highlights
about action
action in 2022
sustainability
people
planet
product
partnership
future
governance
appendix
People
Our people are the backbone of Action. We ensure that they feel good about working at Action. We offer job opportunities to a large and increasing number of people in ten European countries and offer training and development possibilities enabling them to grow.
Our people are key to our success
With over 60,000 employees at the end of 2022, Action plays an important role in society. In addition, over 19,700 individuals work for Action on a basis other than an employment contract. In total, 79,755 people representing 136 nationalities were employed by or through Action. Everyone is welcome to work at Action, regardless of education, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, ability or background.
Regional Manager
Jimmy Bassien, Regional Manager Paris Area
In the space of four years, Jimmy Bassien went from being an Assistant Store Manager to a Regional Manager in the Paris area (FR). It started in 2014 with a phone call from a recruiter. They told me about Action and I remember saying:
“I don't know much about them, but I'd love to find out more.”
Read more
People of Action
Values and Code of Conduct
The Action formula is powerful, but our success as a business depends entirely on the enthusiasm and commitment of our people. Irrespective of our different backgrounds or position within the company, we all share the Action values. These are at the core of our success, as they provide the basis for our interaction with each other, our customers and our business partners. Our values help us in decision making, reacting to certain situations and in creating a fun, challenging and joyful work environment.
Our values are also the foundation of our Code of Conduct, clearly establishing how we do business, how we communicate, how we comply with laws and regulations and how we speak up. The Code of Conduct has been updated and will be relaunched in 2023. An alert line and other speak up channels are in place at Action and in the different countries where we operate. We are closely monitoring the consequences of the European Directive on Whistleblowing and national implementations of that Directive (still in progress). Where needed, we will adapt our policies and channels / way of working.
People pillar, strategy and ambition
In 2022, we took the step towards unifying our commitment on People. We created a strategic plan for 2023-2025. The plan is built around concrete ambitions in our three focus areas (Recognition and Personal Growth, Engagement, Inclusion and Diversity, and Care for well-being), as well as concrete actions and deliverables. Our ‘can-do’ mentality, entrepreneurial spirit and values support the implementation of our People Plan.
Highlights
In 2022, we created new jobs and offer career opportunities, chances for our employees together with the growth and development of Action.
We offer everyone a chance to work at Action. We want every employee to have access to relevant training and development possibilities enabling them to excel at and grow in their job.
we exceeded
our 2023 goal of 1.4 hours of training/employee.
In 2022
policy launched
Action
Health&
Safety
implemented in all Action countries.
and onboarding
Exit
Surveys
to further encourage diversity, equity and inclusion.
in development
Action plan
with the Launch Senior Leadership Programme.
participants
Ambition of
2,454
internal
promotions
2,667
created by adding
280 new stores.
new internal jobs
8,211
completed, with an average of 1.5 hours/employee.
training courses
61,343
We provide work to 80,000 people, representing 136 different nationalities.
people
80,000
People in Action
Read more
In 2022, we created 8,211 new internal jobs by adding 280 new stores. In total, we recruited almost 48,000 new employees. At the end of the year, 60,052 employees were employed by Action. In addition, 19,703 individuals work for Action on a basis other than an employment contract. It is very common to have high employee turn-over in retail positions, as a large proportion of employees join Action for a short period of time and a limited number of hours per week. Usually, as a first job alongside school to gain work experience and useful skills for their further career, or as a way to combine their job with studying or taking care of their family.
Recognition and personal growth
Action invests in the ongoing development of its people. We create new jobs and offer career opportunities, chances for our employees along with the growth and development of Action. We believe internal promotions are an important driver for engagement, retention, and recruitment. They are also key to preserving our Action DNA as we grow. Our rapid expansion enables us to provide opportunities for internal mobility and promotions.
