Retail businesses with large hourly workforces face unique challenges when managing their staff and running an efficient operation. Maintaining optimal staff during peak hours, cutting labor costs without compromising service quality, and keeping employees happy are ongoing challenges.

Fortunately, intelligent, automated, employee-centric workforce management software (WFM) from Legion has made it possible to maximize labor efficiencies and employee engagement simultaneously.

Legion’s AI-powered WFM uses machine learning and optimization techniques extensively to continue to improve labor optimization and employee engagement. Legion streamlines labor operations by automatically and precisely predicting demand and instantly generating the optimal schedule to control labor costs.

Legion gives managers powerful tools to manage labor, automate daily decision-making for schedule management and time and attendance tasks, improve compliance, and reduce overhead. Daily tasks such as creating schedules, filling open shifts, and/or approving timecards are fully automated. By freeing up valuable time that would otherwise be spent on administrative work, managers can focus more on activities that will drive business growth and employee retention.

Beyond automation, the ability to use data-driven insights for decision-making purposes is a powerful tool for managers. With real-time analytics and predictive modeling features built into the system, businesses can see what’s happening now and anticipate future trends to make proactive decisions about staffing.

By leveraging Legion WFM, retailers are optimizing their workforce efficiency and creating a more engaged and satisfied team—ultimately leading to improved customer service, employee retention, and increased profitability.

Optimizing Workforce Efficiency With Workforce Management Software: Summary

• An efficient workforce is crucial to retailers. An effective team can drive productivity, reduce operational costs, improve customer satisfaction levels, and ultimately boost your bottom line.
• Labor efficiency hinges on various factors like employees’ skill sets, organizational culture, and available technology. For example, not only do you need to ensure your employees have the right skills, but also schedule those employees who are the best salespeople during peak times.
• Workforce management software, like Legion, plays an instrumental role in enhancing the efficiency of your team. Businesses can ensure optimal resource allocation by automating key functions such as scheduling, time tracking, and labor forecasting, leading to higher productivity levels.

The Importance of an Efficient Workforce

Businesses that do not prioritize workforce efficiency may grapple with unnecessary costs, employee dissatisfaction, and customer frustration. These challenges can lead to decreased revenue and negative brand perception.

The Consequences of Neglecting Workforce Efficiency

Without the right strategies or tools to manage your workforce efficiently, you risk several significant problems.

• Unnecessary Costs: Inefficient labor scheduling or poor task delegation could result in increased overtime pay or underutilized staff. Additionally, inefficient operations often need more resources to achieve the same results as their efficient counterparts—leading to inflated expenses.
• Frustrated Employees: Employees may feel undervalued or overworked without clear direction or purposeful work assignments. This dissatisfaction can result in lower morale and productivity levels, negatively impacting overall company performance.
• Dissatisfied Customers: Inefficiencies within your team could translate into subpar service—causing customers to take their business elsewhere. Customer attrition due to poor experiences directly affects bottom-line profits while tarnishing brand image.

How Workforce Management Software Helps Optimize Efficiency

Workforce management software makes life easier for employees and managers, creating a better work experience overall. A few key solutions to look for in a WFM solution are shared below.

Precise Demand Forecasts Drive Better Labor Plans

Legion’s Demand Forecasting product analyzes historical and current sales data patterns, including variables such as local events or promotions. It’s like letting your business see into the future.

This foresight can reveal when your customers are most likely to visit, allowing you to align your staff perfectly using Labor Optimization. For instance, on a sunny day expected to draw crowds, Legion WFM ensures enough team members are scheduled to handle the surge without overstaffing during slower periods.

It’s smart labor optimization at work: you’ll also know when to prepare for busy spells and plan on restocking during downtime. That way, when things get hectic, everyone can attend to customer needs.

Create Better Schedules in Less Time

Scheduling staff efficiently is a complex puzzle, but AI-driven tools like Legion’s Automated Scheduling are real game-changers. They cut scheduling time in half by balancing business needs with employee preferences and skills—getting it right 96% of the time.

This intelligent system maintains your oversight while minimizing manual efforts. It considers labor compliance and company policies to create predictable schedules without overwhelming you with managing the details. Legion WFM has been shown to reduce scheduling efforts by up to 50%, turning what was once a tedious task into an automated breeze.

Employees can define when, how much, and where they want to work and update their preferences anytime with our intuitive, highly-rated mobile app. And the AI-generated scheduling engine learns based on manager edits and continuously improves.

Automate Time Tracking

With Legion’s Time and Attendance, managers can automate timecard approvals across all locations, reviewing exceptions only. Legion’s schedule-aware timesheets automatically assess schedule change premiums and highlight timeclock-to-schedule variances. Any variances between clocked-in time and scheduled shifts will not slip through the cracks and are highlighted clearly—letting you act swiftly to maintain fairness and accuracy in payroll.

Maintaining compliance is no small feat, yet Legion’s WFM system makes it easier. The schedule-aware timesheet capabilities are sophisticated enough to assess schedule changes, alert managers about employees approaching overtime, and apply premium pay requirements automatically. It also keeps an audit trail for transparency and incorporates attestation tools—all designed to keep managers ahead of regulatory demands without adding more to their plate.

Modernize Employee Communications

Transparent and consistent communication is the backbone of any thriving business, especially when managing a dynamic hourly workforce. Legion’s Frontline Communications transforms how you communicate with employees and radically improves retention rates. Legion removes the barriers that have prevented you from extending communications tools to your frontline hourly employees. You can address one of the biggest pain points for managers and employees—easy, timely communications.

Frontline Communications provides a complete set of modern frontline communications tools: Newsfeed, Chat, Surveys, and Polls. Powerful moderation tools enable leaders to quickly isolate and resolve any improper use of communication tools.

With just a few clicks, managers can share messages across teams or departments about updates on shifts, policies, or urgent notices. And, because the communications capabilities are embedded in Legion WFM, retailers see high adoption by employees who access the tools in the same intuitive mobile app already they use daily.

Support Financial Wellness and Maximize Employee Engagement

Engaged employees often mean a thriving business. Legion WFM enables intelligent automation to support employee financial health and optimize operational efficiency simultaneously. Earned wage access is fully embedded into the Legion app, providing real-time access to wages in the same app your employees regularly use to check their schedules, record time, manage time off, and more. Why does this matter? Studies have shown that while standalone EWA apps see adoption rates of 24-30%, EWA, which is deeply embedded in WFM, delivers significantly higher adoption rates—60-70%!

Employees love having flexible payment options and feel encouraged to stick to their schedules more closely because they understand what’s at stake financially. With earned wage access embedded in WFM, you can run a fully compliant earned wage access program leveraging all the data needed directly from Legion.

With Legion WFM, Your Enterprise Will Be More Efficient Than Ever

Legion WFM is more than software; it revolutionizes workforce efficiency and engagement. More precise forecasts help you create better plans and budgets. By automating and optimizing scheduling, Legion ensures that your team is working hard and smart. Managers will be grateful to have some time back to focus on strategic initiatives rather than getting bogged down by spreadsheets.

With tools like Time and Attendance, managing timesheets becomes a simplified process, highlighting discrepancies instantly and keeping compliance issues at bay through automated alerts and audit trails—a proactive approach to avoid potential headaches down the line.

With all of the benefits Legion’s platform offers, it will make all the difference in your workforce’s efficiency. To learn more, schedule a demo now.