Pushing trolleys to leading M&S - why first jobs change lives

Stuart Machin - Chief Executive of M&S

This week we hear from Stuart Machin, CEO of Marks & Spencer, one of Britain’s most iconic employers. As the world of work shifts beneath our feet, Stuart’s story raises a question we can’t afford to ignore: are we making it easier or harder for the next generation to take that first, vital step?

As ever with One Million Futures, we are deliberately seeking out perspectives that challenge the status quo. Writing from his vantage point at the helm of M&S, Stuart’s piece is exactly that kind of contribution.

A Saturday job can change a young person’s life. I know, because it transformed mine. But when I think about the challenges facing young people today, I worry that many won’t have the same opportunity. That doesn’t need to be the case – we can do so much more to provide the opportunities, experiences, and skills to unlock their confidence and get them into good jobs.

Pushing Trolleys in Hempstead Valley SavaCentre

I was the kid with top marks for effort, but always middling (at best) in terms of grades. At 16, I was anxious – I didn’t know what I wanted to do or where I was going to go. Being a teacher seemed like the obvious next step, but that’s because the only thing I knew was school.

My mum encouraged me to find a Saturday job. I applied to every supermarket within ten miles, got stung by dozens of one-line rejections, but finally got an interview. My grandparents bought me my first suit (M&S, of course). And I secured my first job: pushing trolleys at SavaCentre. For younger readers, SavaCentre was a Sainsbury’s and British Home Stores hypermarket, selling food and clothing.

That role turned me into a more confident young man. I didn’t always feel like it – for the first six months I was constantly nervous about scratching parked cars. I had no idea where the job might take me, all I knew was that it gave me money to buy trainers and a feeling of pride.

Brilliant managers gave me the opportunity to work after-school shifts, which meant rushing home, getting changed, hopping on the bus and then spending the evening on the checkouts or filling shelves. At 17 I became a supervisor, reconciling the cash for a store taking around £2 million a week. At 18 I was encouraged to apply to the trainee management scheme, which meant leaving home and relocating to the West Midlands. Retail gave me an opportunity to learn about store operations, supply chain, leadership, safety, product buying and knowledge. More than anything it gave me responsibility at a young age.

And at 26 I became a Store Director – back at Hempstead Valley, where I first started out. Not only leading what was effectively a medium-sized business, with hundreds of colleagues, but also holding a position of trust and responsibility in the community we served.

A huge amount has changed since then. But I think three of the ingredients that enabled me to progress are still key to solving today’s youth unemployment problem:

1. Jobs that serve as the first rung on the employment ladder

2. The chance to experience the world of work and build your confidence

3. Skills learnt on the job and not in the classroom, both technical and social - working with others, serving customers, learning as part of a team

Opportunity: Retail as the first rung on the jobs ladder

Retail and hospitality have long given young people with little experience their first foothold in work. A minority, like me, stay in the sector; most use it as a stepping stone into other careers.

Across the economy, entry‑level jobs are being squeezed. AI is reshaping traditional school‑leaver and graduate roles, rising wage costs are accelerating automation, and in a volatile economy employers are becoming more cautious about hiring.

Retail is not immune from these pressures. But it will remain, alongside hospitality, the key sector that provides opportunities to people struggling to enter the world of work. Retail employs over three million — one in ten private‑sector workers. And it will remain a people-driven sector. AI will improve efficiency, but it won’t stack shelves.

Yet retail and hospitality have been left out of most visions for economic growth. Politicians momentarily become interested in the “everyday economy”, but they quickly become distracted by flashier industries. That lack of interest is reflected in the range of cost pressures facing retail: business rates, packaging taxes, energy tariffs, national insurance rises. If we valued retail as the first rung on the jobs ladder we would surely take a different approach.

Experience: The importance of trial and error

My first job was a single weekly shift that gradually grew into full‑time work. It gave my employer a low-risk way to try me out and meant I could dip my toe into the world of work without it seeming overwhelming.

We’ve replicated this approach with our Marks & Start scheme, run in partnership with The King’s Trust. Unemployed young people undertake a four week placement to gain practical retail experience. Around 80% of the participants successfully complete the scheme and secure a 16-hour contract for three months - around two-thirds then go on to get a permanent contract with us. In over 20 years the scheme has supported 30,000 people including 14,000 young people. And we’ll soon be announcing plans to take our partnership with the Kings Trust even further.

At first, many of the young people on this programme struggle to make eye contact – like me at 16, they don’t have a sense of where their life is going. Structured experience and short-term flexible contracts make their first step into work less intimidating, while also lowering the risk for employers.

And yet we seem to be making these sorts of experiences harder to come by. New regulations dissuade employers from offering a shift or two a week, and the red tape around work experience often makes it prohibitive to offer. We’re at risk of not only disincentivising the Saturday job, but banning it.

Skills: On the job not in the classroom

In retail you learn on the job. Almost all retailers completely integrate Learning and Development with their core operation. At M&S, we have regional Academy stores where the Store Manager has full responsibility for their sales but also for developing talent across their region.

For so many of the young people that work with us, that approach to learning is perfect. They’ve struggled in a classroom setting and are allergic to any form of exam. They can work their way up from a Christmas temp to a Store Manager just by building their skill set on the shop floor.

That’s why I find the apprenticeship levy maddening. Foundational, practical skill development goes unrecognised, but we can draw down levy funds as soon as someone goes to a college or university. No wonder many employers treat the levy as a tax. And I’ve seen first-hand the challenges that my 16-year-old nephew is having in navigating the apprenticeship system’s relentless bureaucracy.

That’s not to say there aren’t amazing opportunities for apprenticeships across our business, like data analysts or engineers in our distribution centres. But fundamentally it’s not the right model for most of our colleagues that work on the shop floor.

A Crisis of Confidence

At the heart of youth unemployment is confidence: for many, the first step into work feels insurmountable, and then dealing with a boss or even the public can be overwhelming.

The best way to build confidence is through relationships. My mum and grandparents served as role models to me and instilled a strong work ethic. Managers and coaches early in my career did the same. I want every young person to have that same source of inspiration.

My hope is that this review serves as a call to arms for people across society, at all stages of their careers, to roll their sleeves up and serve as that source of optimism and aspiration. Because today we’re losing out on limitless potential, and letting down a generation of kids just like me.