Currys has been named as the UK’s best major retail employer in The Sunday Times’ prestigious Best Places to Work survey.
The annual study, one of the country’s most respected workplace assessments, saw the UK’s largest omnichannel tech retailer score particularly highly on colleague empowerment, job satisfaction and manager effectiveness in the ‘Very Big Retailer category.
This year’s results were based on confidential feedback from nearly 6,000 Currys colleagues and reflect a sustained, multi-year focus and investment in colleague experience that is central to Currys’ commercial strategy and success.
Since 2019, the company has systematically invested in reward, career progression, skills, tools, culture and leadership capability - grounded in a simple belief: in a business built on expert advice, our colleagues are our greatest advantage.
That approach is delivering measurable results:
- Currys’ colleague engagement now ranks in the top 3% of businesses worldwide.
- The company has cemented its position as the highest-rated major UK retailer on Glassdoor, with a score of 4.0/5.
- Store colleague attrition has nearly halved since 2019, giving customers access to more experienced, more knowledgeable colleagues.
Customer satisfaction is at record levels, with Net Promoter Scores rising every year for the past five years - and financial results are strengthening in turn.
Examples of the investments made include:
- Pay and reward: Store colleague hourly pay has increased by 37% since 2022, with a performance-based incentive structure that rewards colleagues for helping customers find complete technology solutions. Currys’ top-performing store colleagues earn significantly above the hourly rate through skills-based progression.
- Leadership and progression: Thousands of managers have completed dedicated leadership programmes - including a GM Academy for all 300 store General Managers, a Sales & Operations Manager Academy reaching 960 managers, and an Aspiring Managers programme creating a pipeline of future store leaders. More than half of corporate vacancies are now filled by colleagues promoted from the frontline.
- Tools and technology: Significant investment in colleague tools to make things clearer, simpler and faster - including AI-powered insights for store managers, electronic shelf-edge labelling that has freed up 138,000 colleague hours a year, connected headsets for faster customer service, and tablets bringing online and in-store experiences together.
- Listening and acting: A continuous colleague listening programme through ‘On the Pulse’, which has a 79% response rate across stores, generating more than 13,000 comments each survey. This feedback has directly shaped investments in colleague wellbeing and safety, ways of working, development, careers and reward.
- Culture and values: Currys is united by its Values (We Put Our Customers First; We Own It; We Win Together), which are embedded across the business and reinforced through leaders, recognition, reward, development and day-to-day ways of working.
- Flexibility: A leading hybrid working model delivering 92% colleague satisfaction, and a new central London headquarters in partnership with WeWork Waterloo.
- Wellbeing: A partnership with the Retail Trust providing wellbeing support for colleagues and their households, and 450 accredited Mental Health First Aiders across the business.
The investment in people is underpinned by a clear commercial logic. As colleague engagement has risen, so has customer satisfaction - with store Net Promoter Scores up 12 points over five years, and Currys’ store market share growing to 33%, its highest ever.
That virtuous circle - where engaged colleagues create better customer experiences, and better customer experiences drive stronger commercial results - enables Currys to continue reinvesting in its people to achieve even better financial results.
To mark the announcement, Currys is donating 100 laptops to families who need them most through its Tech4Families programme. In partnership with the Digital Poverty Alliance, the laptops will give children and their families access to the digital tools that are increasingly essential for education, work and daily life.
“This external recognition belongs to our 15,000 UK colleagues and our exceptional leaders. They are the reason customers choose Currys - their expertise, their passion and their commitment to helping customers discover, choose and enjoy amazing technology.
Paula Coughlan, Chief People, Communications and Sustainability Officer at Currys
“We set out to make Currys a place where amazing people want to work, stay and grow. We’ve invested in pay, in skills, in tools and in a winning, collaborative culture. The results speak for themselves: our colleagues are more engaged than ever, our customers are more satisfied than ever, and our business is performing at its strongest. When our people thrive, our customers and our business do too.
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