A good store schedule is all about the right staffing at the right time: sufficient staff when needed, within the available hours, and with the right employees in the right place. This requires an understanding of what the store needs and the capabilities of your team. In R&R, these elements come together in results-oriented staff scheduling. With the new “ Auto-Schedule ” feature, we’re taking it a step further and making results-oriented planning in retail even easier.
In this blog post, we'll show you what " Auto-Schedule " means for your planning and how it can help you in practice.
When creating a store schedule in R&R, you have various data at your disposal. Based on the forecast, you know what staffing levels are needed and how many hours are available for that. You also need to consider your employees’ availability. With that information in mind, you fill in the shifts and can see, as you schedule, how the planned staffing compares to what is needed and available.
With the introduction of Auto-Schedule we’re adding a new feature to help you create your schedule. Based on the data in R&R, Auto-Schedule generates a schedule proposal in just a few minutes. The proposal can be based on a standard schedule or one that’s already partially filled, but you can also start from a blank schedule. With Auto-Schedule , you’ll quickly have a solid foundation to build on.
When creating a schedule proposal, Auto-Schedule takes into account various data and parameters in R&R. For example, based on data from the forecast, it considers the required staffing levels and available hours, as well as employee availability and qualifications. In addition, it factors in responsibilities that must be covered at specific times, such as an emergency response team member or a key holder.
Laws and regulations that apply to scheduling also play a role. Consider, for example, the mandatory rest period between shifts or the working hours for young people. The proposed schedule therefore combines both the required staffing levels and available employees, as well as the conditions that a good store schedule must meet.
As a result, some of the work that used to be handled by the scheduler is now being shifted to Auto-Schedule. You no longer have to create the entire schedule yourself, but can focus your attention on the existing proposal and the decisions that still need to be made within it. This means it takes less work to arrive at a complete schedule. We saw during the pilots with Auto-Schedule that this can save a considerable amount of time: schedulers saved at least one hour per week on creating their schedules, and sometimes even more.
For larger or more complex schedules, those time savings can be even greater. As the number of employees, shifts, and different scheduling conditions increases, it takes more work to come up with a suitable schedule. The more complex the puzzle, the more it helps that you don’t have to create the entire schedule yourself because you have a good schedule proposal to start with. And since creating a schedule is a recurring task, those time savings quickly add up.
In addition to saving time, Auto-Schedule can also help create a schedule that is more cost-effective. By taking into account staffing needs and available hours when creating the schedule, it is possible, for example, to minimize unnecessary extra work or overtime.
Auto-Schedule takes some of the scheduling work off your hands, but you remain in control of the store schedule. You can monitor the results and see how the planned assignments align with staffing needs and available hours. So the schedule proposal generated by Auto-Schedule certainly doesn’t have to be the final version of your plan. As the scheduler, you can make adjustments yourself, incorporating your knowledge of the store and your team. This allows you to continue managing staffing in the store.
Curious about Auto-Schedule? Contact us for more information!
