We’re CATO—an employee performance and experience consultancy.
We help retail companies boost store performance by connecting what matters to your employees, and your business.
Unlike other firms that focus entirely on employer branding to attract new talent, we’re all about improving the experience of the folks who already work for you. Because when they want to be there, your customers will too.
Who is this for?
Are your stores burning out for basis points?
Are you constantly re-merchandising and reprioritizing for incremental results?
Have values and culture initiatives come and go?
Did attempts to improve morale feel like box-checking campaigns as opposed to meaningful change?
Is employee turnover killing performance?
Are you perpetually hiring, training, and losing employees, putting increasing strain on your remaining teams?
If any of these resonate with you, you're in the right place.
Thank you for helping us raise the bar, we are excited to continue our partnerships in 2023. I know having you by their side really encourages the team to think differently and alleviates so much of their day to day stress as well as they have such a great support network around them with you and your team.
Jackie U.
Director, Talent Planning & Development, Empire | Sobeys Inc.
Most retailers think if their profitability is dipping, they have a customer experience problem.
They over-focus on incremental improvements like re-merchandising or scripted greetings.
But the reality is, customer experience isn’t the problem. It’s a downstream symptom of the biggest problem hiding in plain sight.
Employee Disengagement.
Disengaged employees have material ramifications on your profit and customer loyalty.
17% of a retailer’s sales are lost to employee disengagement, and addressing it is the easiest and most effective way to add real revenue back to your bottom line.
We believe you can create a win-win-win situation where:
- you’re getting the passion and performance you need from your employees
- they’re getting the fulfilling experience they need from you and
- customers are getting the best experience in the industry
- (so your shareholders are getting maximum life-time value, so there’s a fourth win).
We consult progressive companies on how to create that virtuous cycle.
Employee disengagement creates 3 profit-eroding issues:
Lost Revenue
The difference between highly engaged teams, and disengaged ones within a typical organization is 17% higher sales on average. Wild right? Just have a look at how companies who get this right compare to the S&P 500.
Suffering Customer Experience
Disengaged employees create disengaged customers, leading to 10% lower customer loyalty and shrinking lifetime value. You’ve experienced this as a customer. Just think about the last time you walked into a store where the employees seemed… less than excited to be there.
High Employee Turnover
Employee turnover costs between 1x-2x and employee’s annual salary depending on their experience. Plus, when turnover rates increase, Manager burnout follows, destabilizing your revenue and costing you both financially and culturally.
This is something I've been trying to describe/communicate for years, and was only able to be this succinct because Bekki has phenomenal questions and, more so than anyone I've ever talked to about these things, is really listening and able to excavate ideas I know I have but up until now haven't been able to explore.
Matthew C.
12+ year Retail Leader, including Old Navy, Starbucks, Whole Foods, William Sonoma
Break through the sales barrier—from the inside out.
Stop leaking profit and start protecting it.
The most costly mistake companies make is missing opportunities that don’t show up on traditional P&Ls. Highly engaged employees earn their organizations 17% higher sales and 23% higher profitability on average, but they also protect that revenue through these often overlooked, risk-reducing, revenue stabilizers:
- 13% higher productivity
- 10% higher customer loyalty
- 78% lower absenteeism
- 68% higher employee wellbeing
- 26% lower shrinkage
- 63% fewer safety accidents
- 30% lower quality defects
- 22% higher organizational citizenship
Earn customer loyalty.
What your employees feel, your customers will too. Especially the desire to return to, and spend time in your store. Your employee experience and customer experience are directly connected, and can mean the difference of + or - 10% customer loyalty.
Employee retention—keep the people that keep the customers.
I probably don’t need to tell you that retention / turnover / understaffing is THE top concern for both corporate leaders and frontline managers, and for good reason. Turnover is expensive, and can have hefty negative impacts on operations, customer experience, team morale, and burnout to name a few. The good news is, employees are telling you what they want. You just need a strategy to deliver it in sustainable and scalable way.
Improve The “C-Word.” That’s right, Culture.
Words don’t get more ambiguous or overused than “culture.” We know it’s critical, but don’t know how to shape it. And the truth is, you don’t. Because your culture isn’t what you say it is, it’s what your employees say (and feel) it is. What we can shape is employee experience. A winning experience = a winning culture.
A built-to-last legacy.
