Last month, the think tank Demos published a compelling report on the business case for promoting social mobility across the UK. The report highlighted the potential benefits for businesses implementing social mobility strategies and practices within their workforces. According to their calculations, if all businesses invested in social mobility, the economic impact could be as high as £19 billion added to GDP. This would generate as much as £6.8 billion in annual tax revenues and increase profits by over £1.8 billion each year.
Having recently gained the support of Tesco’s Stronger Starts Community Grants scheme, we were delighted to talk to Mathew Fish, one of Tesco’s store directors, about his background and views on social mobility. With a career spanning over 20 years in the UK’s largest supermarket brand, was he aware that social mobility trends in the UK had declined over that time? And how does a company like Tesco ensure that everyone, regardless of their background, has access to opportunities that help them realise their potential? We wanted to know!
We were curious to hear from someone within Tesco who had worked their way up from a young age and would be willing to share some of their career journey. What is your current role at Tesco?
I’m a store director responsible for 24 large stores across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. We turn over 1.5 billion pounds across the group and I line manage the store managers. Our job is to build capability from the shop floor up, deliver our financial KPIs, and our core purpose of serving our communities and the planet.
And you were just 17 years old when you started working for Tesco?
That’s right. I worked 12 hours a week on frozen food after school, 4 – 8 pm. I had a working-class upbringing and my parents worked hard for everything and made many sacrifices.
I went to a state school in Birmingham city centre and received an educational maintenance allowance. £ 30 a week helped support my travel to school and meals. My class of 30 was an even split of white British, Asian and Afro-Caribbean kids and each year my school held a Festival of Cultures event where we all came together and celebrated. The money I got from Tesco enabled me to buy clothes and 23 years later I'm still here!
Did you go through the Tesco graduate scheme?
No. By the time I decided Tesco was for me, I'd missed the intake for that year, so I came up through Tesco just like anybody else would have without a degree. Although I'm degree-educated now, it didn’t play a part in where I've got to. It’s been down to working hard, networking, and just being reliable.
I took on all the department-level roles: running the fruit and veg, and then the beers, wines and spirits department. I was then the night replenishment manager so I learned different skill sets. I was also privileged to work alongside brilliant leaders, some of whom have gone on to bigger jobs outside of Tesco.
Even now, 20 years after I worked with them, the power of networking, mentoring and having great coaches is what opens doors.
I became a store manager and ran the Metro in Birmingham city centre. That was the most challenging and rewarding job I ever did, working with people from many different backgrounds. There’s a small management structure there and as the store manager, you’re liaising with colleagues as much as management, so in terms of flexing your management style and having brilliant coaching conversations at all levels, those smaller shops are a great preparation for managing the bigger stores.
What was your motivation? Did you just find that you enjoyed it?
There’s something powerful about becoming part of a team – I gained a social circle and confidence. I’ve learned things that I couldn’t have gotten from textbooks. And promoting people gives me a sense of satisfaction.
For people with or without degrees, it’s a great living. You could be talking to a colleague on the floor about a gap in a shelf, doing a performance review with a manager, or an investigation. Each day is different, which is what is great.
We do work hard. We work Christmas Eve when many families are at home. During the pandemic, too. It was a privilege to keep feeding the nation when pretty much everything else came to a stop. Hundreds of thousands of colleagues stepped up and we grew this sense of infectious community teamwork and spirit.
If you didn’t need it, what made you decide to do an Economics degree?
My dream career at the time was to be a stockbroker, but the internships were London-based, and you had to work for free for a year. My parents supported me as much as they could. They bought my university textbooks, and I was lucky to get government support for tuition fees but financially, I couldn’t afford to move to London with the cost of rent and all the other outgoings that would have entailed.
When I finished my degree, my manager said, ‘Mat, I see something in you. Why don’t you give this a shot?’ That's something I always try and pay back now when I spot talent in someone. I make a point of saying, ‘You could do this, and it could change your life.’
Would you say that person believed in you before you believed in yourself?
Absolutely. Growing up, I was an introvert and socially awkward. I didn’t believe in myself. Just that one conversation with someone who I looked up to made me think – actually, why can't I do this? – which is powerful.
That's what young people can sometimes miss out on right? They may not have a relatable, positive role model who’s just that little bit ahead to encourage them. Are we talking about a lack of equality and inclusivity within the industry?
Perhaps that used to be the case. That's why in Tesco now we want every colleague within the business to be connected to someone else to whom they can relate. For example, we’ve got many women running stores now, including single mothers. Historically, some people would stereotype them and think ‘You could never run a shop’. Well, they’re wrong because it’s these people now who are doing it brilliantly. Then we have our colleagues on the shop floor – whoever you are – they’ve got a role model in a senior position so they can say, ‘If they can do it, so can I.’
How important to you and your staff is continuous learning for career development?
In today's rapidly evolving competitive working environment, continuous learning is so important. We value employees who demonstrate a commitment to self-improvement, and we use the term ‘staying curious.’ Adapting to a changing world is so important.
Learning is also about developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, so continuous learners tend to be more adept at finding innovative solutions to problems and workplace challenges. I'm doing an Open University course on diversity and inclusion in my spare time and hope the learnings will help me lead my team more effectively.
How do you support employees who take non-traditional paths to career advancement?