Material topic
Strategic objective
Action wants to ensure that every employee has access to relevant training and development opportunities. We want everyone to have both the information and the skills, to excel at and grow in their job. Action prioritises talent development to stimulate internal mobility and promotions. Our objective was to achieve an average of 1.4 hours of training per employee in 2023. In 2022, the average number of hours of training per employee was 1.5. The expanded range of online and e-learning courses and an improved registration process increased the average number of training hours in 2022, exceeding our target. The target for 2023 is now an average number of training hours of 1.6 per employee.
To drive engagement and foster development, we want our employees to feel recognised for the work they do. We do this by offering training, performance appraisals, internal promotions, fair pay and benefits, and feedback. Through the Action Academy, we offer our employees the opportunity to participate in training courses in different fields and for different purposes.
Management of material topic
- Functional (77%): focused on functional and job skills. A good example is the HR advisor programme that kicked off in November 2022. Participants followed two days of workshops on roles, challenges and expectations, pre- and post-workshops sessions via a digital platform and peer sessions on topics such as managing difficult situations. HR advisors are supported in their day-to-day work through one-on-one coaching.
- Compliance (19%): on topics required by local legislation, such as safety, first aid, fire extinction and data privacy. These trainings are mandatory for Action employees.
- Leadership (4%): to develop the people management skills of the senior management and leadership principles. In 2022, programmes for different target groups were offered: operational leadership for Store Managers, management skills for middle management, tactical leadership for Regional Managers and strategical leadership for Senior leaders.
Progress made
A total of 61,343 training courses were completed in 2022, spread over three types of areas:
management skills training
Hidde Clevers, Campaign manager Marketing, joined the management skills training:
“I wanted to develop myself into a better manager to get more out of my team and myself. For me, the discussions with fellow participants about many practical examples were very valuable. We challenged each other and shared tips and tricks from our management experiences. For example, in pod- sessions during which we zoomed in on a personal case and where we helped each other to apply concrete actions in our current work.”
Training management skills
The digitalisation of the Action Academy continued by implementing a learning management system (SF learning) and providing access to all employees with an Action e-mail address. Via this platform, employees gain access to mandatory training and training completion is logged. In addition, employees can search for and enrol in 185 different classroom- and online learning opportunities.
Digitalisation of
the Action Academy
The senior leadership programme was launched in September 2022 with three groups and 70 participants. Seven new groups will follow in 2023. A leader within Action drives team performance, employee development and engagement. Based on our leadership principles (lead, connect, enable) leaders are made aware of these responsibilities. They learn how to lead their teams, develop the necessary skill set and learn from their peers. The programme has a duration of six months, with three separate learning modules and includes 360 feedback assessments and coaching.
Leadership programme
In addition to supporting the development of our employees, we consider it just as important to invest in future generations of retail talent as potential leaders for our stores and distribution centres. Action offers vocational schooling (internships to prepare students for a job in retail) in the Netherlands (202 participants in 2022), Germany (116 participants), France (77 participants) and Austria (5 participants in a pilot), in line with local regulations. In 2022, a ‘blueprint’ was created to support expanding vocational schooling in more countries.
Vocational schooling
‘Recognition and personal growth’ is a definitive part of the budget preparation of Action, as the country-by-country annual training calendars and training needs are explicitly budgeted for. We monitor the execution of the training calendar as part of the People plans on group, country, and regional levels. Progress on strategic goals is tracked via our People plan and performance meetings. Employee feedback on learning and development is part of the Voice of Action, our online survey on employee engagement. We monitor the results closely and, where necessary, develop policy actions for improvement. Data from our performance management systems also provide insight into leadership effectiveness
Monitoring and evaluation
Our ambition is to promote on average one internal employee to Store Manager or Assistant Store Manager per store per year. Countries have made plans in 2022 to achieve this goal. We managed to achieve 2,667 internal promotions at Action in 2022 across all positions. In new and expanding countries, through the opening of new stores, we are creating even more opportunities and can promote store employees to Assistant Store Manager and Store Manager positions. This year, Store Managers, Assistant Store Managers, and specific job levels at offices have been added to the talent management process for the first time. Their performance and potential have been rated, giving us systematic insights into the potential of our employees in these positions and allowing us to identify and put individual development paths in place.
