Retail
Challenges
- Retailers are turning to workforce management solutions to allow them to achieve more for the same, or the same for less
- They can improve customer service by resolving periods of understaffing and reduce costs by eliminating periods of overstaffing
- Store managers are spending far too much time behind desks building schedules and authorizing attendance instead of using their valuable skills on the sales floor
- And having built those valuable schedules, how they can be improved for the next time?
Solution
WorkPlace Systems workforce management solutions feature:
- A range of modules that will provide workforce visibility, improved efficiency and enhance the customer experience.
- Schedule and Attendance Management (Time & Attendance) can be deployed very quickly, in weeks, to give full visibility of staffing to existing schedules.
- Schedule templates are created to represent different week types, standard, busy, Bank Holiday etc significantly reducing administration time.
- Use of biometric and/or swipe/badge readers provide actual attendance against the planned schedules.
- Improvements in schedules can be achieved by a number of different forecasting techniques which will allow the adjustment of schedules to increase the efficiency and service levels of schedules.
- Shift Bidding can ensure that any available shifts are filled quickly by associates with relevant skills.
- Task Management for the planning and execution of Retail Campaigns
- Staff Communications to communicate, control and feedback information typically used to; Manage Product Recalls, Newsletters / Bulletins, Site Visit Reports and Customer Complaints.
- Advanced reporting for managers and HQ staff using KPIs and Dashboards for easier top down analysis.
Benefits
- Save up to 5% of costs by a reallocation of premium payments and a reduction of in-store hours
- Improve customer service by more closely matching customer volumes with customer facing staff
- Reduce labor turnover by planning schedules around store staff's individual working time preferences, re-planning flexible contracts to more closely fit in with the store operating model - leading to reduced costs through reduced recruitment and training of new recruits
- Reduce errors in over-payment and reduce un-authorized absence through better visibility of attended hours
- Comply with local labor and State laws through rule-based scheduling
- Reduce the time spent by valuable store managers in scheduling creation and attendance management
- Provide HQ with near-instantaneous feedback on store operations
Client Quotes
"Rite Aid selected WorkPlace based on their expertise on scheduling associates across multiple locations, user friendliness and their rapid implementation strategies"
Dave Markley, Vice President of Financial and Labor Analysis at Rite Aid
"The customers are the big winners. Our stores actually improved customer service with a 50% reduction in queue length and at the same time realized labor savings of 3% to 7%. The key to this was the ability to build schedules based not simply on sales, but also on item, invoice, register, customer service, task management and historical data among others. Meanwhile store management benefited by spending 20 fewer hours per week building forecasts and schedules."
Berthold Steur, Project Manager, Metro Cash & Carry
Client References
Argos | Chelmsford Star Co-op | Coral | Fiskars | H&M | Metro Cash and Carry | Next | Rite Aid | Thomas Pink | Travis Perkins/Wickes | Woolworths (South Africa) | World Duty Free