Wilko – aligned values

The challenge

In 1930, JK Wilkinson opened his first store in Leicester. Today, the Wilkinson family run over 400 stores across the UK, with plans to open more.

In April 2017, Wilko set up tender process to source an external security services provider. At this point, Wilko directly employed the majority of their security personnel, many of whom had been with the company for over 20 years and had given great service. 

Whilst the tender would introduce a new operating model, retaining as many staff as possible was a key priority.

Solution

The contract required a 9-week national mobilisation. As this was a first generation TUPE for two thirds of the employees, a wide-ranging communication and engagement plan was deployed. This included, additional consultations, site visits and daily progress updates posted on a dedicated SharePoint page for Wilko officers and management.

At all times, the Mitie team were aligned with Wilko’s company values. This included demonstrating how we support their in-house team during and after they had transferred.

Outcome

A new operating model was implemented – Wilko now have one central point of contact for managing their security services.

In total, we managed to successfully transfer and integrate 127 in-house security officers, some of whom had been working for the Wilko family for over 20 years.

The new more efficient model meant that 62 roles were no longer required. Of the 62 people affected, 31 were found roles within Mitie, reducing Wilko’s redundancy costs by almost 50%.

More information

• The introduction of the Project BRAG platform has enabled a risk-based security deployment model across all Wilko stores, delivering further cost savings.