Send us Fan Mail We recorded our first live ReThink Productivity podcast at the Retail Technology Show after-show party, talking candidly about what retail tech is actually doing for productivity right now. Chris Chandler and Steve Young share what is changing with AI, wage pressure, training, and the practical realities of running stores on land and at sea. • AI at the show feeling more integrated and less like marketing • Cruise ship retail productivity focused on freeing time for guest experi...
May 14, 2026•12 min•Season 15Ep. 9
Send us Fan Mail We gave Notebook LM our first ReThink Productivity Retail Report NotebookLM digs into why shops can look perfectly staffed and still fail you at the checkout or on the shop floor, then trace the problem back to how retail measures efficiency. We use the ReThink Productivity Retail Report 2026 to show how a push for 100% utilisation creates a capacity cap that burns out colleagues and leaks sales • The £6.25bn annual opportunity hidden inside “wasted” labour time • How the effici...
May 04, 2026•49 min•Season 1Ep. 171
Send us Fan Mail Diane Wehrle CEO at Rendle Intelligence and Insights joins Simon for their monthly chat We read the March 2026 retail and economic data against a month shaped by war and an early Easter, where strong headlines hide weaker high street reality • March footfall rising year on year but flattered by a weak 2025 comparison • BRC sales growth driven mainly by food as households buy ahead of Easter • Non-food sales growth lagging inflation and remaining fragile • High street sales down ...
Apr 29, 2026•13 min•Season 13Ep. 38
Send us Fan Mail Sue , Simon , & James share the top-line findings from ReThink Productivity Future Retail Ready Benchmarking Report and explain how a £6.25bn opportunity could be unlocked. They walk through six golden rules to improve store performance, protect customer experience, and avoid hidden workload that quietly harms sales. • Why retailers feel the squeeze after the ‘easy wins’ are gone • The efficiency index and why 80% is the realistic target • How running above 80% removes the c...
Apr 20, 2026•15 min•Season 15Ep. 9
Send us Fan Mail Hear directly from our experts— Sue , Simon , & James —who share real-world trends, new data findings, and actionable productivity insights We share the latest ReThink Academy training updates and why we built courses we wish we’d had when we first stepped into productivity and workload modelling roles. We also unpack how measuring work can remove customer friction, from mobile phone sales processing to the daily annoyances of hotel check-in, and why buy-in makes or breaks o...
Apr 12, 2026•16 min•Season 15Ep. 8
Send us Fan Mail Diane Wehrle CEO at Rendle Intelligence and Insights joins Simon for their monthly chat They break down why February 2026 turns into a tough month for UK retail, with record rain dragging down footfall and high street sales. They also zoom out to consumer confidence, inflation pressures, and the April policy changes that could reshape hiring and costs. • Record wet weather and why it hits retail demand fast • Footfall declines across high streets, centres and retail parks • High...
Mar 29, 2026•12 min•Season 13Ep. 37
Send us Fan Mail We gave NotebookLM our Productivity Pulse podcasts from November 2025 to February 2026 with Sue , Simon , & James and this is what it came up with... We follow the stop-watch data behind everyday queues and show how “efficient” labour models can still create predictable chaos at peak demand. We trace how wage pressure, algorithmic scheduling, and physical layout decisions reshape what workers do and what customers feel. Minimum wage pressure and the knock-on effects of wage ...
Mar 23, 2026•42 min•Season 15Ep. 7
Send us Fan Mail Hear directly from our experts— Sue , Simon , & James —who share real-world trends, new data findings, and actionable productivity insights We dig into stock to shelf benchmarking and reveal how much replenishment time is lost to movement and returns. We share early findings and details of our benchmarking report and Retail Technology Show plans • Early look at our retail benchmarking report launch • Why benchmarking gives context beyond raw task times • The real cost of rep...
Mar 15, 2026•17 min•Season 15Ep. 6
Send us Fan Mail We gave NotebookLM our podcasts from November 2025 to February 2026 with Diane Wehrle CEO at Rendle Intelligence and this is what it came up with... We test a hard question: are UK retail’s brutal numbers a structural reset or a severe cyclical slump? We argue both sides with data on jobs, wages, footfall, discounts, online share, and consumer psychology, and find common ground on how to survive right now. • Structural shift versus cyclical contraction • Job losses, wage compres...
Mar 08, 2026•23 min•Season 13Ep. 36
Send us Fan Mail Diane Wehrle CEO at Rendle Intelligence and Insights joins Simon for their monthly chat A cautious consumer shows up in January with fewer trips but bigger baskets, while retail parks gain and high streets hold on. We dig into youth unemployment, wage compression, AI’s impact on entry roles, and why productivity must carry the next phase of retail. • January footfall near flat with retail parks up • Sales values rise while transactions fall • Food inflation props value; non-food...
