Presidents Day and the Benefits of Automated Scheduling for Hourly Retail Employees
February 20, 2023
by Justin Siu
Presidents Day honors two of the country’s most influential Presidents: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. These leaders have left a lasting legacy that continues to inspire us to this day, with Washington being the country’s first President and playing a crucial role in establishing the foundations of the US government and Lincoln leading the country through the Civil War and preserving the unity of the nation while also abolishing slavery.
As we celebrate these great leaders, it’s also important to consider the advancements in technology that can directly impact our daily lives, especially for hourly retail employees. One such technology is automated scheduling.
Automated scheduling has become increasingly popular in the retail industry as retailers look for ways to improve the scheduling process for their hourly employees. This technology uses algorithms and machine learning to simplify the scheduling process, reducing the time and effort required to coordinate with employees and ensuring that shifts are filled efficiently.
For hourly retail employees, the benefits of automated scheduling are clear. A study by the National Retail Federation found that 78% of employees who use automated scheduling say that it has improved their work-life balance, while 69% say that it has made their schedules more predictable. A recent Legion survey asked managers what tools would make their lives easier, and the overwhelming first choice by managers was an automated scheduling tool (60%), followed by a compliant time-tracking tool (36%) and an automated demand forecasting tool (34%).
In terms of productivity, the benefits of automated scheduling are also clear. A Forrester Total Economic Impact study found that Legion enabled managers to reduce scheduling time by 5 hours per store manager per week. For an organization of 10,000 employees, this resulted in savings of more than $4.2M over three years.
Legion also simplifies the process of paying employees a holiday rate or additional hours on a holiday. As a benefit to their employees, many organizations may pay employees at a greater rate for working on a holiday or may even pay employees a fixed number of holiday hours even when they do not work on the holiday! Legion makes it easy to automate holiday payments by allowing customers to set up specific holiday rates on specified holidays and can even do this by employee type. This is just one way employers can reward or incentivize employees for working on a holiday.
In conclusion, Presidents Day is a time to celebrate the leadership and achievements of some of America’s greatest Presidents. It’s also a time to reflect on the ways in which technology can impact our daily lives. Automated scheduling is one example of how technology can directly and positively impact hourly retail employees, providing convenience, flexibility, improved work-life balance, and improved communication and collaboration. As we celebrate the legacies of Washington and Lincoln, let’s also celebrate the power of technology to make our lives and work more efficient.
Contact us to see how Legion workforce management can help your business.