In retail, managing a store’s workforce is as critical as managing its inventory. Striking this balance is not just about improving operational efficiency—it’s also about ensuring compliance with staffing rules that dictate the minimum and maximum number of employees in various roles at any given time.

Understanding Staffing Rules

Staffing rules in retail are crucial for several reasons. Firstly, they ensure sufficient staff to meet customer demand, thus enhancing the customer experience. For example, providing at least one store manager who is present at all times can significantly improve operational efficiency and decision-making or scheduling at least two employees to close for cash counting to avoid theft. Similarly, a staffing rule that dictates no more than three salespeople can be scheduled in a single shift prevents overstaffing, which can erode profit margins due to unnecessary labor costs.

Secondly, staffing rules in specific settings such as pharmacies go beyond mere numbers and extend into compliance and safety. For instance, a rule requiring one pharmacist for every two technicians ensures adequate supervision and adherence to safety protocols, crucial for employee and customer safety.

Legion’s Solution to Staffing Challenges

At Legion, we recognize managers’ challenges in adhering to these staffing rules. That’s why we’ve introduced a new feature in our workforce management system that alerts managers to staffing rule violations. This feature is a preventative and corrective tool, empowering managers with real-time insights into their staffing configurations.

When customer administrators set minimum and maximum staffing rules, the system will validate that the schedule aligns with these rules. If a schedule falls outside these parameters—perhaps scheduling too many technicians per pharmacist—the system immediately flags this issue to the manager. This prompt notification allows managers to adjust schedules before they impact the store operationally or lead to compliance issues.

Real-time staffing alerts have numerous benefits. They drastically reduce managers’ administrative burden, freeing them to focus more on customer service and less on micromanaging schedules.

Additionally, these alerts help stores avoid penalties associated with non-compliance to labor laws or internal staffing policies, which can be costly.

More importantly, stores can meet and exceed customer expectations by continuously optimizing staffing levels. Customers are likely to be more satisfied with their shopping experience when they receive timely assistance, and fewer errors occur when staff levels are adequate to the workload.

Request a demo to see our new staffing feature within Legion Workforce Management within Automated Scheduling in action.