Frontline Forward: Solving Today's Hourly Workforce Challenges

00:00:09.550
Sara Schrage: Hello, hello! Welcome, everyone. We're just gonna let everyone into our, space together, so we're gonna start in just one minute. Looking forward to a great conversation. All right, I think everybody is here. Let's go ahead and get started. So, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, depending on where you are in the world. Welcome to today's webinar on Frontline Forward, Solving Today's Hourly Workforce Challenges. I'm Sara Schrage, Director of Customer Success here at Legion, and I'll be your host for today's discussion. For 30-plus years, I've worked in technology, and I've been solely focused on people, from hire to retire. Human capital management and workforce management. And before we dive in and I introduce our fabulous speakers, I just want to keep a couple of housekeeping tips front and center. First… The Q&A is open, and we want your questions. We'll be monitoring your questions, putting them into the conversation as time permits, so don't forget to enter them there. If we don't get to your questions, we will absolutely follow up afterwards, and we appreciate you entering them. Second, if you have any technical issues whatsoever, drop those in the Q&A, and our producer behind the scenes will work with you directly so that we can rectify that. And third, we will be, sharing a recording of this webinar for everyone, so you can revisit it and share with your colleagues. So with those housekeeping efforts underway and behind us, let's go ahead and get started.

00:02:10.610
Sara Schrage: So, I am thrilled to be joined by two fantastic speakers. I will let them introduce themselves, and let them give you a little bit of background of their current role and their experience. So, Narinder, I'm going to open it up for you.

00:02:28.070
Narinder Dhaliwal: Yes. Oh, well, hello, everybody. I'm very excited to be here in this conversation. It's an important conversation. My background is… I like to just say 25 plus years, so I don't give out my age, but basically all I've been is in distribution operations and manufacturing operations. So, why this conversation is really, really important to me? Because my whole life has been in the trenches, working with frontline leaders and frontline associates. So, I have worked with multiple global companies in operations, anywhere from Kimberly Clark to Avon Products, Macy's, and most recently, AmeriCold, all in operations. So, very, very excited to be here, and I look forward to a fantastic conversation. So, thank you for, allowing me to be part of this. Thank you.

00:03:16.510
Sara Schrage: Yeah, absolutely. And Natalie?

00:03:19.570
Natalie Fresen: Oh, it's great to be here. Thank you so much to Legion, and of course, it's wonderful to be alongside Narinder. Sara, I just have to say, hire to retire, I've not heard that before, and I love it. I just love it. So, I'm Natalie, and I've spent 25 years in marketing, with retail as my core focus, and really, over the last decade, I've worked as a consultant and a writer with a real passion for people, people like, my bag. So, you know, because…from being behind the till, myself, to interviewing frontline workers, I've seen firsthand the difference that people can make, and it's just phenomenal. Gives me goosebumps. So, I work closely with groups like High Street Positives and Retail Women in Tech. I'm really all about championing the people in retail. Sara, thanks for having me.

00:04:07.780
Sara Schrage: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So, as we jump into this conversation, which I've been super excited to engage in, we are really going to be founded and focused on the State of the Hourly Workforce Report. It's a report that Legion provides once a year, and we are… we are, getting the input from a number of different managers and frontline employees. Around things that are important to them. And statistically, a few things stood up in the 2025 State of the Hourly Worker Report. So a couple of the themes that I saw that really stood out is employee expectations. We know employee expectations in this day and age are extremely high, but they're rising even more quickly. Things like flexibility, pay access, and communication are no longer perks, these are must-haves. They're table stakes. That's number one. The second thing is, is managers are overwhelmed. They're overwhelmed by administrative tasks, and they want automation to help them to do their job. They're trying to do more with less. So they need technology, which is the third item that really stands out, is how can technology, especially AI-driven technology, empower those managers to spend more time with their people who are really the difference makers, and also spend time not in the back room, but with their customers, or with their… or with their patients, or whatever… whatever the industry is that… that we're working with. So with that as a backdrop, let's dive into today's conversation. And if it's okay with the both of you, what I'd like to do is I'd like to focus on a few key stats. And then dive into those and unfold it a little bit more. So for our first question and answer and discussion, let's talk about the rising employee expectations. So here's the spotlight stat in the state of the hourly worker.

