Central England Co-operative – more than just a real estate project
Our transformational hybrid roadmap has fostered increased wellbeing and productivity for both individuals and teams at the Central England Co-operative. The retailer has redesigned its workspace and has successfully encouraged greater collaboration through the implementation of a range of workplace settings.
The situation
The Central England Co-operative trades across 16 counties in England, running a range of businesses from florists to food stores. It is one of the largest independent retailers in the UK, employing more than 7,000 people across 400 outlets.
The management team at the Central England Co-operative realized many of the practices it had adopted during the pandemic were better than those it had previously relied upon. They wanted to assess their operational effectiveness, with the aim of developing a new workplace culture and reducing the size of the organization’s property portfolio.
Our approach
We held workshops with the retailer’s leadership team to understand their goals and collaborated with Co-operative employees to learn about their processes. As a result of this research, we identified specific areas where changes could increase productivity on an individual and collective level. Our tailored report outlined how these changes could be introduced through hybrid working and is now used as a strategy guide by the Central England Co-operative.
