Retail Assistant

About Us
St Michael’s Hospice is nestled in the stunning Herefordshire countryside, in a state-of-the-art facility. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, a transferrable NHS pension or you can enrol onto our own Hospice pension. We offer Life Assurance, a superb working environment and facility, generous study leave allowance, discounts with local suppliers, individualised training needs analysis, advanced communication skills training, employee counselling service, free tea & coffee, a friendly & welcoming work environment and 30 days annual leave, plus bank holidays. We are one of the top 100 best not for profit organisations to work for and have been caring to make a difference, to patients living with a terminal illness and their families, across Herefordshire and beyond for 40 years.
Job Description and Person Specification
For our Ross-on-Wye Cantilupe Road and Gloucester Road sites we are looking for someone who loves working with pre-loved items and has the ability to go the extra mile to deliver excellence in customer service. Under the guidance of management, you will ensure appropriate stock is on the shop floor and customers are supported at all times to maximise sales and ensure a great customer experience. You will champion gift aid and lottery sales and look for every opportunity to maximise profit for hospice care.

You will need to be flexible and adaptable, ready to accept and work with different stock, jump on the till, help a customer to find the perfect purchase or signpost a supporter to understand more about the Hospice. You will be an ambassador for St Michael’s at all times.
In return for your commitment, we’ll provide a competitive salary and benefits package, within a highly reputable charity.

***This role is 22.5 hours worked over 3 days to include weekend work***

This role is to cover both Cantilupe Road and Gloucester Road sites

Job Description and Person Specification
Job Title: Retail Assistant

Salary Grade: 4

Hours: 22.5 hours worked over 3 days to include weekend work

Department: Retail

Location: Ross-on-Wye Cantilupe Road and Gloucester Road sites

Reports to: Retail Manager

Job Purpose: To undertake a range of retail and warehouse activities to ensure efficient trading to maximise income and profit. To work with the Retail Manager to ensure the shop floor is fully stocked, with attractive displays, and customers are given excellent customer service.

Responsibility Areas:
• Working as part of a team, contribute to reaching financial targets on income and expenditure
• Work with the shop management team to ensure KPIs, retail objectives and targets are met
• Operate in line with the Retail Operations Manual
• Assist with any requests for customer deliveries and collections utilising the logistics system with Boxmove
• For stores with furniture and large goods help with the acceptance and moving of furniture/large goods between areas, making sure items are moved safely at all times between the sales floor and collection/delivery areas.
• Always deliver and implement a high standard of customer service
• Deal effectively with any complaints or refund requests, escalating issues where required
• Merchandise sales across all departments to increase income potential depending on season, including furniture and large goods for home and living stores.
• Assist with managing stock levels, ensuring the sales floor is fully stocked, to ensure full income potential
• Be confident with the EPOS system to ensure that daily and end of week financials are accurate
• Identify specific stock for online trading to obtain optimum income
• Ensure that under the Retail Gift Aid scheme donor data is captured accurately and maximised on the donation of goods
• Assist with pricing of items in accordance with the retail pricing policy and guidance from management
• Comply with all financial procedures regarding daily cash handling
• Assist in the procedures covering the delivery and stock-taking of all new bought-in goods
• Champion the reduction in waste, through focus on recycling and identification of stock for pound shops during sorting processes.
• Ensure every appropriate customer is asked at the till to support the lottery
• Ensure that all Hospice retail policies and procedures, in line with the retail operational plan, are followed.
• Signpost and assist supporters accordingly if they wish to find out more about the Hospice.

People Interaction & Communication
• Support and encourage the team of volunteers, creating a positive and welcoming environment, aligned with the Hospice values.
• Ensure that Hospice safeguarding procedures are followed
• Actively participate in volunteer recruitment
• Show respect and compassion when coming into contact with bereaved individuals.
• Demonstrate the values and behaviours of St Michael’s Hospice at all times.

Legislative Compliance
• Ensure compliance with all Hospice H&S policies and procedures
• Ensure compliance with all relevant Trading Standards
• Ensure that GDPR is adhered to in all areas
• Ensure compliance with waste legislation and processes
• Participate in risk assessments with management where requested.
• Participate in all regular Fire and H&S checks
• Report any incidents, near-misses or accidents to Retail Manager

Recycling & Waste Management
• Follow processes for recycling to provide maximum income from this source
• Ensure safe waste management procedures are adhered to

Property Maintenance
• Communicate any maintenance issues to Retail Manager
• Ensure that all equipment is safe to use, and any defect reported to Retail Manager.
• Administer the rules of good housekeeping, cleanliness and organisation in all areas

Person Specification
1) Specialist knowledge and experience

Essential
• Relevant retail or warehouse experience
• Knowledge of Health & Safety, Manual Handling and Trading Standards
• Basic IT skills

Desirable
• Experience of charity retail
• Experience of working with and nurturing volunteers
• Knowledge of Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS)
• Commercial awareness of valuable items

2) Skills and behaviours

Essential
• Customer Focus: Puts the customer first and is eager to please them. Works hard to meet customer needs
• Commercial awareness: Understands the competitive environment and applies commercial principles. Views issues in terms of cost and profits,
• Action orientation: Demonstrates a readiness to make decisions, take initiative and originate action.
• Interpersonal sensitivity: Interacts with others in a sensitive and effective way. Respects and works well with others.
• Resilience: Maintains effective work behaviour in the face of setbacks or pressure. Remains calm, stable and in control of themselves.
• Planning and organising: Organises, prioritises and schedules activities and resources.

3) Special conditions
• Daily manual handling of heavy and bulky stock. This includes moving stock, to or from the receiving area or from donors/customer’s vehicles.
• Regular handling of soiled and broken materials, including potential contact with needles, requiring personal protective equipment e.g. uniform, gloves.
• Lunch breaks sometimes disrupted due to business demands
• Occasional challenging behaviours
• Weekend work, as per the rota
• Working in warehouse environment.

Our Values

“What matters to you is what’s important to us”

To ensure we deliver upon this every day, we empower people to work collaboratively to reach the best possible decisions, realise them in the best possible way and at the best possible time.

We value:
• Knowledge, judgment, and kindness in reaching the best possible decisions
• Courage, integrity, and passion in realising those decisions in the best possible way
• Honesty, empathy, and determination in doing so at the best possible time.
• Living our values influences the way we behave. The way we behave informs the way we do things. The way we do things is the St Michael’s way

Equal Opportunities Statement
At St Michael’s Hospice we are committed to an equal opportunities approach in everything we do. This means that we seek to ensure anyone connected with St Michael’s, from patients and families through to donors, supporters, volunteers, and staff are treated fairly, appropriately and with dignity and respect.

Next steps

• Application Guidance Notes
• Download the Equal Opportunities Form
• Your Information and How We keep It Safe
• Download the Recruitment of Ex-Offenders Policy

Need some help?

To find out more, of if you need help with your application, contact our recruitment team