00:06:08.700
Sara Schrage: Flexibility demand continues to climb. We know that. Flexibility. In 2024, our State of the Hourly Workforce Report highlighted that 41% of hourly employees rank scheduling flexibility as their number one perk outside of pay. So, pay is number one, as you can imagine. Flexibility is number two. That's a 41% stat in 2024. In 2025, that has… that has risen 20 points. It is now 61% of hourly workers want flexibility in their workforce. Natalie. What do you think? Like, employees today are asking more flexibility, more recognition, more control over their schedules. Throughout your experience in retail, how are you seeing these expectations play out?

00:07:00.370
Natalie Fresen: Yeah, thanks, Sara. That's a really good question, and 20% jump between 2024 and 2025 is phenomenal. I mean, we all know things are changing, right? But that's a big jump, and it really surprised me. I think we're really at a tipping point.

00:07:16.900
Natalie Fresen: But I wanted to step back a little and look at retail as a whole. People… costs, or labour costs, are the single biggest expense, right? The stakes are high. And, by the way, here in the UK, retail is the largest private sector employer, which means that there's probably the 1 in 10 people across the country are employed in retail. So, it's not just an industry challenge, we're looking at an economic one. And the report, it also, you know, there was a stat, I think, that was 58% of employees plan to leave their job in the next year, and if you look at Gen Zs, especially in the UK, again, that figure jumps up to 70%. So you're seeing a 20% shift in people demanding more flexibility, and almost a 60% of employees leaving their jobs. I mean, that's phenomenal. We also know that one of the biggest challenges in this industry is staff shortages. So, when we talk about flexibility, it's a nice-to-have. Yes. It's a retention imperative. It's an absolute imperative. So, back to your question, you know, what does flexibility actually mean? It's not about swapping shifts, right? It's far more sophisticated, it's about predictable schedules, being able to self-manage shifts. You know, being able to work and fit your shifts around school, or personal commitments, or studies. You know, the reality check is another stat. Obviously, I'm the stat person today, is 40% of retailers are still using paper, spreadsheets, Excel. And how do you do that when you've got 60% of your employees demanding better when it comes to flexibility? So, you know, retailers have always competed on price and on product, but today the differentiators 100% got to be around people.

00:09:10.630
Sara Schrage: Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. Narinder. Thoughts from your perspective and experience in manufacturing and operations?

00:09:20.460
Narinder Dhaliwal: Yeah, so I'll, I'll move that into, again, I'll keep talking reality based on running operations myself, right? So, 1000% agree about the flexibility discussion, but I think I would even add to that the amount of control and communication that the frontline leaders are looking for from their front… their immediate supervisor, right? Because if that isn't there. There's heavy consequences to the business. And there's a big price to pay, quite frankly. If the communication, the flexibility, and the control is not there, and the frontline leaders are looking to their immediate boss, which is usually the supervisor, right? The frontline, and if we're not feeding the supervisor, then it all kind of starts to fall apart, right? So, what are the consequences? Morale's definitely going to go sideways, retention, turnover is definitely going down. Turnover will be up, performance will be down. All those things are… obviously, we just talked about labour cost and efficiencies, it's all controlled by that area, right? That zone of people, if you will. All that leads to burnout. So, it's not just the frontline leaders that are burning out, we also start burning out our supervisors, right? So, what's the normal script that happens when people start quitting? We hire more people, we do the same drill. And we think that all that thing's gonna fix it, but it doesn't. So essentially, what I'm trying to say is that the feed to the supervisors is very important to figure out, well, how can we make the supervisor's job better? So Natalie touched on, hey, you know, all the paperwork and the administrative burden, which I know we're gonna talk a little bit later, too, but how do we really find out what are the supervisors struggling in terms of creating that flexibility, control, and communication for their associates so they can spend more time with their people, so they can manage them better, right? So, I think that's really important, and those are the consequences, and of course, how do we address that, and how do we adapt to that is really… comes back to technology. So, some of these automated tools, what can we do to get rid of that administrative burden so we can help our supervisors drive performance and improve retention and overall. So that… those are my opinions about, what happens in the reality world.

