Remuneration Package: It’s Not All About the Money

Salary gets candidates through the door. It rarely keeps them there. 

That’s not an idealistic view of human nature, it’s what the data consistently shows. Among the drivers of employee turnover, lack of incentives and bonuses is cited by 53% of organisations, while poor communication of total rewards, what someone’s package means, compounds the problem further. In retail, where margins are tight and the temptation to compete purely on base rate is high, this gap between what employers offer and what employees feel is where the real retention risk lives. 

The good news is that what retail workers value beyond their pay cheque is largely within reach for most employers, if you know where to focus. 

Scheduling That Respects People’s Lives 

Retail has always run on regular hours. That’s not going away. But there’s a significant difference between a team that has unpredictable rosters handed to them at short notice, and one that has consistent patterns, genuine input into their scheduling, and advance notice they can plan around. 

This matters more than most employers realise. Across Australia, 43% of workers missed out on some of their annual leave in 2025, a figure that rises to 55% among workers aged 18 to 24. Retail employs a disproportionately young workforce making this issue more relevant. If your team is already burning through leave entitlements without resting, a pay rise doesn’t fix the underlying problem.  

Predictable, fair rostering, and a manager who genuinely advocates for their team’s time is a benefit that costs nothing but shows up in every engagement survey. 

Career Pathways That Are Real, Not Aspirational 

One of the fastest ways to lose a good retail employee is to give them no visible future. LinkedIn Learning research indicates that 93% of employees say they are more likely to stay with an organisation that invests in their career development. 

In retail, this doesn’t have to mean formal training programs or L&D budgets. It means a store manager who has a genuine conversation about where someone wants to go. It means internal promotions that are visible enough that junior staff believe they’re possible. It means a team leader who was a sales associate eighteen months ago. 

From our conversations with retail candidates across Australia and New Zealand, this comes up constantly. When people leave a retail role they liked, it’s often because nobody ever asked what they were working towards and eventually they found somewhere that did. 

Recognition That Lands 

Pay transparency is now a legal matter in New Zealand, following the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Act 2025, which came into force in August 2025 making it unlawful for employers to prevent employees from discussing their pay. In Australia, Fair Work frameworks continue to reinforce employee entitlements and awareness. In both markets, workers know more about what they’re worth than ever before.  

Which means recognition must be visible, specific, and timely not reserved for annual reviews. A team that feels seen in the day-to-day is far less likely to be scanning job boards on their lunch break. 

The Package Is Bigger Than the Pay Rate 

In a market where base retail award rates in Australia sit at $26.55 per hour for a Level 1 employee and New Zealand’s minimum wage sits at $23.50, there’s limited room to dramatically outbid competitors on base pay alone. The retailers who win on retention are the ones who make the full picture compelling: consistent hours, genuine development opportunities, a manager who knows your name, and a team worth showing up for. 

At Frontline Retail, we work with employers across Australia and New Zealand to find people who fit and help them build the kind of offer that makes those people want to stay. If you’re thinking about what your remuneration package looks like beyond the pay rate, we’d like to talk. 

 

Sources: HR.com, State of Employee Retention 2025–26 · LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2025 · ScaleSuite, Australian Employee Turnover Statistics 2026, March 2026 · Fooda, Employee Retention Strategy Guide 2026, March 2026 · Fair Work Ombudsman, General Retail Industry Award Pay Guide, effective 1 July 2025 · Rippling, New Zealand Minimum Wage, April 2025 · Buddle Findlay, Significant Changes in NZ Employment Law Landscape, December 2025