Internal promotions and talent management
Action will continue working to offer opportunities for growth to our people, while we set a new goal for 2023. In addition, we want to achieve an average of one internal store promotion to Store Manager or Assistant Store Manager per store per year. We will also provide vocational schooling to 530 students across the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Luxemburg and Poland.
Remaining targets
Managers are the drivers of employee development and they monitor the need for training in their teams. With the newly implemented learning management system, managers can assign learning to employees and track the progress of (self)assigned learning. Employee feedback on learning and development is part of the Voice of Action engagement survey, including monitoring results and improving policy where needed.
Role of stakeholders
Engagement, inclusion, and diversity
Measuring engagement
Continue reading
Engaged employees are happier, serve our customers better, are more likely to stay and are key to our success. Information on the key drivers of employee engagement at Action is crucial to identify areas for improvement. In addition to our bi-annual engagement survey (Voice of Action), we have added new engagement surveys to generate more targeted insights and ensure we continuously listen to our employees.
Implementation of the 2021 survey's action plans continued in 2022. In Belgium and Luxembourg, for example, employee internal growth potential and exceptional performance were made recurring topics during weekly meetings with Regional and Store Managers and in conversations with individual employees. In France, a risk prevention training was developed for Store Managers and Assistant Store Managers after the survey showed that safety at work could be improved. We will carry out the next survey in 2023. Our objective is to outperform the retail benchmark on engagement and employee net promotor score (a score showing the extent to which Action employees promote Action to others as an employer).
Care for well-being
Continue reading
Our people are essential to the success of Action. That is why, health and safety management and employee well-being are key priorities at Action. The key objective is to provide a healthy and safe work environment for everyone, in every role.
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Planet
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Sustainability
People
Our people are the backbone of Action. We ensure that they feel good about working at Action. We offer job opportunities to a large and increasing number of people in ten European countries and offer training and development possibilities enabling them to grow.
Our people are key to our success
With over 60,000 employees at the end of 2022, Action plays an important role in society. In addition, over 19,700 individuals work for Action on a basis other than an employment contract. In total, 79,755 people representing 136 nationalities were employed by or through Action. Everyone is welcome to work at Action, regardless of education, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, ability or background.
Regional Manager
Jimmy Bassien, Regional Manager Paris Area
In the space of four years, Jimmy Bassien went from being an Assistant Store Manager to a Regional Manager in the Paris area (FR). It started in 2014 with a phone call from a recruiter. They told me about Action and I remember saying:
“I don't know much about them, but I'd love to find out more.”
Read more
People of Action
Values and Code of Conduct
The Action formula is powerful, but our success as a business depends entirely on the enthusiasm and commitment of our people. Irrespective of our different backgrounds or position within the company, we all share the Action values. These are at the core of our success, as they provide the basis for our interaction with each other, our customers and our business partners. Our values help us in decision making, reacting to certain situations and in creating a fun, challenging and joyful work environment.
Our values are also the foundation of our Code of Conduct, clearly establishing how we do business, how we communicate, how we comply with laws and regulations and how we speak up. The Code of Conduct has been updated and will be relaunched in 2023. An alert line and other speak up channels are in place at Action and in the different countries where we operate. We are closely monitoring the consequences of the European Directive on Whistleblowing and national implementations of that Directive (still in progress). Where needed, we will adapt our policies and channels / way of working.
People pillar, strategy and ambition
In 2022, we took the step towards unifying our commitment on People. We created a strategic plan for 2023-2025. The plan is built around concrete ambitions in our three focus areas (Recognition and Personal Growth, Engagement, Inclusion and Diversity, and Care for well-being), as well as concrete actions and deliverables. Our ‘can-do’ mentality, entrepreneurial spirit and values support the implementation of our People Plan.
Highlights
In 2022, we created new jobs and offer career opportunities, chances for our employees together with the growth and development of Action.
