Case Study

Tesco UK and Ireland

Home Safe and Well

Safety Culture

Inclusive Workplaces

Tesco plc, trading as Tesco, is a multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer with headquarters in the United Kingdom.

Theatre at Work programmes support Tesco’s organisational value of ‘Everyone, Everyday, Home Safely’ as they believe that no-one, colleagues or customers, should be hurt working or shopping at Tesco. Our initial programmes began in their Irish distribution centre, the largest in Europe, which led to work with their Irish retail store network who have commissioned two bespoke safety programmes for staff nationwide. We have also delivered bespoke programmes for senior leadership and store management throughout the United Kingdom using a series of bespoke programmes commissioned by Tesco UK.

Programme objectives centred on encourage individual responsibility and ownership of safety, and enable proactive improvements in safety culture one action or conversation at at time. Our workshops would challenge participants think differently about safety; stimulating awareness and a shift in mindset.

Ireland

Our work with Tesco began in 2014 in their distribution business where we used existing safety plays including ‘Overloaded’ to engage and create awareness of the importance of individual actions, and the impact of non-action, highlighting the consequences of getting it wrong. We then applied these insights to case-studies from Tesco’s own business in order to translate the learning into practical actions for each participant. Following initial workshops for management, over 300 staff in the distribution business then took part in 20 workshops over 10 days and made personal commitments around summarised themes.

The Irish retail business then commissioned us to develop their own bespoke play ‘Under One Roof’ which has been delivered to the Irish store management across the country. These workshops used a similar format and encouraged awareness and personal actions as a result. We also delivered this programme to key new stores for staff at all levels, with such positive results that Tesco stores reported a notable 14% decrease in slip, trip and fall incidents across their estate. This programme also led to other initiatives with Tesco Ireland including workshops on safe construction for their contractors using existing safety programme ‘Fallout’ focusing on safe working at height. We also delvered workshops on dignity and respect for their Irish management teams using our existing programme ‘The Bridge’ which explores inclusivity and managing workplace bullying.

2023 brings a new run of safety programmes for staff in their key distrubution hubs using our existing ‘Final Push’ programme which focuses on safe supervision. A bespoke programme for Irish stores will focus on risk awareness, manual handling and keeping colleagues safe. ‘Home Safe’ is designed to be delivered to all retail staff across the country, touring site-specific Tesco locations throughout Ireland.

United Kingdom

Tesco UK stores commissioned three of their own plays specifically for leaders and management in large format stores, convenience stores and one-stop shops. These bespoke pieces were entitled ‘Duty of Care’, ‘Making Every Delivery Safe’ and ‘We Care’. The plays were delivered at 9 large conferences each for up to 200 delegates in strategic locations in the UK. Content included reference to legislation on corporate manslaughter; encouraging participants to consider their responsibility in managing risk in their business. For the next level of line management, given the scale of their business and the practicalities involved in the live events, a film based on ‘We Care’ was commissioned and produced to be used as a facilitated element at similar events for all staff across the UK.

Case Study

Tesco UK and Ireland

Home Safe and Well

Safety Culture

Inclusive Workplaces

Ireland

United Kingdom

More Case Studies

Veolia UK

Irish Rail

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT OUR PROGRAMMES?