Entry-level colleagues have opportunities to take responsibility from day one, and they get practical experience to build new skills. These quickly develop into shift leader jobs and providing team support. They’re not quite manager roles but the opportunities are there because we give everybody a chance. Anyone could walk into Tesco, apply and quickly find themselves in those jobs.
Then we've got something called Options which is our management training programming. In six months, we will get you ready to do a 12-week management placement. Many directors have taken my journey so we feel bought into what the business is trying to do. Nothing makes us feel better than helping others succeed. There’s access to brilliant online training too, so if you haven't got the right skills but then start the training, suddenly you realise it isn’t as difficult as you first thought.
What else can companies like Tesco do to promote social mobility and support employees from low socio-economic backgrounds? Thousands of young people leave school without GCSEs in maths or English and then struggle to access higher education or find good job opportunities.
We’ve just launched a retail apprenticeship for young people from deprived areas. As a director, I'll be getting heavily involved, which is exciting. This is part of our Stronger Starts initiative, so we're working alongside Lifetime Training and the Prince’s Trust to provide that to 150 young people. It’s a 12-month apprenticeship, and once completed, they will be awarded a Level 2 National Standard in Retail, which is equivalent to five GCSEs.
These are our future customers, so they’re important to us. We take them on with a salary of £ 22,500 from day one, and they don’t need to have maths or English GCSEs.
That’s such a great opportunity. By paying them from day one you demonstrate that they are valued.
Exactly. That they are believed in. One of our core values is we treat people how we wish to be treated ourselves. Tesco is like a family. We want everyone to feel like they belong and are respected. They’ll have a discount card and there’s a colleague scheme whereby food can be taken home for free. They’ll also have paid holidays and pension opportunities.
What advice would you give young people who may not want to attend university or work in Tesco?
10% of FTSE 100 CEOs didn't go to university. It's less about the degree and more about pursuing your dream. Once you're clear about what you want to achieve, set goals.
At the start of each year, I write a letter to myself. So I say, ‘Mat, over the next year I want to achieve this,’ - whether it's a promotion at work or to spend more time with friends or upgrade the car or do something for charity - whatever it is, I write myself a letter and then at the end of that year I open that letter and think, ‘did I do it?’
You have to have ambition and be clear about what you want to achieve because if you're not clear, nobody else will be clear to help you achieve it. Uni isn't for everyone; with the choices available now, it's down to personal choice.
University is very different from school. If you don't submit your essay, no one cares. No one rings your parents to complain about you! You just fail the course. So it’s not for everyone. My advice is: don’t be afraid to take on jobs that make you feel uncomfortable and give you that butterfly feeling in your stomach because that's when you’re growing.
When you feel comfortable in a job, that might feel good sometimes, but you’re only ever growing and getting closer to your ambitions when you’re uncomfortable. An open mindset is what gets you there. So don’t turn down opportunities for continuous learning either.
That’s brilliant advice. What aspect of coaching has helped you the most?
I’ve been fortunate to have some brilliant mentors and coaches, internal and external to Tesco. I'd urge young people who want to get on in life to think about approaching people they admire within an organisation who can coach them from a technical point of view but also to look for an external person who can help with context and provide a different opinion from the everyday business environment.
Also, the best mentoring relationships give back. Reverse mentoring is so powerful. We're helping young people and their careers but also the biases that we're accustomed to get taken away by having brilliant, down-to-earth conversations with youngsters. As much as it's great for the coachee, it’s equally important for the coach.
Last year I was part of a mentoring scheme and was matched with a young Asian guy from Coca-Cola. He was a regional sales rep who wanted to advance his career. He taught me loads about Ramadan and some of the things the leaders in his line of work had done around fasting, like people from a Christian background fasting alongside those who were Muslim. I’d never even thought about that and he opened my eyes to that kind of possibility.
I’m impressed by the support for diversity and inclusion in the workplace. You make me want to work at Tesco!
We could arrange that! If you have a diverse team, then whatever problems you're faced with, where you've got people with different outlooks on life and life experiences, you can find the answer to that problem. When you're all sat there with the same experiences and upbringing, you all have the same approach to a problem, and you might never fix it.
My family had a very small business in the centre of Birmingham and I watched the way my Grandad led his business and handed it down to my dad. He had time for everyone so although he was the boss, everyone was spoken to with respect. That attitude rubbed off and approachability is so important.
So Tesco isn't like a typical corporation that has that top-down hierarchy?
We used to be hierarchical but I think now we understand how that hierarchy is perceived. It made us less competitive. When you're the biggest in your sector, which we are, it’s easy to become complacent. We had to look at ourselves in the mirror. I think the pandemic helped. So I make an active effort to stay on the ground. Our jobs are big and busy, retail is a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year industry. You can become insular and blinkered if you’re not careful.
Thanks so much for talking to me today. It’s been such a wonderful journey into the world of Tesco, and you’re a great example of upward social mobility and how a young person can climb the income ladder of a huge business. The UK, relative to the rest of Europe, looks pretty terrible on most social mobility metrics, made worse by the pandemic. But this interview just shows how there are important steps that businesses can and do take to help address the problem by creating paths out of poverty and offering continuous learning opportunities beyond school. All of that helps to foster an inclusive and equitable workplace. On behalf of CoachBright, thanks so much for your kind support of our work with young people too.
Thanks so much for your time too.
Click for the full report on The Opportunity Effect: How Social Mobility Can Help Drive Business and the Economy Forward, by Billy Huband-Thompson (Demos, October 2024).
