Summer is just around the corner and for many retail companies that traditionally means a difficult period in terms of staff availability. Many employees go on vacation, change jobs or go to college, for example. The availability of employees in stores therefore becomes a lot lower during the summer period.
How can you best deal with this as an HR employee or store manager? In this blog, we provide some tips based on our practical experience and explain how workforce management software can help deal with staff shortages during vacation times.
Avoid surprises by planning well in advance. It may seem obvious, but workforce management software allows you to easily and clearly track employee availability and adjust your planning accordingly. This allows you to look for replacements in time, offer open shifts and prevent gaps in the schedule.
If you know that many people will be absent during the vacation season, taking advantage of flexible workforce options may be an option. With workforce management software, you can easily track the availability of flex workers and schedule their work schedules. This allows you to quickly shift gears if there are few people available or if someone drops out and ensures that you have adequate staffing at the inconvenient times.
Communicate proactively and transparently about the challenging summer period, starting well in advance. Communicate that (limited) staffing is a challenge for everyone in the organization. After all, low staffing levels have a major impact on all employees and the entire company.
Openness creates clarity and commitment. Employees who feel engaged with the company are more likely to go the extra mile. With workforce management software, you can easily communicate with your employees and involve them in scheduling. Are there gaps in the schedule? You can quickly and easily offer these shifts for takeover.
Engaged employees will feel more valued and be more motivated to work extra hours during the vacation season.
If you invest in employee training and development, you can also make them more flexible. For example, consider training employees to work in multiple departments or on multiple tasks. Of course, you can also facilitate this by letting employees learn from each other. In this way, you can shift staff more easily during vacation periods and prevent departments or certain tasks from being understaffed.
Finally, you can use the real-time data that workforce management software provides to deal with staff shortages. With a real-time overview of available employees and store occupancy, you can make quick adjustments when staff shortages and gaps in schedules seem to arise. This way, you ensure that store staffing levels remain optimal and customers receive the service they are accustomed to.
Reduced staff availability during vacation times is often unavoidable, but with the right preparation and smart choices, you can ensure that staffing levels in stores remain at desired levels. Plan ahead, take advantage of flexible workforce options, increase employee engagement, invest in training and development, and utilize smart technology. This will help you get through the vacation season better, while keeping the desired level of service in stores high.
