The findings come as a study by talent development company Durler Consulting reports that typical retail CEOs earn £1 for every £305 in profit compared with £1 for every £858 in profit across industry in the UK. This is a rise of 38% over the past five years.
Retail staff account for 2.9 million or 10% of the UK's working population and The Retail Trust has reported that, between July and September 2008, 23% of the total calls to its helpline were about stress, 27% requested information about redundancy, 20% were about debt management and 14% required legal advice.
The Retail Trust's CEO, Nigel Rothband, said: "The impact the credit crunch is having on retail staff makes poignant reading." But he added: "Retailers are proactively implementing strategies to ensure staff know where they can go for support both internally and externally."
Helpline gets more calls from stressed retail staff
In the past three months 25% more retail staff have called The Retail Trusts helpline about stress, depression and financial crises.
