New Look veteran Ann Chan is so passionate about focusing on staff that she switched disciplines to head HR. Katie Kilgallen finds out how she is defining, and driving forward, a new cultural vision

Having spent 14 years with New Look, HR director Ann Chan often has it pointed out to her that it is a long time to spend at any one organisation. But Chan argues that the pace of change at New Look has made it feel more like moving to a new company every year.

“I know that sometimes people think that change is uncomfortable, but I think it is quite relished within New Look,” she says. Chan praises what she sees as the “can-do” attitude that pervades the organisation. “I think it has [always been there], but now it’s bottled better. We’ve got better structures and processes within the business,” she explains.

A new era for New Look was ushered in just a few months ago when Phil Wrigley was promoted from chief executive to executive chairman and Carl McPhail moved up from managing director to chief executive. A new cultural values programme is being backed by the executive board and personally sponsored by Wrigley. After a comprehensive employee survey, the retailer is now concentrating on three main areas: relationships and fostering collaboration, continuing to build its emphasis on achievement and focus on the customer. Chan says: “I think it really helps being sponsored by the executive chairman, because people understand how important it is.”

Bringing New Look’s international businesses together is another priority. Chan believes the retailer has come on in leaps and bounds in just a short space of time. She says: “About six to eight months ago, it felt quite separate, but we’ve done a lot of work to get it more aligned. You get a real sense that people don’t just talk UK any more – it’s ‘How can that be adapted?’ and ‘Is it right for international?’ Before, it may have been an afterthought.”

Despite 14 years at the fashion retailer, Chan only moved over to head HR function last March. Her background lies firmly in the operational side of the business. She originally joined as an area manager covering the Midlands and North Wales and worked her way up to become head of, and then director of, operations.

So why make the big leap from the commercial side to HR? “The part of the role I really loved in operations was people,” explains Chan. The personal development that the cha llenge of switching disciplines would bring was another attraction. But perhaps the real driving force behind the decision was a frustration that, despite her praise for the attitude within the organisation, it was not fulfilling its potential. “I felt frustrated with some of the changes I felt were needed to help focus on our people. I felt we had some great capability internally and didn’t always use that to the best of our strengths,” she says.

Chan is keen not to drift into an office-based role in her new position. “I love to be around people – in stores and logistics teams you get that all the time.”

She went straight from college into a full-time cashier role at her local Dorothy Perkins. The decision, it seems, was an easy one. It was her part-time job at Mansfield (then part of the British Shoe Corp and now no longer in existence) when she was at college that inspired her. “I really enjoyed it and made the decision I’d like to stay in retail. There was a new Dorothy Perkins opening in the town that I lived in, so I went and joined them,” she says.

Can’t get the staff

Retail might have been Chan’s calling, but she acknowledges that it is rarely viewed as a career of choice today. “The perception is improving, but I still think we have a long way to go,” she says. “I think sometimes they don’t always see the full sense. They look on the shopfloor and just see the manager and don’t see what other skills we require.”

As a founding member of networking organisation Women in Retail, Chan is passionate about helping to increase the number of women in the top jobs. It is not just a question of equality; there is a real business case for it. “Research has proved that women make the majority of purchasing decisions, so not to have them as directors or on the boards doesn’t seem to make sense. Where is the empathy with your customer?” asks Chan.

Again, she believes the situation is improving, but feels there is a long way to go. “It’s not because there is no want and there isn’t a capability issue or a skills gap. I think some of it is attitude and behaviour, but I think it is beginning to change. I can speak quite positively about New Look: about 45 per cent of the director population are female and one out of an executive board of six is female too.”

Better networking opportunities and championing women’s achievements can help. At present, Women in Retail has about 160 members and holds events three times a year. Aside from networking, there are opportunities for personal development and coaching for senior women. During the next couple of months, Chan will also be sitting on the judging panel for the first Everywoman in Retail Awards, which are due to take place in September.

However, the real answer, according to Chan, is flexible working. She views retail as the perfect industry for flexible working and job share schemes. “If you take New Look, we really looked at our talent pool and our succession plans and started to look at how, as an organisation, we can be adaptable to fit in with some of the other needs women have. So if you look at our management population, we will do flexible working; we will do job shares and enable women to take more senior positions,” she says. And the 24/7 nature of retail should actually provide more opportunities to make these arrangements work.

Chan’s own routine would daunt some. She lives with her husband in the village of Cold Hatton just outside Shrewsbury and commutes to London and Weymouth from there. Out of the working week, two days are spent either in the London office or at the group’s Weymouth headquarters. The rest of her time is spent in stores or at logistic sites.

“I’m either in stores or logistics, because that’s who I count my customers as being,” she says. “I think you learn from being out there. If you said I had to be locked in an office five days a week, I think I’d go insane.”

Chan certainly has no regrets about choosing retail as a career. As she says: “Working in the retail industry is definitely in my blood.”

Ann Chan is on the judging panel for the upcoming Every Woman in Retail Awards.
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