We offer everyone a chance to work at Action. We want every employee to have access to relevant training and development possibilities enabling them to excel at and grow in their job.
We provide work to 80,000 people, representing 136 different nationalities.
people
80,000
created by adding
280 new stores.
new internal jobs
8,211
internal
promotions
2,667
implemented in all Action countries.
and onboarding
Exit
Surveys
completed, with an average of 1.5 hours/employee.
training courses
61,343
we exceeded
our 2023 goal of 1.4 hours of training/employee.
In 2022
to further encourage diversity, equity and inclusion.
in development
Action plan
with the Launch Senior Leadership Programme.
Ambition of
2,454
policy launched
Action
Health&
Safety
People in Action
Read more
In 2022, we created 8,211 new internal jobs by adding 280 new stores. In total, we recruited almost 48,000 new employees. At the end of the year, 60,052 employees were employed by Action. In addition, 19,703 individuals work for Action on a basis other than an employment contract. It is very common to have high employee turn-over in retail positions, as a large proportion of employees join Action for a short period of time and a limited number of hours per week. Usually, as a first job alongside school to gain work experience and useful skills for their further career, or as a way to combine their job with studying or taking care of their family.
Recognition and personal growth
Action invests in the ongoing development of its people. We create new jobs and offer career opportunities, chances for our employees along with the growth and development of Action. We believe internal promotions are an important driver for engagement, retention, and recruitment. They are also key to preserving our Action DNA as we grow. Our rapid expansion enables us to provide opportunities for internal mobility and promotions.
Material topic
Strategic objective
Action wants to ensure that every employee has access to relevant training and development opportunities. We want everyone to have both the information and the skills, to excel at and grow in their job. Action prioritises talent development to stimulate internal mobility and promotions. Our objective was to achieve an average of 1.4 hours of training per employee in 2023. In 2022, the average number of hours of training per employee was 1.5. The expanded range of online and e-learning courses and an improved registration process increased the average number of training hours in 2022, exceeding our target. The target for 2023 is now an average number of training hours of 1.6 per employee.
To drive engagement and foster development, we want our employees to feel recognised for the work they do. We do this by offering training, performance appraisals, internal promotions, fair pay and benefits, and feedback. Through the Action Academy, we offer our employees the opportunity to participate in training courses in different fields and for different purposes.
Management of material topic
- Functional (77%): focused on functional and job skills. A good example is the HR advisor programme that kicked off in November 2022. Participants followed two days of workshops on roles, challenges and expectations, pre- and post-workshops sessions via a digital platform and peer sessions on topics such as managing difficult situations. HR advisors are supported in their day-to-day work through one-on-one coaching.
- Compliance (19%): on topics required by local legislation, such as safety, first aid, fire extinction and data privacy. These trainings are mandatory for Action employees.
- Leadership (4%): to develop the people management skills of the senior management and leadership principles. In 2022, programmes for different target groups were offered: operational leadership for Store Managers, management skills for middle management, tactical leadership for Regional Managers and strategical leadership for Senior leaders.
Progress made
A total of 61,343 training courses were completed in 2022, spread over three types of areas:
In addition to the preparation work, during the onboarding days in our distribution centre in Bratislava new employees had the chance to meet each other and to become a real team through teambuilding activities. The group also learned who we are, becoming familiar with the Action values, formula, and history. Our dedicated Store Managers from the Czech Republic trained our new colleagues on our assortment and onboarding plan.
Welcoming customers in a new country takes a lot of preparation. In early 2023, we opened our first store in Slovakia. We are already busy with preparing all the required documents and recruiting and training our new Slovakian colleagues.
Training new employees in Slovakia
management skills training
Hidde Clevers, Campaign manager Marketing, joined the management skills training:
“I wanted to develop myself into a better manager to get more out of my team and myself. For me, the discussions with fellow participants about many practical examples were very valuable. We challenged each other and shared tips and tricks from our management experiences. For example, in pod- sessions during which we zoomed in on a personal case and where we helped each other to apply concrete actions in our current work.”
