Embed our purpose, values and strategy
Our purpose, values and strategy shape how we work every day. In FY26, we launched refreshed values and behaviours, helping to strengthen a consistent and inclusive culture that empowers colleagues to deliver great experiences for customers while supporting our long-term ambitions.
Strengthen talent, succession and performance
We are committed to attracting, developing and retaining talented colleagues by creating opportunities for growth and progression. Through initiatives such as our Can-Do Academy, The Works Welcome induction programme and High Potential Programme, we equip colleagues with the skills, knowledge and support they need to succeed and develop into future leaders.
Listen and act on colleague insight
We believe that listening to our colleagues helps us create a better place to work. Our It All Starts With You annual colleague engagement survey provides valuable insight into colleague experiences and informs actions that strengthen engagement, wellbeing and performance. In FY26, we achieved a 76% happiness score and resulted in a three-star ‘Excellent’ accreditation, outperforming both UK retail and global benchmarks. These results were further reflected in our inclusion in The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2026 and the Financial Times UK’s Best Employers 2026, recognising The Works as one of the UK's leading employers based on colleague and industry feedback.
As well as reflecting the strength of our culture and the commitment of our teams across the business, this recognition also supports our ambition to be a sought-after UK employer and a destination for high calibre talent.
Bring purpose to life through community impact
We are passionate about making a positive difference for the communities we serve. By supporting charitable partnerships, community initiatives and opportunities for colleagues to get involved, we bring our purpose to life beyond our stores, Support Centre and Distribution Centre, creating meaningful impact for customers, colleagues and local communities.
During the FY26, we were pleased to continue supporting the National Literacy Trust and the National Year of Reading 2026. This partnership continues to be brought to life through our Find Your Story Book Bus tour, which is seeking to engage young readers in areas of the UK with more limited access to books and reading spaces.
We care about creating a workplace where our people can thrive.
We focus on learning and development, health and wellbeing, and diversity and inclusion to help us ensure that The Works is an engaging and inspiring place to work.
Our brilliant colleagues are what set us apart from the rest, giving our customers an outstanding shopping experience in a challenging and competitive retail environment. We are focused on attracting and holding onto great talent by creating a positive and uplifting culture where our colleagues can thrive.
In FY26, we launched refreshed values and behaviours, embedding a consistent, inclusive culture aligned to our purpose and strengthening how colleagues represent our brand.
Every year, our colleagues have their say about their experiences at work in our It All Starts With You colleague engagement survey ‘It All Starts With You’. 77% of our colleagues completed the survey with a 76% happiness score, earning The Works’ three-star ‘Excellent’ accreditation and outperforming UK retail and global benchmarks.
Health and wellbeing
Health and safety (H&S)
The health and safety of our colleagues is always our priority and we take a proactive approach to make sure we improve H&S performance each year. We maintain an online portal for colleagues to report incidents with data analysed for trends to support impactful interventions. We have invested in a strengthened structure and focussed on improving cross functional working in our Health and Safety and Property teams.
Wellbeing
Our wellbeing strategy ensures we focus on all aspects of our colleagues’ wellbeing and outlines the ways colleagues can access support when they need it. All colleagues have access to:
- MyWorks Wellbeing Hub, our communications and engagement platform, which provides quick access to physical, mental and financial wellbeing resources.
- Our Employee Assistance Programme through our partnership with the Retail Trust, which colleagues can access 24/7.
- Wagestream, a financial wellbeing platform with a multitude of different tools to support colleagues in all aspects of their personal finances.
We have also begun to invest in wellbeing training for our senior leadership team to enable them to role model great wellbeing and to better equip them to appropriately support colleague wellbeing.
Diversity and inclusion (D&I)
Our D&I strategy sets out four key priorities which we are committed to delivering:
- Further improve our understanding of D&I across our business.
- Improve D&I training and enhance awareness.
- Review our internal processes to ensure barriers to inclusion are removed.
- Ensure everyone at The Works is accountable for their role in creating an inclusive workplace.
79%
I believe The Works policies and procedures are fair and inclusive for everyone.
79%
I'm proud of the progress we are making towards diversity & inclusion.
68%
I see people like me progress at The Works.
0
In the engagement survey, we also got the perfect D&I score of 0 too.
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