Retail Employee Scheduling

Retail Employee Scheduling

When I was a retail manager, one of my least favorite things to do was schedule my team. It's boring, it takes a long time, and I never know if I'm correct. The difficulty of scheduling arises from the need to balance the needs of your company with those of your team members. It can be quite annoying and take a lot of time.

So, you spent two hours making a schedule, and now you've finished it. Every employee has been duly granted two days off, and your meticulous attention to detail has ensured that all vacation and day requests have been duly honored. Someone on your sales team requires different days off after you post the calendar. Despite how easy it seems, in order to implement the change, you will need to essentially construct a new timetable. To make sure everyone's needs are satisfied, you'll have to go over each person's day again. That is the most frustrating thing ever.

Please tell me how to streamline and ease this procedure. My initial thought was to teach my assistant how to create schedules and then give him that responsibility. Issue resolved. Oh, that's wrong. I no longer had to worry about scheduling, yet the issue persisted. My assistant was spending two or three hours on each schedule instead of me. One of the answers to our dilemma was "set schedules," which I discovered because he did it. As soon as he took over scheduling, he worked with each salesperson individually to determine their ideal time slot. After that, he made a timetable that was based on company requirements and, secondarily, personal preferences.

It was a perfect solution. People have different preferences when it comes to working hours; some enjoy mornings, some prefer evenings, and some view weekends as paid time off. Schedules have always bothered me since I felt obligated to give someone specific days off when I didn't want to. Nonetheless, my group is cognizant of the fact that schedules can and do change in the retail industry. The majority of retail sales occur on weekends and in the evenings, something they are also aware of. This is the next step, and they get it since we always let them know about these ideas.

Lots of your scheduling problems will go away if you and your team are in constant contact and share information. For all requests, I ask that my staff notify me at least two weeks in advance; for vacation requests, I ask that they notify me four weeks in advance. In return, I always post schedules for two weeks. During meetings, I advise them that my schedule is subject to change and that I will want extra coverage on certain days. The dates that will not be recognized for vacation requests are those that I stress.

Requests are communicated informally in different ways by different companies. I once worked for a company that actually had a form that workers could fill out to formally seek time off. No matter how stringent this sounds, it was effective. I was able to keep track of accepted requests, and so could the employee. The request is entered into my planning calendar and subsequently filed away in the "Approved Requests File" once it has been approved. This method of handling requests is neat and organized.

Every request is reviewed and approved in order of priority. Everyone on my staff is aware that requesting time off does not ensure it, but they also know that I will do whatever it takes to grant them the days off they request. I limit hoarding by letting people request premiums twice in a row in order to keep the approval process fair. So, even if someone is the first to ask for three days off in a row Memorial Day, July 4, and Labor Day they might only get two of those days off. This way, I can't let someone abuse their premium vacation days. No one should be able to take advantage of every premium day off; everyone on my team gets that. This ensures that demands are balanced and fair.

Respect and promote people's desire to have a life outside of work. Although I normally ask for at least two weeks' notice for requests, I will occasionally make an exception and grant a request with less time.

When I make schedules, I always make sure that my top performers are on the most popular days. What this means is that I use scheduling primarily to drive business. It works well for high performers in commissioned settings but poorly for others who aren't up to speed. When they don't receive enough Saturday and late shifts, I've had salespeople grow irate. It could be more challenging to get your top salespeople to spend more weekends in hourly organizations. Strike a balance; you must.

One of the most challenging aspects of scheduling is balancing your own needs with those of your company. You must decide how to balance the demands of your staff with those of your company. Following a few tried-and-true rules will make this tedious chore manageable:

1. Maintain a regular routine whenever possible.

2. Establish principles and regulations for scheduling.

3. Share the rules.

4. Paperwork requests

5. Establish a just procedure for requests.

6. Put the company first.