Training management skills
The digitalisation of the Action Academy continued by implementing a learning management system (SF learning) and providing access to all employees with an Action e-mail address. Via this platform, employees gain access to mandatory training and training completion is logged. In addition, employees can search for and enrol in 185 different classroom- and online learning opportunities.
Digitalisation of
the Action Academy
The senior leadership programme was launched in September 2022 with three groups and 70 participants. Seven new groups will follow in 2023. A leader within Action drives team performance, employee development and engagement. Based on our leadership principles (lead, connect, enable) leaders are made aware of these responsibilities. They learn how to lead their teams, develop the necessary skill set and learn from their peers. The programme has a duration of six months, with three separate learning modules and includes 360 feedback assessments and coaching.
Leadership programme
In addition to supporting the development of our employees, we consider it just as important to invest in future generations of retail talent as potential leaders for our stores and distribution centres. Action offers vocational schooling (internships to prepare students for a job in retail) in the Netherlands (202 participants in 2022), Germany (116 participants), France (77 participants) and Austria (5 participants in a pilot), in line with local regulations. In 2022, a ‘blueprint’ was created to support expanding vocational schooling in more countries.
Vocational schooling
‘Recognition and personal growth’ is a definitive part of the budget preparation of Action, as the country-by-country annual training calendars and training needs are explicitly budgeted for. We monitor the execution of the training calendar as part of the People plans on group, country, and regional levels. Progress on strategic goals is tracked via our People plan and performance meetings. Employee feedback on learning and development is part of the Voice of Action, our online survey on employee engagement. We monitor the results closely and, where necessary, develop policy actions for improvement. Data from our performance management systems also provide insight into leadership effectiveness
Monitoring and evaluation
Our ambition is to promote on average one internal employee to Store Manager or Assistant Store Manager per store per year. Countries have made plans in 2022 to achieve this goal. We managed to achieve 2,667 internal promotions at Action in 2022 across all positions. In new and expanding countries, through the opening of new stores, we are creating even more opportunities and can promote store employees to Assistant Store Manager and Store Manager positions. This year, Store Managers, Assistant Store Managers, and specific job levels at offices have been added to the talent management process for the first time. Their performance and potential have been rated, giving us systematic insights into the potential of our employees in these positions and allowing us to identify and put individual development paths in place.
Internal promotions and talent management
Action will continue working to offer opportunities for growth to our people, while we set a new goal for 2023. In addition, we want to achieve an average of one internal store promotion to Store Manager or Assistant Store Manager per store per year. We will also provide vocational schooling to 530 students across the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Luxemburg and Poland.
Remaining targets
Managers are the drivers of employee development and they monitor the need for training in their teams. With the newly implemented learning management system, managers can assign learning to employees and track the progress of (self)assigned learning. Employee feedback on learning and development is part of the Voice of Action engagement survey, including monitoring results and improving policy where needed.
Role of stakeholders
Engagement, inclusion, and diversity
Measuring engagement
Continue reading
Engaged employees are happier, serve our customers better, are more likely to stay and are key to our success. Information on the key drivers of employee engagement at Action is crucial to identify areas for improvement. In addition to our bi-annual engagement survey (Voice of Action), we have added new engagement surveys to generate more targeted insights and ensure we continuously listen to our employees.
Implementation of the 2021 survey's action plans continued in 2022. In Belgium and Luxembourg, for example, employee internal growth potential and exceptional performance were made recurring topics during weekly meetings with Regional and Store Managers and in conversations with individual employees. In France, a risk prevention training was developed for Store Managers and Assistant Store Managers after the survey showed that safety at work could be improved. We will carry out the next survey in 2023. Our objective is to outperform the retail benchmark on engagement and employee net promotor score (a score showing the extent to which Action employees promote Action to others as an employer).
Care for well-being
Continue reading
Our people are essential to the success of Action. That is why, health and safety management and employee well-being are key priorities at Action. The key objective is to provide a healthy and safe work environment for everyone, in every role.
Planet
Next page