The Grand National is one of the biggest days in our calendar, and to make sure everything ran smoothly, colleagues from all parts of the business were given the chance to join our Retail teams in shops up and down the country.
For those of our colleagues that do not work in the retail setting, it’s often easy to feel disconnected from our customers. The annual Grand National volunteering scheme has given colleagues the opportunity to gain first-hand experience, spending time in the shops, speaking to customers and getting a real sense of the part we play in delivering a seamless and safe customer experience.
And what better way to experience the often-fast paced retail environment, than by supporting front-line teams during one of the biggest racing weekends of the year!
Take a look below at what some of our volunteers had to say about their Grand National experience:
Rebecca Greville:
“I had an amazing day supporting our Herne Bay William Hill store for The Grand National. It was incredible to be immersed in such a strong sense of community – I must have filled in at least 200 bet slips, learnt what tech is working well in store, what we can do to improve for our customers and colleagues and even had a cheeky win on the national to end the day! Thanks to Donna and the team for making me feel so welcome!”
Dan Clifton:
“I had an awesome day at the Worlds End shop with Peter and his team! It was great to see the rapport they all have with the customers, both the regulars and the folk coming in to do their annual bets on the national. Not only was it great to see the interactions with the customers, but also how they all worked as a team, supporting each other and some of the new colleagues too.”
Yanica Sant:
“In my experience, one of the difficulties that lawyers in our industry face is that the legal corner in the office is often detached from the customer journey. Without an understanding of what this involves, and the technical and personal challenges it includes, any advice we give runs the risk of being impractical and inapplicable. This experience helped me to begin bridging that gap. Our retail team are fantastic, and they do such a great job with the customers. It is a great opportunity to see the practical application of all the work we do in the background.”
Edward McLoughland:
“It was a great experience and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work and learn from our shop teams and engage so many customers. I would highly recommend it to everyone! Thank you to our Huddersfield shop colleagues for having and supporting me.”
Kara O’Neill:
"Having thoroughly enjoyed the volunteering experience last year, I returned to the Stepney Green Licenced Betting Office once again to assist my colleagues in retail for the Grand National – one of the biggest and busiest days of the year for the business. It was great to see the team again who welcomed me back with enthusiasm. There was a real sense of community in the shop and the team had captured the spirit of the day through donning horse racing themed attire and decorating the floor accordingly which did not go unnoticed by the customers who appeared to really enjoy the cheerful atmosphere.
It was useful for me to get to know the inner workings of the shop to help better understand my own work. I was able to get stuck in with a variety of tasks which included assisting customers with queries on the shop floor, effecting our strict think 21 policy and undertaking some training so I was able to assist with taking bets throughout the day. I also had the opportunity to go over our terms and conditions with both the Team Leader and Cluster Operations Manager and to discuss any queries they had based on scenarios that had arisen in the retail setting. It was a rewarding experience to able to act collaboratively in this respect, and to impart some knowledge and experience from my own work to assist the team going forwards. This is demonstrative of our core values, that we’re all on the same side. Many thanks to the team for having me and for making it a great day.”
Anna Salmon:
“I had a great time! It was indeed a busy day, but I loved helping people place their bets and hear about why they had picked certain horses. I was in my local LBO and it was great to see so many people from the local community popping in to use William Hill, including our local butcher, sweetshop owner and cricket club coach! I would definitely recommend colleagues to volunteer in shops and will putting my name down to help out again next year!”
A big thank you goes out to all of the volunteers, and of course our fabulous retail colleagues!