Mar 01, 2026•17 min•Season 13Ep. 35
Send us Fan Mail Hear directly from our experts— Sue , Simon , & James —who share real-world trends, new data findings, and actionable productivity insights. This month they are joined by special guest Ed Thompson We unpack how quick service restaurants (QSR) cut through rising costs and sharper peaks by separating delivery from dine‑in, scaling kiosks, and engineering seconds out of core tasks. Ed shares ground‑truth from trials that reveal hidden costs, smarter layouts, and why testing bea...
Feb 15, 2026•30 min•Season 15Ep. 5
Send us Fan Mail We explore with ReThink Productivity’s Simon Woodfield and Ed Thompson how MTM drives method improvement, not just time measurement, and share real case studies across logistics, retail food, and warehousing. We show how operator involvement, ergonomics, and clear coding lead to standard work, stronger business cases, and better rollouts. • Method determines the time, not the stopwatch • Ergonomic gains from reducing reach distances • Testing layouts and methods before rollout •...
Feb 09, 2026•15 min•Season 15Ep. 3
Send us Fan Mail Building on the success of footfall insights we broaden the conversation with the Basket & Barometer podcast. Diane Wehrle CEO at Rendle Intelligence and Insights joins Simon for their monthly chat We unpack December’s retail data: footfall fell most in shopping centres, high streets held up better, and sales rose only because food prices stayed high. Confidence is inching higher, small towns are gaining share, and the high street is evolving rather than dying. • Footfall do...
Feb 01, 2026•13 min•Season 13Ep. 34
Send us Fan Mail We dig into how MTM turns micro motions into fair, consistent time standards with ReThink Productivity’s Simon Woodfield and Ed Thompson and when to use MTM1, MTM2, or UAS for different kinds of work. We share how video, TMUs, and peer review remove bias and help teams set reliable, safe methods. • MTM motion categories and why they matter • Video-based analysis for repeatability and detail • Differences between MTM1, MTM2, and UAS • Choosing the right system for cycle length • ...
Jan 25, 2026•21 min•Season 15Ep. 2
Send us Fan Mail Hear directly from our experts— Sue , Simon , & James —who share real-world trends, new data findings, and actionable productivity insights In this episode they discuss why parcel pickup times vary from 27 seconds to three minutes on average and show how storage design, retrieval systems, and colleague headsets drive speed, safety, and sales. The chat covers the sales uplift from parcel traffic, the strain of returns, and how lockers and paid returns could shift behaviour th...
Jan 18, 2026•17 min•Season 15Ep. 4
Send us Fan Mail We unpack Method Time Measurement (MTM) with ReThink Productivity’s Simon Woodfield and Ed Thompson , from its 1940s roots to modern use with motion capture and VR. The chat explains how MTM coding works, and why fair, consistent standards matter. • Origins of MTM • Motion codes, influence factors and TMUs explained • When to use MTM versus a stopwatch • Hybrid approaches for fixed steps and variable customer moments • Training pathways and the main MTM variants • Building quick...
Jan 11, 2026•14 min•Season 15Ep. 1
Send us Fan Mail Building on the success of footfall insights we broaden the conversation with the Basket & Barometer podcast. Diane Wehrle CEO at Rendle Intelligence and Insights joins Simon for their monthly chat We dig into why Black Friday footfall held up while November spending slumped, and what that split means for December. We talk inflation turning to deflation in fashion and furniture, caution on inventory, and the ripple effects that hit suppliers when retailers stumble. • Footfal...
Dec 28, 2025•12 min•Season 13Ep. 33
Send us Fan Mail Hear directly from our experts— Sue , Simon , & James —who share real-world trends, new data findings, and actionable productivity insights We unpack the wage rise headlines and the quiet costs they trigger up the ladder, then move to peak‑time realities: queues, break timing, and the real use of self‑checkout. We finish with fast wins in quick‑serve layouts and why adoption fails without hands‑on coaching. • Wage increases by age bands and implications for costs • Compressi...
Dec 14, 2025•17 min•Season 15Ep. 3
Send us Fan Mail We gave NotebookLM our record breaking blog to see what happened when they turned it into a podcast... We examine how modern time and motion studies expose hidden waste, translate seconds into savings, and protect sustainable pace. From Taylor and the Gilbreths to sensors and benchmarks, we map the methods, the maths, and the immediate actions that cut costs without cutting quality • Spotting inefficiency in everyday work • Time versus motion as separate measurements • Resource ...
Dec 07, 2025•14 min•Season 1Ep. 170
Send us Fan Mail Building on the success of footfall insights we broaden the conversation with the Basket & Barometer podcast. Diane Wehrle CEO at Rendle Intelligence and Insights joins Simon for their monthly chat In this episode we cover why average transaction value now matters more than footfall, and how Black Friday has shifted the peak. We share sector signals, consumer confidence trends, and what the budget and labour market mean for Q4 • Footfall softness versus inflation-adjusted sa...
