Retail wellbeing improves, but Big Lots frontline workers still feel strain

The latest Retail People Index from Retail Trust and AlixPartners put retail wellbeing at 62 out of 100 in the first quarter of 2026, up from 57 at the end of 2025. It also showed a 9% drop in employees likely to leave and an 11% drop in workers going into work while ill. For Big Lots, that improvement lands against a rougher company backdrop, with store-level pressure still playing out after bankruptcy, liquidation planning, and ownership uncertainty.

The index still found that frontline staff were the least happy group. They were more likely than head office workers to quit or to work while unwell, a split that points back to the same pressures retail workers have been describing for years: job insecurity, high living costs, crime, abuse from customers, and the constant need to keep the store running. Those are not abstract morale issues on a sales floor. They show up in attendance, turnover, and whether a shift ends with a worker able to recover or simply get through the next one.

Big Lots has been living inside that tension since its Chapter 11 filing in September 2024. At the time, the Columbus, Ohio-based chain had about 27,700 employees and more than 1,300 stores in 48 states. On Dec. 19, 2024, the company said it would close all remaining stores after a restructuring plan fell apart, turning the chain’s future into a moving target for workers trying to plan around hours, paychecks, and location closures.

Early 2025 court-related reporting then suggested that some of the company could survive through a sale, with Variety Wholesalers lined up to acquire 200 to 400 Big Lots stores and two distribution centers. Other filings described hundreds of leases across 47 states as being put up for sale. That patchwork of closures, possible transfers, and lease sales made the workplace reality far less stable than any management message about recovery.

The new wellbeing numbers matter because they point to what can move the needle inside a discount retail operation. The report tied the improvement to stronger manager relationships and team support, which are the same levers that affect whether a store feels organized or constantly on edge. For Big Lots workers, the difference is visible in the basics: who gets the hours, how last-minute changes are handled, and whether conflict on the floor is backed up by steady management or left to run the shift.