Improving Retail Labor Forecasting And Scheduling With Workforce Management Sofware

By Britt Davies via the Workplace Blog

The process of employee scheduling in a retail store is about planning your available resource (associates) to fill shifts or time slots to ensure your store has adequate cover for the work that needs to be done during the working day and week.

Above all, it’s about making sure you have the right people, in the right place, at the right time, with the right skill. Associates need to know when they’re working and what they’re doing, while the retailer needs to know in advance that work (demand) is covered, labor costs are not exceeded and compliance is met. Many retail environments are complex and shift scheduling is used to plan the coverage of tasks throughout the day and deploy associates in different locations such as the cash register, greeting/welcome, tasting stations, replenishment or deliveries.

There are a wide variety of methods used to forecast demand and schedule associates and the relative effectiveness of these methods varies.

Despite the availability of staff scheduling software to both forecast demand and schedule associates, many retailers still schedule manually or use old technology and techniques which are probably not – in reality – providing the most effective use of resources or meeting the needs of the business.

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