A Tale of Two Stores...

On why optimised scheduling is key to operational performance

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… or rather, what one might call Christmas.

This story begins with two store managers in the crux of the busiest period in the retail calendar. Let’s call them Richard and Charles (pun intended). Both manage very large and well-known storefronts for the same retail giant in West (Richard) and East (Charles) London. Both the East London and West London stores submit similar financials when reporting to HQ at the end of the week. Both satisfy the numbers typically required to receive budget for staff, training and otherwise very good working conditions.

Although on the surface both managers seem to be performing similarly, Richard has recently had issues with staff turnover that mean he often has to borrow staff from the East London store. The only difference between both stores is that the East London store has recently been selected by HQ to conduct a trial of a new optimised scheduling solution that has been in place for one month. As Christmas approaches, the sudden shift in employee morale, budgeting and customer satisfaction has taken its toll on the West London store and has garnered the attention of HQ – who are nervous about the stores performance in the lead up to the extremely busy Christmas period.

In response to concerns around employee satisfaction, HQ conducted an employee survey across stores with the following feedback:

West London

‘With the Christmas rush, our store is becoming messy and unaccommodating for both customers and staff.’

‘Our usual fun atmosphere has become bitter and we often feel like we don’t have a say in our schedules.’

‘Overtime hours are great, but I’ve been having issues with being paid the correct rate.’

‘I’ve also not been able to take a decent break when working so have often left work exhausted and hungry. I haven’t been paid for those breaks not taken.’

‘I had to speak to our manager about my personal details being left out in public view from the employee list that he uses to fill shifts’

‘Our manager constantly calls to cancel, change and reschedule shifts.’

East London

‘Ever since trialling the new app, it has been easy to accept shifts and view my rota no matter where I am’

‘I love that I don’t have to go into the office to view my upcoming shifts’

‘I feel as though our rotas are much fairer now, especially on weekends’

As a result of the above, HQ requested a meeting with both store managers in order to assess the best way forward. During the session, it has been discovered that although Richard is attempting to create rota’s that would otherwise be within budget, he is often changing shifts at the last minute or calling staff to tell them not to come into work for their scheduled hours.

Lack of forecasting

Although Richard was trying to manage the weekly budget across the store according to the demand he himself was physically seeing in store traffic, this caused several issues as he wasn’t meeting the minimum contract hours required for certain employees (and the company was having to pay those employees for their minimum contract hours regardless). With 60 employees working at any given time and a pool of 200 staff, Richard has no insight into the demand levels across the store and as a result, is not scheduling his staff efficiently.

Charles on the other hand, has a simple and easy way of keeping track of his weekly store budget. He doesn’t need to physically amend the schedule according to his perception of demand, as this is already factored into the rota. Minimum contract hours and European Working Time Directive requirements are always adhered to, in order to avoid any issues around compliance.

Compliant rotas

One of the biggest issues that Richard has had to face is managing breaks - as there are often not enough staff available and on-hand to take over cashier responsibilities and most team members go without eating or try to eat their food while re-stocking shelves in front of customers. This goes against the usual company policy of not eating while on the shop floor, and perhaps even more importantly – is violating the contractual agreements that entitle employees to a proper rested break.

Charles has been able to auto-schedule breaks for employees, in order to ensure that his staff are being provided with adequate rest time in agreement with their contracts. His employees are happy that they are able to leave the store without feeling guilty to fill up on Christmas Sandwiches from Pret.

Paper-based processes

Richard has been calling employees with afternoon shifts to come in early from a physical list in the back office that he printed from their HR platform. Sometimes, Richard takes the printed list out onto the store floor and calls employees while he is working. On several occasions, he has left the list unattended and in full public view of both employees and customers. The list contains phone numbers, addresses and the pay rates of employees – and as a result, is unknowingly committing a serious data breach on behalf of the company. It is also in violation of GDPR, where companies have received millions of dollars in fines for not having the proper safeguards in place to protect employee data.

