Neiman Marcus credits its hybrid work models as key to the chain’s efforts to rise from the near-dead.
The Dallas-based luxury retailer has announced the opening of a new “office hub” in Dallas, according to the Dallas Morning News. Adaptable work schedules have bolstered the company’s talent retention and acquisition, the company said Wednesday. The company has yet to disclose an address for the project.
The office hub will be part of that flexible work environment, allowing employees “to decide how and where they work in order to maximize their effectiveness,” the company said in an email to the Dallas Morning News.
Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy protection in late 2020. The retailer was able to shed $4 billion in debt and closed stores and now has annual sales of more than $3 billion in its bankruptcy filing.
As a part of its reorganization, the company exited two large longtime office leases–dating back to the 2000’s– in Renaissance Tower at 1201 Elm St. and 1700 Pacific Ave. The 56-story skyscraper was one of the largest COVID-era foreclosure filings in the Dallas area.
Like many department stores that fell into bankruptcy in 2020, the company has been riding a post-pandemic high-end spending boom since late last year. However, Neiman Marcus has separated itself from Macy’s, Nordstrom and Lord & Taylor in talent acquisition and management.
The retailer’s turnover rate has declined 20 percent since 2019, while it has gone up for many companies amid a trend of mass resignations. The retailer also filled 1,200 jobs in its fiscal year 2021, which ended in July, the time required to hire new employees has declined 32 percent since 2019.
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Over the course of the pandemic, the company’s corporate culture has become increasingly flexible under Eric Severson, executive vice president and chief people and belonging officer. Severson has taken on issues such as gender pay, diversity, equity and inclusion in an effort to differentiate the brand from its competitors.
The benefits of remote work aren’t just for the corporate staff at Neiman Marcus and its New York-based Bergdorf Goodman stores. With the downfall of storefronts during the pandemic, the company rolled out an in-house selling tool called “Connect” that allows sales associates to work with their customers from .
Last June, the company acquired a developer of a machine-learning selling platform called Stylyze as a part of a three-year plan to invest more than $500 million into its digital arm. The plan also included moving warehouse operations from Irving to Dallas’ Pinnacle Park.
CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck has touted remote selling by Neiman Marcus’ sales staff as an ongoing advantage and has praised associates for their work when stores were closed. The average Neiman Marcus store salesperson has been with the company nine years and sells $750,000 worth of merchandise a year, he said.
[Dallas Morning News] – Maddy Sperling