Nov 30, 2025•21 min•Season 13Ep. 32
Send us Fan Mail Productivity Pulse Episode 1 Hear directly from our experts— Sue , Simon , & James —who share real-world trends, new data findings, and actionable productivity insights We dig into why efficiency swings across sites, how that volatility hurts peak service, and what workload models can do to stabilise performance. We also show how role drift reduces leadership time and how structured interviews add a 360 view that turns data into action. • Variable efficiency index and why it...
Nov 16, 2025•19 min•Season 15Ep. 2
Send us Fan Mail 🚨 Podcast Reboot Alert! The ReThink Productivity Podcast is Back—and Smarter Than Ever! 🚀 We're thrilled to announce the official reboot of the ReThink Productivity Podcast with a brand-new format and a commitment to delivering high-impact, actionable insights twice a month Our new focus is simple: Less Noise, More Intelligence We’ll now be releasing two essential episodes per month —a mix of deep-dive interviews and actionable, data-driven insights—perfect for busy leaders wh...
Nov 09, 2025•2 min•Season 15Ep. 1
Send us Fan Mail We weigh the real trade‑offs of building AI in‑house versus buying and configuring proven tools, and map a practical route from pilot to production without blowing the budget. Clear steps on data, governance, ethics, and IP help you create value you can measure. Build vs buy decisions tied to strategy and IP When generic problems justify off‑the‑shelf tools Niche bottlenecks and owning differentiated capability Real costs of talent, data architecture and compute Governance, scop...
Nov 02, 2025•28 min•Season 14Ep. 3
Send us Fan Mail Notebook LM has had some significant updates over the last few weeks Have a listen to the latest iteration of a Notebook LM created podcast based on ReThink marketing materials #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity Forum Find us in the Top 50 Productivity Podcasts Connect to Simon on LinkedIn Follow ReThink on LinkedIn...
Oct 28, 2025•13 min•Season 1Ep. 169
Send us Fan Mail We dig into practical AI that saves time: personal LLMs, embedded features already in your tools, and AI‑native agents that take action, not just give answers. We share proof points, pitfalls, and simple ways teams can adopt safely and quickly. Personal LLMs as thinking partners and draft accelerators Embedded AI in email, slides, CRM, and meetings AI‑native tools mapped to roles like SDR and legal Agents that act: scrape, configure, reset, and schedule Quality, speed, and evide...
Oct 26, 2025•32 min•Season 14Ep. 2
Send us Fan Mail We strip away the jargon and show how to use AI as an assist that lifts productivity, trust, and measurable outcomes. From data readiness to culture, governance to first use cases, we focus on steps that turn hype into results. Clear definition of AI and human‑in‑the‑loop Where AI adds value across knowledge work Culture over tech as the main blocker Data readiness and training data basics Governance to reduce shadow AI risks Leaders modelling tools and setting objectives Select...
Oct 19, 2025•25 min•Season 14Ep. 1
Send us Fan Mail Theo Gott and Mark Stacey from ModusForce discuss the evolving landscape of workforce management and how their Dayforce implementation expertise helps organisations maximise efficiency and employee satisfaction. • The WFM market is experiencing 20% growth globally with key trends including AI automation, flexible working arrangements, and legislative changes • Advanced scheduling combines WFM capabilities with automated scheduling and budgeting to deliver significant operational...
Oct 12, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 169
Send us Fan Mail Diane Wehrle CEO at Rendle Intelligence and Insights joins Simon for their monthly chat about footfall trends.August retail sales dipped 4.8% year-on-year despite stable footfall, with fashion and general retail taking significant hits. Consumers are demonstrating caution by making fewer transactions while spending slightly more per purchase, reflecting broader economic uncertainty and diminished confidence • Consumer confidence remains low at -19 according to GFK's Consumer Con...
Oct 03, 2025•12 min•Season 13Ep. 31
Send us Fan Mail Tom Coe , VP of Growth at Retail Insight , shares how data-driven solutions can tackle the perennial challenges of retail operations while empowering store colleagues to deliver better customer service • Retail Insight provides in-store operations analytics software for over 50,000 stores globally • The complexity of modern retail operations creates compliance challenges as colleagues juggle multiple responsibilities • Process execution suffers when labour models are tight and c...
Sep 21, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 168
Send us Fan Mail We recap the highlights from the Productivity Forum 2025, diving into key presentations and insights that left attendees buzzing with new ideas about retail productivity. • Alex Rezvan kicked off the event with insights on retail's evolution toward non-transactional, cultural spaces that are highly tech-enabled • Halfords shared their productivity journey and implementation successes • The Innovation Lounge featured eight partner companies showcasing technological solutions in a...
Sep 14, 2025•12 min•Season 1Ep. 168
