Bon Preu, the main distribution group with Catalan capital, will invest one million euros this year in the training plan of its Escola d’Oficis, where it prepares professionals to occupy very specific positions in its Bonpreu or Esclat stores. These are positions in the fishmonger, delicatessen or bakery areas, where they need workers who know how to handle and prepare these foods. Some professions that have been lost over the years and whose profiles are scarce in the labor market. For this reason, Joan Font’s company has launched its own training programme, which began in 2005 and is now gaining momentum with the training of 1,100 people.
It is also one of the pillars of a broader strategy to revalue employment in distribution, claim its contribution and improve the retention and recruitment of talent that the group presented this Wednesday in Barcelona.
The campaign, called “Vestits d’Orgull”, highlights the value of all the trades that exist in its supermarkets, and the importance that the work of the company’s professionals has for society. “During the pandemic and confinement, the sector received great social support, we were considered heroes, but this perception has worsened,” reflected Albert Aranda, Director of People at Grup Bon Preu.
The company has prepared a study to analyze the perception of work in supermarkets. Among the conclusions, they highlight that 81.7% of the Catalan population considers that work in a supermarket is not valued at all. Likewise, 83% of Catalans believe that working in a supermarket is an option to earn a living only in cases where there is no other alternative, the group explains.
Aranda has described these data as “worrying”, given the impact they can have on the morale of the workforce, as well as on attracting workers. The report also confirms that more than 72% of the population affirms, emphatically, that they would not work in a supermarket or would do so with reservations.
Bon Preu has proposed to break these “myths that exist in the social imaginary”, with data. To do this, it will carry out different initiatives on social networks, with explanatory videos about the work in its supermarket network and the different profiles that exist in them, from clerks and replenishers, to computer engineers and other technologies, purchasing specialists or store managers who have to manage a budget that can reach 20 million euros, with dozens of people under his supervision.
“22% of our staff have a seniority of more than ten years, 28% of our employees are university graduates and another 18% have a higher degree; we are also committed to training and internal promotion; in the last five years we have promoted more than 700 people”, comments Aranda. Bon Preu has a workforce of 9,600 people and has agreed to a 6.5% salary increase for this year (between 2022 and 2025 the salary increase will be 12.5%).
The campaign will begin with the presentation of a short documentary starring six Bon Preu workers: Olga, Osuman, Cristina, Marc, Carla and Jordi, who represent each of the claimed trades: fishmonger, warehouse, bakery, delivery man at home, box and replacement. And it is accompanied by a manifesto signed by Joan Font i Fabregó, President and General Director of the Bon Preu Group.
“The initiative is complemented by an action on the symbol that represents the profession: the uniform,” they explain from the company. Thus, a special uniform has been designed that includes vindictive and emotional messages that appeal to the pride of the profession.
