“We don’t just want to fill the roles, we want to find the right people who will grow, lead, and stay.”
For over 230 years, WHSmith has been part of people’s everyday journeys – from high streets to airports, train stations, and beyond. Behind its success lies a simple truth: great customer experiences start with great people.
WHSmith continues to grow globally with travel sites opening in new territories around the world. This development brings many exciting challenges and opportunities to both grow internal talent and hire externally. The company wanted to bring even more objective insight, fairness, and intelligence to the way it recruits. For every career journey, there’s WHSmith!
That’s where The Predictive Index (PI) came in. Here’s how WHSmith has been transforming recruitment with The Predictive Index, combining behavioural science and people-first values to boost retention, engagement, and performance across its global teams.
Recruiting for WHSmith’s Commercial Business in Travel means finding individuals who can think fast, adapt quickly, and balance multiple priorities with ease.
Traditional hiring processes that focus on experience and interviews could only go so far. The team wanted an objective and scientifically proven way to define and understand what drives success within WHSmith’s unique culture.
By integrating The Predictive Index, WHSmith added a new level of clarity and confidence to recruitment.
PI looks at both cognitive and behavioural traits, helping identify candidates who can thrive in WHSmith’s fast-paced retail environment. WHSmith could reliably identify people who can adapt to a changing environment, process new information with ease, and juggle multiple demands while staying composed and effective.
Whilst experience and interview performance remain important parts of the recruitment process, these insights gave hiring managers a more rounded view of every candidate, and brought fresh clarity and energy to the entire recruitment process.
Job adverts were rewritten using PI data, making them more relevant and appealing to the candidates’ natural behavioural drives and needs. This positively impacted the quality of the candidate pool, while selection decisions became more balanced. They focused not only on what candidates can do, but on how they like to work.
The Predictive Index tools have also supported senior leaders with recruitment for specific projects, providing an extra layer of rigour and structure to high-level recruitment.
Since adopting The Predictive Index tools, WHSmith has seen measurable results across the business:
This commitment reflects WHSmith’s dedication to supporting employees at every stage of their career – whether they’re just starting out or exploring new opportunities across its global network.
Through initiatives like WHShine, the company’s talent development programme, and the Journey 4 Success (J4S) framework, WHSmith empowers its people to learn, grow, and achieve their potential.
From apprenticeships and e-learning to international career paths across Europe, North America, and Australia, WHSmith offers continuous growth opportunities within a diverse and inclusive culture – one where everyone can be themselves and thrive.
The Predictive Index’s ethos of supporting clients to put the right people into right roles aligns perfectly with this vision.
“PI has changed the way we think about recruitment,” says a WHSmith team member. “We don’t just want to fill the roles, we want to find the right people who will grow, lead, and stay. The data helps us make confident decisions, faster.”
Encouraged by these results, WHSmith has decided to roll out PI into the North American market. Further plans to expand the use of The Predictive across other markets, and leverage shared its insights to support future growth are being discussed.
By combining the science of PI with WHSmith’s long-standing commitment to people and progress, the company continues to set a new standard for recruitment – one that’s data-driven, inclusive, and human-centric.
the decision has been taken to roll PI out into the North America market and further expansion is being discussed.
For WHSmith, innovation isn’t limited to products or stores – above all, it’s about people. With The Predictive Index, WHSmith has reimagined what recruitment can be: smarter, fairer, and more personal. Because at WHSmith, every career really is a journey, and it’s one they’re proud to help every employee make their own.
At RPX2, we’re proud to be partnering with WHSmith to deliver innovative recruitment solutions. Discover how using The Predictive Index strategically can help you transform your hiring process, get in touch with us today. Click here to learn more about recruitment at WHSmith.