Charles has no need to call employees, as he can simply broadcast gap shifts to eligible employees via his scheduling solution. He doesn’t need to print any sensitive employee data, and as an added bonus, is proud of the move towards a more environmentally friendly store.

Poor budgeting

Once Richard calls employees from his list, those that agree to come in earlier are then potentially exceeding the hours that they are required to work, resulting in overtime payments that cost the store a significant amount of money. On the other hand, there have also been numerous complaints that certain staff members are not receiving the correct overtime payments, and HQ have recently received calls from disgruntled employees querying their pay statements.

Charles understands the importance of budgets, which is why the new scheduling solution highlights forecasted sales data along with daily budgets so that he can accurately ensure that his rotas are within the company guidelines of what is considered financially sustainable. He doesn’t have to worry about employees being paid incorrectly, as he simply edits any employee shifts with the necessary pay codes and submits timesheets to payroll.

Employee Morale

Richard has been frustrated and is now worried that he is at risk of losing his job - making him irritable and often difficult to get along with during shifts. This directly impacts morale within the store, and as a result, has led to the increase in staff turnover.

Charles has seen a huge increase in employee satisfaction as the majority of staff within his store have adopted the new solution and are engaging frequently with the app. He now has more time to focus on managerial duties (as well as no longer needing to hide in the toilet when the going gets tough) and less time trying to organise where and when his staff need to be working.

Customer Satisfaction

As a result, the customer satisfaction of the West London store has dropped dramatically. Customers are providing a rating from 1-5 via the EFTPOS machine prior to credit card payment that shows a substantial drop in the value of their in-store experience. The store itself has become messy with things often falling off hangers and unfolded items strewn across the wrong displays. As there is currently no way of capturing the reasons behind this change in satisfaction, HQ are oblivious to the reasoning behind the drastic change in store performance.

Customer satisfaction remains high within the East London store, as employees continue to provide the exceptional standard of service that their customers are used to.

*It’s important to note here that Charles appears to be very happy with himself, much to Richard’s dismay.

Conclusions

At this point, HQ have decided that something needs to change. They were unsure that the new rota tool would yield enough benefits to justify a project, but after comparing the two stores side-by-side in peak periods – HQ determined that an optimised scheduling solution is crucial to the operational efficiency within their stores.

Although on face value, it would appear that both stores are performing at the same level – what we are ultimately finding is a much higher cost involved in the operational day-to-day of the West London store. Revenue may (for some time at least) remain consistent based on the reputation of a brand or the need for the product, but ultimately the operational costs incurred through poor scheduling can severely impact a company’s bottom-line.

Substandard rota’s and poor scheduling practices dramatically impact the overall efficiency and reputation of a brand, as well as causing several compliance issues within brick and mortar storefronts. Unfortunately, it often takes far too long for this feedback to make its way to upper management. Whilst sales are one way of gauging the viability of a store, attention also needs to be given to the delicate operational intricacies within those stores. From an operational standpoint, employee satisfaction plays a huge role in the success of any company, and optimised scheduling ensures that your employees feel they have autonomy over their availability to work and perceive their schedules to be fair.

And so, that concludes our Christmas tale of Charles and Richard – the two store managers who, although brilliant at their jobs, just can’t get by without a little help from their friends. Friends with solutions to issues around scheduling, such as those that we provide here at Rotageek; where we help customers create optimum rotas that incorporate all of the important aspects of compliance, fairness and customer demand.

How do you prepare for seasonal retail peaks? Do you think that optimised scheduling has any bearing on operational efficiency? We’re interested to hear your thoughts!

Here at Rotageek, we’re a ridiculously diverse group of people who come from all corners of the globe, with varying backgrounds in areas such as law, engineering, retail and consultancy. Although we are extremely different in most aspects of our professional and personal lives, we share one commonality that truly defines who we are as a company: the constant desire to make things work - better, faster, more intelligently and with more efficiency; we are a team of individuals who consistently seek to improve the way that all things are done.

An extract of the above was originally posted on Rotageek's blog, where you can find content on schedule optimisation, employee wellbeing, compliance, AI and more.

Click here to book a free demonstration of our solution.