About the award

Recognising
the best of
our industry.

In 2011, Retailworld Resourcing launched Retail Employer of the Year to acknowledge and honour the retail businesses that embrace, promote and champion the career pathways retail has to offer.

What is this award about?

People decide.
Not panels.

Today, candidates, employees and customers weigh up a business more completely than ever. When it comes to the job market, people talk openly about the kind of culture and environment that fits their values. The businesses that hold themselves to those values are the ones that attract and keep the best people.

So Retailworld invites past and present retail staff, and the general public, to vote for the company they believe is the best place to work. The business with the most votes in its category is named Retail Employer of the Year.

People vote for all sorts of reasons. These are the ones the market names most.

Team dynamic and engagementWorkplace environmentIncentives and recognitionEmployee retentionCareer progressionTraining and developmentValues, social and environmentalWork/life balanceLeave policyCommunicationBusiness cultureLeadership styleSalary package

The categories

Small. Medium. Large.
Every size of great.

Three categories in each country, based on full time equivalents across the business, including shopfront and all support office roles. Nobody is too small to win this.

New Zealand

SmallFewer than 100 employees
Medium101 to 500 employees
LargeOver 500 employees

Australia

SmallFewer than 100 employees
Medium101 to 1,000 employees
Large1,001 employees and over

Important dates

Mark the
calendar.

Voting opens1 September 2026
Voting closes30 September 2026
Winners announced, NZ awards evening5 October 2026

About Retailworld

Championing retail careers for over twenty years.

Retailworld Resourcing has provided career advice and recruitment services to the retail industry for more than 22 years, from 9 offices across Australia and New Zealand. Retail Employer of the Year is how the business puts that experience to work for the whole industry, once a year, in public.