particularly among 16–24 year olds.
There’s also a clear self-preservation element for businesses. If people aren’t well, businesses don’t thrive.
Historically, the Trust has stepped in at pivotal moments. In the 1860s, it helped shape the working week. In the 1890s, it opened retirement homes before there was any national safety net. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, it played a major role in rebuilding UK high streets after the Blitz.
Lydia: Retail is facing huge uncertainty – economic pressure, rising costs, and technological disruption. How do those challenges shape your work around people and wellbeing?
Chris Brook-Carter: Retail has always been tough, but it really is particularly challenging right now. Cost bases are harder than ever to control – wages, technology, consumer expectations – all of it creates uncertainty and pressure on sustainable business models.
Our opportunity as an organisation is to help retailers see that significant savings can be made through their people – not by employing fewer staff, but by keeping the people they have happy, healthy and productive.
We’re facing rising absence, more people leaving work due to ill health, and a real crisis in the workforce. As an organisation, we have a huge opportunity to help address that in one of the UK’s most important industries.
Across the 200 businesses we work with, covering around 650,000 people, our data suggests the financial risk to the sector from health-related churn alone is around £7 billion a year. Historically, businesses haven’t tackled this strategically, largely because they didn’t have the data to connect absence and churn with specific drivers – or to know what interventions actually work.
For a long Our opportunity as an organisation is to help retailers see that significant savings can be made through their people - not by employing fewer staff, but by keeping the people they have happy, healthy and productive. Across the 200 I genuinely believe we’re at one of those moments again. time, wellbeing support was very one-size f its-all. We now know that doesn’t work.
For a long Our opportunity as an organisation is to help retailers see that significant savings can be made through their people - not by employing fewer staff, but by keeping the people they have happy, healthy and productive. Across the 200 I genuinely believe we’re at one of those moments again. time, wellbeing support was very one-size f its-all. We now know that doesn’t work.
From a leadership perspective, another crucial lesson has been getting the team right – building a high-performing culture that feels more like a fast-moving startup than a traditional charity.
What we’re building is a model that shows organisations where their risks are, what’s driving them, and how to intervene in a targeted, measurable way.
Lydia: With the data you’re gathering, what are individuals valuing most in terms of wellbeing and engagement? And do you see generational differences?
Chris Brook-Carter: Absolutely – and this highlights why data is so important. For a long time, wellbeing support was very one-size-fits-all. We now know that doesn’t work.
Different generations, job roles, seniority levels, and demographics all engage with wellbeing very differently. For example, 16–24 year olds are currently the least happy group in the workforce. They’re more likely to experience anxiety, absence, and churn. Older generations generally show greater resilience.
Job roles matter too. Our data shows colleagues in distribution centres are the least happy, followed by store colleagues, with head office employees being the happiest. There’s also seasonality – wellbeing tends to dip during peak retail periods and improve in spring. That’s why we encourage major engagement and training initiatives during spring, when people are more receptive.
So the strategy has to be nuanced. One approach simply doesn’t fit everyone.
Lydia: Looking ahead, how are you using AI and technology to support this work?
Chris Brook-Carter: For a charity doing this type of work, we’re relatively advanced in our use of AI. With data from 650,000 colleagues, there are huge numbers of micro-trends beneath the surface. AI allows us to identify those and act on them.
Each month, our platform generates tailored action plans for partner businesses, highlighting risks around absence and churn and recommending targeted interventions. We also use AI to personalise support for individuals – not just addressing symptoms like poor sleep, but identifying root causes and directing people to the most appropriate resources.
I’m very optimistic about AI’s role in workplace health. It enables true personalisation at scale.
That said, AI will also cause disruption in retail, including job losses. But I believe it will massively increase the importance of culture. If AI levels the playing field on IQ, then EQ, culture, and human connection become the real competitive advantage.
Lydia: How do you measure the success of your work with retailers?
Chris Brook-Carter: At the simplest level, we’re obsessed with reach – how many people are accessing support each year. That support ranges from crisis intervention after traumatic incidents to everyday help with sleep, finances, or lifestyle changes.
But we’re equally focused on outcomes: are we improving health, reducing absence, and preventing people from reaching crisis point in the first place?
Currently, around 15% of the 650,000 colleagues we support engage with our services – far higher than industry norms. Our priority is growing that number, because early intervention is what truly drives down churn and absence.
One of the biggest predictors of wellbeing is still the relationship with a line manager. That’s why training junior line managers is always one of our first interventions. In retail, they manage the majority of staff and customer interactions, yet often receive the least training in people skills.
We work hard to prevent accidental counselling – encouraging managers to signpost people to professional support rather than trying to solve complex mental health issues themselves.
Lydia: Finally, what’s your vision for the next 12–24 months?
Chris Brook-Carter: Our focus is on two main areas.
First, continuing to develop our data and AI capabilities to give the sector deeper, more actionable insights that reduce costs through happier people.
Second, building a coalition of retailers to campaign for kinder, healthier shopping environments – for colleagues and customers alike. This year’s Let’s Respect Retail campaign (retailtrust.org.uk/respect) has had strong media reach, national advertising through shopping centres, and free training for over 3,000 colleagues in conflict de-escalation and recovery.
However, to turn this into a true national movement, we need more major retailers to come on board. This is a complex, society-wide issue, and it requires an industry-wide response. Individual policies aren’t enough – we need to face this challenge together as a sector.
Curious about what 2026 has in store for the retail industry? Download our EDGE of Retail 2026 report now.
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