00:11:35.480
Sara Schrage: Yeah, I think that's very true. As the Director of Customer Success here at Legion, I work across multiple different customers with my teams. And what I see, and it's very unique to the different customer, but sometimes there's a bigger priority on the business. And some of their… sometimes there's a priority on the employee. What I think is really important, and we can't lose sight of, is that it's not one or the other. In this day and age, it's both. You have to… it's an "and", not an "or". So, whether you're going into a customer who's super focused on bottom line results, which everybody is, it's not at the expense of the employee, and vice versa. Like, you can't just look after the employee, because you have to have those bottom line results. So I call it an "and" conversation versus an "or" conversation, and I also call it a twofer. And that's the value of coming to the table and making sure that you're focused on both priorities. Natalie, I'm going to circle it back to you. What are your thoughts about that?

00:12:38.130
Natalie Fresen: Yeah, what I loved about what you said there is you were saying, I think, that engagement is the bottom line, it's not just a metric, right? And I totally hear it, I totally get that shareholders have got, you know, business leaders have got shareholders to respond to. You know, there's a real sharp focus on profitability right now. We're in a tough economic, I'm not going to say crisis, challenge. But, you know, the nature of retail is that it's people. They're people in shops, they're people selling things they've made, it's creativity, it's people. That's the whole thing, right, about this industry. And honestly. If leadership only going to focus on bottom line, they really are missing the biggest lever. And engaged employees serve customers better, they stay longer, they perform more consistently. That flows straight through to stay… that… that flows straight? You got me there. It's your conversions, your loyalty. So, you know, 100%. They've got to look at both. You know, we just can't… we just can't keep it on that single metric anymore.

00:13:46.030
Sara Schrage: No, because people need to take care of people, no matter what it is. And so, we're talking about retail and distribution. At Legion, we also have verticals like, early childhood care, or we have healthcare, pet care, all of those different components. So, people take care of people. Who are taking care of and also take care of the business. So I love that. Let's go into our second stat real quick, and that is, is that let's look at emerging trends in distribution and retail. So, both of your expertise and experience will come in, handy here. So here's our spotlight stat. In the State of the Hourly Worker, and that is 59% of managers spend between 3 to 10 hours a week on scheduling. It blows my mind, it's like, wait, what? Why? Right? So, Narinder, I'm going to start with you this time. Let's… let's go into the distribution and logistics, let's get to the, you know, the… the reality as you talk about what are the biggest workforce trends you see right now, and how have they differed over the course of the last couple of years, and even this year?