An experienced, motivated workforce becomes your greatest asset in a competitive marketplace, and your greatest contribution to our society, collective quality of life, and GDP (Gallup estimates low employee engagement costs the global economy 8.9 trillion U.S. dollars, or 9% of global GDP).
Thank you for your time, your patience and your positivism throughout the project. It is a real pleasure to work with you. Having accomplished this work together, I think that nothing is impossible for us.
Isabelle H.
Manager, Talent Development, Empire | Sobeys Inc.
Build your Employee Experience Advantage
What an engagement looks like
We Look "Under the Hood"
We’ll request a number of existing info and documents from you, like value statements, and written policies so we can get up to speed as quickly as possible.
Weekly Consulting Calls
We're available for personalized support, collaboration, and recommendations to ensure progress is made throughout all phases.
A Structured Roadmap
No bloated agendas or meandering meetings. You're guided through a systematized and structured program divided into phases, each with checkpoints to build a sustainable and scalable foundation.
Real Time Access + Asynchronous Communication
Email, Loom (video), or message us as needed for quick and efficient updates or clarifications. We'll also provide weekly updates so you know exactly what's going on without having to send emails or request calls.
Complete Project Management & Tracking
You'll receive access to a custom and private Asana project to manage all our work together. That includes tasks, documents, feedback, goals, and overall progress through the program.
Want to know how much employee disengagement & turnover costs your organization annually?
Download the free custom calculator.
This free worksheet allows you to enter the number of employees you oversee, and their average annual salary to show you just how much this problem costs you every single year.
About Us
Everyone here at CATO has experienced an employer that made them shrink instead of grow, and so we are united by a vision of a world in which work contributes to a sense of fulfillment and identity – not loneliness and mental health struggles.
As Abraham Maslow said: “Proper management of the work lives of human beings, of the way in which they earn their living, can improve them and improve the world and in this sense be a utopian or revolutionary technique.”
We also know that a dedicated and diverse group of humans is the best advantage you could possibly have in the competitive market. So we are elated to have found a calling that facilitates true win/win results.
Head of Creative Strategy & Employer Alignment
Head of Retail Workforce & Frontline Experience
Head of HR Strategy & Solutions
Head of Workforce Engagement & Productivity
Administrative Manager
Production Designer
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does this cost?
Engagements start at $15,000 monthly.
How much time should I dedicate to this?
You will have the option to join a 45-minute guided session every week. We'll send weekly asynchronous updates that will take about 10-minutes to review. If we're making great progress asynchronously you're welcome to request to skip the weekly call.
How long will it take to see results?
Change is not an event, it's a process, and your results will be tied to your teams collective dedication to the process, but the majority of clients are able to notice improvements within the first quarter.
Is this also for non-retail businesses with frontline employees?
Yes. If you operate a brick and mortar business and this resonates with you, book a call.
Dear Progressive Leader,
If you’re beginning your employee experience journey but aren’t sure where to start, or if your organizational identity has just gotten a little fuzzy, we’d love to chat with you, because it sounds like we are on the same mission.
As the partner bringing our organization's employee experience brand work to life through pictures and words, there was no question who I would collaborate with when it came to establishing the mental wellbeing brand and narrative. My interactions with Bekki and her team were easy, energizing and excellence-focused. Thank you for your patience, creativity and diligence. Together, we created something special.
Shana N.
Manager, CoE Integrated Health Management, Mental Health Program
I worked with Bekki in creating some graphically designed documents for a major company initiative. I was extremely impressed by the quality of the work she provided, her professionalism, attention to detail and excellent service. She made recommendations that were valuable in realizing the vision of the document and always responded in detail and promptly. I would very much recommend her for other individuals who are looking for similar services.
Michael E.
Human Resources Director, Sobeys Inc.
I see this collaboration as an extension of our team that knows our business, and is able to challenge certain things – always with respect and for the benefit of the team. We can sometimes be biased in some of our interventions and having an external person who questions us, allows us to see certain things differently; which is a good thing.
Isabelle H.
Manager, Talent Development, Empire | Sobeys Inc.
I run a boutique fitness studio where my entire business model is situated around face to face interaction. With a deft hand, Bekki has helped me transition online (social media, youtube, and other avenues) and has allowed me to continue to support my customer base, despite the global need for social distancing. She has provided input when needed, suggestions when warranted, and has taken my vision and executed it perfectly. Bekki's ability to produce top of class digital content on a moment's notice is single handily saving my small business.
Thom W.
Owner, Breaker Strength
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