How HR Can Improve Efficiency and Support Retail to Increase Profits

In the retail industry its FACT that your Customer is a King therefore success is ultimately driven by creating the best customer experience. But they also know that there are myriad factors that go into delivering a world-class customer experience, each one of crucial importance – and each one coming with their own list of challenges and frustrations.

For many managers on the ground in the retail environment, one of the biggest of these challenges is the complicated task of staff rostering. Employee skills, employment law, budgets, overtime costs, absenteeism and peaks and troughs in demand are just some of the juggling balls that a rostering manager must keep in the air at any one time – and it’s not getting any easier. To compound matters, managers are often hamstrung by being required to use antiquated systems, often relying on spreadsheets or handwritten rosters, which are a complete waste of valuable time and resources. Shockingly, managers could be losing up to 20% of their time each week to employee rostering.

But it needn’t be this way. Forward-thinking organisations can take a load off managers’ shoulders, saving money and increasing efficiency in one fell swoop by using advanced workforce management software to make rostering a simplified process for managers and improve the organization’s bottom line at the same time.

• Get a grip on overtime costs- Overtime often becomes need to the hour in a busy retail environment where patterns can change at the drop of a hat or a last-minute absence leaves you short staffed. But if as an HR , we fail to keep a tight reign on overtime costs; this can very quickly see serious costs racking go up. Infact even in today's world of hitech economy many organizations don’t even know exactly how much overtime is costing them! Reducing these overtime costs is a significant challenge for managers at all levels, but it’s one of the best ways of making your rostering more cost effective. HR can join hands with managers to support them by utilizing technology like auto-rostering app (Smart HR technology). This would help managers to ensure that employees don’t inadvertently go over their regular hours and when someone needs to be scheduled at the last minute, the shift can only be allocated to those not at risk of going over their allowed hours.
• Get analytical - "Workforce analytics" - A commonly used terminology in today's world; plays an important role in the retail HR environment, but with the breadth and depth of data available nowadays, it’s not being utilized to its full extent. Rostering is one key area that can really benefit from embracing the opportunities offered by predictive analytics. Predictive analytics allows managers to better forecast future needs and demands in their stores based on historical data. This then allows them to roster more effectively, ensuring enough staff members to cope with busy periods, while eliminating wastage and inefficiencies by not over-rostering during quieter periods. Most managers are used to rostering for traditional periods such as festive season and summer holidays, but predictive analytics can take this to the next level. By integrating with sales data from a till system, HR rostering software can generate auto-rosters that are perfectly tailored towards your specific needs and can constantly adapt to fast-changing trends. This has the additional benefit of freeing up managers’ time and allowing them to focus their efforts on more value-adding tasks.
• Bring employees into the process- Often Employees are overlooked in the roster creation process. Now is the time to change - allowing employees too much input when creating rosters can make a simple process more difficult and probably complete nightmare. But there is a balance to be struck, and HR should endeavour to make employee input a key part of the rostering process. When employees feel they have no say whatsoever they may become resentful and it can affect motivation. Whereas allowing them to have their say can increase engagement and motivation among employees, which has a range of positive outcomes for the organisation. Engaged employees are more likely to stay longer with a company, while they’re also 22% more profitable and 21% more productive. Mobile technology can allow employees select preferred shifts, easily swap shifts amongst each other, check their rosters on the go, all while ensuring the right skills are available on the shop floor at all times and workplace compliance is maintained. Employees are empowered with more control over their work schedules, managers can use their own time more efficiently, and the organisation enjoys the financial benefits of an engaged workforce – it’s a win-win-win!
• Avoid falling foul of compliance -While costs from items like overtime or inefficient scheduling may slowly build over time, potentially leaving them to go unnoticed or under the radar for long periods of time, a slip-up in relation to workplace compliance can have very serious and very immediate implications for an organisation. We’re all human and no matter how in depth a manager’s knowledge of employment law or the Working Time Directive may be, or how meticulously they may double or triple check to ensure rosters are compliant, mistakes can happen and things can slip through the cracks, potentially exposing the organisation to serious financial penalties. Smart HR rostering technology can help the HR compliance burden to reduce off managers’ shoulders and ensures that employees cannot be rostered in patterns that would breach local legislation or compliance regulations. When managed inefficiently rosters can be a serious drain on time, money and resources, but following these four steps can turn your rostering processes into efficient, effective and profitable operations.