00:14:55.640
Narinder Dhaliwal: Yeah, great question. So, let's just keep looking at the news. I mean, what's the focus right now? Operating efficiencies, operational excellence, people, bottom line, yeah, gotta go to the top line, too, but somehow it's got to penetrate all the way through, right? So, I think that's one of the… obviously, we've got to focus on that. We also have to be nimble and flexible, right? So, you gotta have good running operations all the way, through and through. I will tell you that, traditionally, if you think back. We put a lot of focus on supervisors just driving performance through sheer force. Work harder, work harder, work harder, probably not smarter, but harder. And of course, we did operational improvements along the way, labour management systems, incentives, and we thought, well, if we put incentives in, then it's going to lift the performance of our employees, and it's all going to be wonderful. Well, I would venture to say that that has expired this time. And so, I think it's time for the innovation and technology. You can keep doing that, but I'm not even sure I see a correlation sometimes. I mean, in some of the organisations I've ran, I haven't seen a great lift in performance, just putting incentives into the employees, right? And then other organisations, we didn't do that, and it was sharedly through engagement. Getting the associates involved, and putting technology in that lifted performance, and that… that was how you built a really cool culture and kept your people, right? So… so the why I think that's kind of old school, the new school is really about engage your people, put in technology and innovation, AI including, right, we talked about scheduling several times, it's really understanding, getting close to the front line to see what is the problem. I think traditionally, when we have design solutions, sometimes we've done it in the office, or we come and just roll it out without the input of the associate, and we miss something there as well. You can't do that. You have to get out on the floor and truly figure out what's meaningful to them, what's in their way, how can we remove them. So the trend to me is get rid of these old ways of thinking, think the new way, involve your people, look at the technology you're putting in place, is it meaningful to them? And work with them jointly. The other piece I would say, in addition to that, is training becomes really critical. It's really important, in today's world that HR take on a more, modern methods, if you will, to train and engage your associates versus just doing those annual surveys, or we're just going to keep hiring and firing and keep training people, right? So, how do you work with the supervisors in that middle layer that is so powerful to drive the performance? So that's how I see the trends today, is about engagement again, and getting technology in there and training and development.

00:17:46.420
Sara Schrage: Yeah, I… I totally agree, and I think Natalie is going to agree as well. When you take that from a manufacturing and distribution and operations, and you put that in a retail space, the bottom line is, is we need… you need to get out and get to the locations where the people are doing the work. And figure out what they really need. So, Natalie, what are your thoughts on this?

00:18:08.640
Natalie Fresen: Yeah, I totally agree. I think Narinder's really raised some excellent points. You just nailed it, actually. Especially around the technology and the training piece. On the retail side, recruitment is the number one challenge, right? So, back to Narinder's point. It's not just about filling shifts and getting the jobs done better, faster, quicker. Again, I go back to this whole thing about the heart of retail as people, and, you know, as people, the realities we're changing, we're evolving, asking for more, and I know you guys in Legion cover a number of different sectors. You'll see this in any sector. Where's people want more, we want better, we're looking for, we're searching for authenticity, and it's sort of this cultural shift that's going on, and… In retail, going back to retail, Finding talent is so hard!

00:19:00.240
Sara Schrage: Yeah.

00:19:00.880
Natalie Fresen: You know, the keeping of the talent is so imperative, and you know, that's where the tech and the training come in. So as these changes are driving this huge cultural shift, and we're actually also just looking for meaning, right, and recognition, and room to grow, that's just part of who we are as people now. The expectations are through the roof, they are so high, and those old mindsets, they just don't work anymore. So, you know, we have to build an inclusive culture that's… that offers more than a paycheck, right? So, technology and leadership will help, but it's really, to me, it's this cultural shift that we just can't ignore.

00:19:42.140
Sara Schrage: 100%. And I want to put a little pin in training and expand that to a question that I want to ask in a little bit around change management.

00:19:50.900
Narinder Dhaliwal: It's really important that we talk about this, and I want to ask that question of both of you, not quite yet.

00:19:57.390
Sara Schrage: But in a little bit, because training is training. Training plus change management equals success, and so I want to… I wanna hold that and put a pin in it just for… just for a little bit. All right, I want to… I wanna kind of pivot a little bit and talk about workforce technology as a competitive differentiator, because we… we're laying seeds about this. We know it is part of the formula for success.

