Plan B Forum

B&Q plc is a British multinational DIY and home improvement retailing company headquartered in Eastleigh, United Kingdom, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Kingfisher plc. It was founded in 1969 by Richard Block and David Quayle as Block & Quayle.

B&Q currently has stores in mainland China, Hong Kong, Ireland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. It is the largest DIY retail chain in China and the United Kingdom, the second-largest in Europe and the fourth-largest in the world (behind The Home Depot, Lowe's and OBI)


Older demographic
The demographic of the UK’s workforce is changing rapidly and older people make up an increasing proportion of our population. The number of people over the age of 50 has increased by almost 50% in the last 50 years and people are also living more active lives.

This trend is continuing upwards and with it, people are choosing to work for longer – partly to give them the financial stability to enjoy their life.


Flexible working
Our age diverse workforce is reflected in our flexible working practices – employees can choose to work part or full-time and their responsibilities outside of work are always respected by the business.


Core value: respect for people
One of B&Q’s core values is “respect for people”, which is about creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all of our employees, customers and suppliers.

We have a long history of inclusivity, and are a founder member of the Employers Forum for Age – a network created by employers for employers to remove barriers to an age-balanced workforce.


Over 50s recruitment policy
Developing a diverse workforce has always made good business sense for us. We first started focusing on less typical recruitment sectors in the late 1980s to meet the increasing demand for staff to support our rapid expansion programme.

We chose to target our recruitment drive on the older generation as we recognised the great fit with the B&Q brand – in fact we were the first British company to adopt an active over 50s recruitment policy. Older people are more likely to be home owners and have some knowledge of DIY, making them more reflective of our customer base and ideally placed to offer in store support and great customer service.


Over 50s outperforming other age groups

We trialled our new recruitment policy in 1989 by opening a store in Macclesfield staffed entirely by the over 50s. Some initial concerns regarding the more physical aspects of the job proved to be unfounded and an independent survey by Warwick University published two years later showed that in practically every respect - customer service, short-term absenteeism, staff turnover and sales - the Macclesfield store's staff outperformed other stores.

The ability to link our new recruitment policy so directly with a profit increase of 18%, along with greater customer satisfaction, gave us the proof we needed to continue recruiting an age diverse workforce.


Outstanding customer service
Our customer service also improved with the age of our workforce as there are clear business Benefits to employing people who reflect our customer profile. Older workers have a great rapport with our customers and are able to give sound advice based on similar life experiences.

Our training budget was also reduced as we found our older workers came with good experience and skills levels, along with a conscientious attitude and real enthusiasm for the job.


Acting mentors

On the flip side, the older workers themselves have really benefitted from the opportunities B&Q offers across the business. We regularly survey all of our workers over 50 and they tell us that there are wider social Benefits associated with working, alongside the more obvious financial ones.

Employees find that they gain a lot from the friendships they make in their jobs and the lively atmosphere created through team working.

Younger employees also benefit from a mixed age workforce as older colleagues often become mentors, offering support and guidance to younger workers.


Flexible working opportunities to remove barriers

While proud of the age diversity in our workforce, we are constantly working to remove the barriers to work at any age – key for us is the ability to offer flexible working.

We recognise that at any age workers often have commitments outside of work, be it studying, caring for relatives or simply pursuing outside interests, and we are proud to be able to provide flexible working opportunities for all, irrespective of age.


Age neutral working policy
One of our main achievements has been to develop an age neutral working policy, removing the retirement age and any age criteria in relation to recruitment or Benefits. We also use age diverse case studies wherever possible and our training and development programmes are available for everyone.


Diverse workforce reflective of UK population

At B&Q our people are our best asset and we believe that the people we employ should be the people who shop with us.

As society changes and grows older we would encourage other businesses to reconsider their approach to recruiting older workers and understand the Benefits they can bring to the business – both in financial terms through improved sales figures and the more intangible but no less important Benefits of a happier, more motivated workforce.

When times are tough and businesses are working hard to attract and retain customers, it makes business sense to employ a workforce that is more reflective of the UK population.