The UK is on the brink of another workforce crisis, with more than three quarters (78%) of managers lacking confidence in their company’s ability to prepare for future skills gaps. As over half (57%) of the UK’s most experienced frontline workers near retirement in the next five years, 68% of managers fear that vital expertise will be lost when they exit, creating a generational skills vacuum —one that could cost the UK retail sector alone £28 billion in lost productivity1.