Workforce Management is a powerful tool. Much has been discussed about how it can benefit your retail company’s efficiency in the workplace. Whether you are an HR Analyst, a Regional Manager, or even a Frontline Employee, there aren’t enough fingers and toes to count the ways Workforce Management can benefit you. What hasn’t been discussed nearly enough is that Workforce Management not only improves company satisfaction but also benefits your customers. While there are equally numerous ways Workforce Management can improve your customer satisfaction, the following three stand out above the rest.
Less Busy Work for Management, More Customer Engagement
It is well-documented that customer satisfaction is boosted tremendously the more hands-on your management staff is in your store. It is also well-known, as I know from my previous life as a retail manager, that there is an abhorrent amount of paperwork that comes with the job, especially around scheduling. It’s commonplace to find entire mornings vanish as you bounce between your desk and the hanging calendar 10 feet away, trying your best to decipher an employee’s availability notes, typically written in nearly indecipherable chicken scratch. Maybe you are a bit more streamlined, and instead spend that time sifting through piles of sheets of requests to accomplish the same task, or if you’re really organized, an Excel spreadsheet that employees can update. All this time spent trying to work the infinite puzzle that is scheduling your employees is time that could be working the floor, directing and teaching (or if you’re like me, inspiring) your employees, and offering your wisdom and breadth of knowledge to customers needing that extra nudge towards their potential purchase.
With the advanced scheduling tools of Pro Workforce Management, you can take your precious time back through a series of automated processes. Employees can submit their time off from their own devices, which means no more unintelligible handwriting or stacks of paper. All the incoming requests go neatly into your dashboard, and once approved, go directly into the schedule. When it comes time to put the schedule together, the preconfigured scheduling engine will automatically provide every shift needed for a successful work week and then apply employees to those shifts based on their approved availability. Heck, it will even know to prevent or notify you if an employee is violating scheduling rules, such as going into overtime, or breaking laws for minors. With this powerful tool, you shed most of the time burden that was scheduling and can now increase customer satisfaction.
Transparent Schedules, Efficient Employees
All this talk of management, what about the frontline employee? The benefits of Pro Workforce Management will help managers boost their time on the floor and help drive customer satisfaction, but we all know that frontline employees are where it all starts. From the first greeting for the first customer of the day to the final “Have a nice day” before locking up, most customer interactions are with the frontline employees, so it is immensely important to maintain team morale by supporting them. It can be a tall task, especially when schedules go awry (and we know they will go awry). Some shifts can become too populated, and some too sparse. Miscommunication, old information, and last-second call-ins can leave an entire day impacted in a negative way, which ultimately plagues customer satisfaction. However, just as Pro Workforce Management alleviates burdens for managers, it does the same for frontline employees and then some.
With the Advanced Scheduler Module, not only are the schedules quickly put together for employees to know their shifts well in advance, but extra tools allow employees to take further ownership of their needed time off. With life throwing curveballs, employees can bring up the Pro WFM app on their device, choose their affected shift, and put in their request. This allows a manager to see the request off and pick from a list of employees qualified and open to work, and once complete, that employee will receive immediate communication and an up-to-date schedule for review. You can even be more efficient by allowing for shift swaps, where employees offer fellow coworkers their shift or post their shift to a job board their coworkers can choose from, both of which can automatically process once complete. With this level of functionality, every employee knows when and where to be at any given time, and a vast number of scheduling issues are decimated. With full workforces both efficiently equipped and content with their workload, customers will be greeted, treated, and served at the highest level of service your store team can offer, and customer satisfaction will skyrocket.
Planning for the Unexpected with Forecasting
Even with the benefits of the Advanced Scheduler Module supporting both management and frontline employees and boosting customer satisfaction, we all know there is the lurking, dreaded unpredictability of retail rushes. Managers can plan for some of these to the best of their abilities, such as recognizing potential holiday rushes. But as the saying goes, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Unexpected rushes for certain items that sell tremendously well at season starts, or perhaps yearly local events or conventions, can cause havoc on your scheduling plans. Customer satisfaction is at its most fragile in these windows, with customers highly stressed and often in need of staff assistance that never comes. How do we combat this? No offense to the mice or the men, but we have the Forecasting module of Pro Workforce Management.
With Forecasting, you can automate much of the unknown and unexpected. The system itself will track, monitor, and review your own labor standards and sales data, leading to a forecast that grows more and more accurate with each passing day. By taking this data, accurate headcounts can be predicted down to the department in need, then work with the scheduling engine to drive a schedule that is well-planned and prepared for the unexpected. With this tool at your disposal, customer satisfaction will increase to even greater heights. Customers who may take for granted your help on a normal day will never forget your essential assistance on a hectic one.
While these three methods feature incredible tools to boost customer satisfaction, they only scratch the surface of how Pro WFM can benefit every level of your retail company. By streamlining typical processes into automated solutions, you free up time for team members and managers to interact with customers, increase sales, and provide an overall upsurge in efficiency and satisfaction for both staff and customers alike.
As experts in Workforce Management for the retail industry, we are dedicated to helping you unlock the full potential of your business. To discover how our solutions can be tailored to meet your specific needs, we invite you to request a free consultation with one of our experienced consultants. Let us help you transform your workforce management and elevate your customer satisfaction to new heights.
Contact us today to schedule your free consultation and take the first step towards a more efficient and customer-focused retail operation.