While March kicks off a season of growth and change, we will be focusing on a different kind of transformation as we explore a more solemn and alarming trend in retail. The ever-increasing number of issues, whether dealing with customer frustration, heightened aggression, or even more notable and severe incidents of violence in the retail workplace have raised significant concerns across the industry, leaving retailers looking for effective strategies and meaningful solutions to address the dilemma and keep our stores safe.
Join us as we explore workplace violence prevention with two exceptional leaders from Ulta Beauty and how they have invested in their health and safety strategy. Following this dynamic presentation, we will be exploring the results from LP Magazine’s recent Violence in Retail industry survey with a panel discussion reviewing results and interpreting cause and effect. Even if you are unable to join us tomorrow, March 23rd at 2pm, be sure to register to get access to the webcast and podcasts of these great sessions post-event, as to the results from this ground-breaking survey!
Session 1: Do What’s Right: Workplace Violence Prevention
Over the years, safety priorities in retail have shifted to more “holistic” approaches including health, well-being, and more caring cultures in and out of the workplace. Today, retailers face new challenges such as aggression and violence in and around the workplace, heightened organized retail crime activity, the impacts of a global pandemic, and associate experiences at home which can impact the workplace. Such challenges come to life in many ways and can include aggressive behavior, intimate partner violence, suicide and self-harm, and tragic mass shootings in public spaces like malls and shopping centers.
Ulta Beauty invests in health and safety trainings, technology, and a comprehensive workplace violence prevention program lead by a cross-functional team in partnership with workplace safety consultants and experts in crisis management and threat assessment. During this webinar, Julie Giblin, VP loss prevention and safety and Devon Byrne, VP people enablement will detail the company’s workplace violence prevention journey and programs in place. Every company should have such programming in place – not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because creating a foundation allows for evolution as culture shifts, to ensure companies reflect employee needs and workplace realities.
Julie Giblin, vice president, loss prevention and safety with Ulta Beauty. Giblin has been in her current role for more than 7 years and brings 30+ years retail experience. As Ulta Beauty has grown, the loss prevention and safety team has evolved and is comprised of various disciplines including field (retail) loss prevention, supply chain loss prevention, organized retail crime (ORC), environmental health & safety, business continuity, omni-channel loss prevention, physical security and operations, intelligence and investigations, and a 24-7 strategic operations center. Previously, Julie worked at Family Dollar Stores for 11 years in various leadership roles across store operations, loss prevention and human resources. And prior to that, she held various roles for May Department Stores, Filene’s with 14 years in human resources and store operations.
Devon Byrne, vice president, people enablement with Ulta Beauty. Byrne is an experienced human resources professional with over 25 years working in the field. Devon has led nearly all aspects of the HR function in her career and currently functions as the vice president of people enablement for Ulta Beauty where she has worked since 2016. Devon’s primary focus is associate relations, shared services, HR compliance, HR operations and HRIS. Prior to Devon’s tenure at Ulta Beauty, she worked for 20 years at Gap, Inc. in a variety of human resources roles. Devon holds a bachelor’s degree in Art History and Business, a master’s degree in Human Resources, and a doctorate in Business Management. She also serves as an adjunct faculty member teaching graduate classes at both Loyola University and Southern New Hampshire University.
Session 2: Violence in Retail – LPM Ground-breaking Industry Survey Results Revealed
Building a good violence and aggression prevention strategy requires data—and we’ve got data to share. Join us as we share survey results and industry feedback with a panel of loss prevention executives, and dissect, discuss, and debate the information and intelligence gathered from across the industry. Is violence up? Is it down? Is it really still a problem? Or is it just out of control? Join us for this informative and interactive session and send us your thoughts as well!
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