Leroy Merlin: support for people on the shop floor and in the warehouse

Leroy Merlin Polska runs a nationwide chain of large-format DIY and home decor stores. It employs well over ten thousand people, most of them on the shop floor, at customer service desks and in warehouses. The stores are open seven days a week and most of the team works shifts. The company has worked with Mindgram for two years.

The situation

A sales employee spends the day between the customer, the shelves and the trolley. They don't sit at a computer, they don't read long emails from head office, and a break is rarely long enough for more than a coffee. On top of that, working in retail means difficult customers, shifts and weekends. Dealing with customers wears people down fast, and they rarely have anyone to talk to about it. A support programme designed with the office in mind ends up bypassing the shop floor. The company wanted a programme that a sales assistant and a warehouse worker would use, not just the head office team.

What they did

• A programme designed for sales and the warehouse. From the start, the target wasn't head office but the people on the shop floor. Access from their own phone, sign-up without sitting at a computer, content matched to the kind of work they do. Anyone who doesn't want the app has a phone support line.
• Communication run as a project. At Leroy Merlin, the communication projects team led the rollout. It got its own plan, materials and schedule, not a single welcome message.
• Three pillars in one programme. The company presents Mindgram as a tool for self-development, health and mental wellbeing together. Someone who won't go to a psychologist will try a workshop on sleep or practise talking to a difficult customer.
• Ready-made materials instead of starting from scratch. Posters, emails, graphics and the topics of the month come from Mindgram. The company team adapts them and passes them on, rather than writing their own.

What changed

The platform is used by sales and warehouse staff, a group people usually say “has neither the time nor the need”. That's different from typical employee assistance programmes, where the platform is mostly known to HR.

As in most companies, a good share of the issues people bring relate to life outside work: relationships, sleep, money. Support intended as a “work” benefit turns out to be support for life.

For the company, psychological support is no longer a separate benefit that people have to be reminded about. It has become part of the culture: part of how Leroy Merlin talks about health, development and working with people. HR has an aggregate, anonymous picture of what staff use, and can plan the next topics around real needs, not guesswork. Every month HR reviews it with its account manager at Mindgram and decides what to communicate next.

With Mindgram, we strengthen our culture by supporting employees in looking after their self-development, health and mental wellbeing.

J. Blejsz-Marlewska, Communication Projects Manager, Leroy Merlin

What this means for you

• Start with the shop floor, not head office. If the programme works for people without a desk, it will work in the office on its own.
• Treat communication as a project. A named owner, a plan for the year and ready-made materials make the difference between “we have a platform” and “people use it”.
• Combine mental health with development and health. A workshop on sleep or on talking to customers opens the door for people who aren't ready to see a psychologist yet.