Training and recognition are as important as fair pay when it comes to job satisfaction, former Tesco HR director of Lesley James has told a meeting of business people.

During the meeting arranged by Education and Learning Wales, Lesley said that when she started working for Tesco in the mid 1980s, the supermarket's fortunes were not as they are now.

“Our employees where not proud of their employer or the Tesco brand, management was poor and as a result we were loosing more and more customers every week," she said.

“If you want to treat your customers well then you have to treat your staff in the same way. People need to know that they are valued by their employer and a fundamental way of achieving this is to make sure that they are equipped with the skills to carry out their job.”

A key architect of the cultural transformation and subsequent business success of Tesco, Lesley was responsible for the training and management development of all of the firm’s 150,000 employees.

“Research shows that people seek more than fair pay when it comes to job satisfaction,” she explained. “Training and recognition of achievement are equally important.”

Now an advisor several major public and private sector organisations, Lesley works with companies to deliver better service to the customer and improved financial performance.