00:20:20.700
Sara Schrage: So let's do another spotlight stat from our State of the Hourly Workforce report, and that is 84% of managers, 84%, want AI-driven scheduling that optimises performance, and 86% say they want… 86% say they want technology that schedules peak performers at peak times. So this is more than just scheduling. This is, do, you know, do I have the right schedule in place? Have I produced it in way in advance to give flexibility to my workers? And do I have the right drivers in my business? Do I have the right formula to create success on the floor, or in the daycare center, or at the care center that you're working for. So, like, it's that right person, right time. In the right place. In addition to the schedule and the drivers of that. So, Narinder, technology is quickly evolving, especially with AI driving the conversation. I was a little shocked at the 84% of managers, yeah. Because I'm like, alright, you know, gone are the days of people super scared of AI, they're now understanding that this could be my companion. It's not there to replace me, it's there to lift me and make me better at what I do. So, from your operational background, how do you see modern workforce technology giving companies an edge?

00:21:54.160
Narinder Dhaliwal: Yeah, so, a little surprised at the high stat, but it's a good thing. I can appreciate that. So, again, I'm always looking at the supervisor layer, right? So, the demands on that level is higher than ever, right? Guess who loses a job first if performance on the floor is not there, which is sort of unfair, right? So, I'm kind of anti that a little bit. You'll probably see that in my conversation. So those guys have very little power, right, on what's coming their way, in terms of technology or solutions to make their jobs easier, right? But yeah, we beat them up the most when performance on the floor isn't there, right? So, so that's good that they're open to it, but, you know, when you look at AI tools like Legion's AI-powered workforce management, right? That's…smart tools for them to have in their back pocket to start really helping drive performance. But there is an intimidation factor, right? So I know we're going to touch training a little bit later, so as you evolve these technologies, it's got to be user-friendly, it's got to be trainable and relatable to the supervisor so they're not intimidated by it, and how it's going to make their lives easier. And they have to… these tools are going to allow them to get off the, offices, sorry, and more onto the floor to drive performance, right? So today, if you look at a supervisor's role from a scheduling standpoint. They are working a ton of overtime, whether it's scheduling, payroll, putting in their performance measure, et cetera, for reporting, whatever is required of them. They are not on the floor, they're sitting in their offices, and they're getting beat up because the performance isn't there. So, we gotta use the technology and innovation to help them be more on the floor and less in the offices, and that's why I think technology is important. And it just has to be made simple for them, so they can embrace it and get trained on it.

00:23:45.870
Sara Schrage: Yeah. And Natalie, what are your thoughts from, like, a customer and brand perspective? Why does investing in workforce technology matter for retention and engagement, and really the customer experience?

00:24:12.110
Natalie Fresen: I mean, what a time to be alive. That's what I was trying to say. What a time to be alive! You know, the baseline for having a good product is almost a given. We are so fortunate. Most retailers today have a quality product. They've got, you know, amazing options when you walk into a store. And consumers, we've got endless options at our fingertips, and the real differentiator isn't just what you sell, it's how you tell that story, and how you deliver the experience. You know, just look at TikTok, and how that's changed shopping. You know, people buy into stories and into moments. It's just a little example. I saw my sister on the weekend, and she was telling me about this 10-pound TikTok dress, the dress shop, which I'd never heard about. Anyway. There we go. I went and bought two dresses. Who knew? You know, I didn't even know this thing existed, and it was such an exciting story. I just jumped on it, and, you know, that's what consumers do. It's brand storytelling. So, when a customer walks into a store, that is your golden opportunity. You know, online, they've got infinite choice, but in person, it's that whole experience and that human touch, and the most precious thing you've got at that point is your people. And if they're empowered with really good technology and a strong culture, you know, you can turn that moment into a real unforgettable experience, and something that lasts. And that is, I think, the competitive edge here in retail.

00:25:46.980
Sara Schrage: Yeah, I think that's why when you get your forecasting and scheduling right, and you understand your productivity of your people, and you can get that all in the schedule beforehand, then that moment, when the customer shows up in person. You can create that experience. And it… it plays tenfold in your bottom line results.

00:26:09.700
Narinder Dhaliwal: Sara, may I just add to what you two are talking about, Natalie, as well? You know, I kind of said drive operational efficiencies, get them on the floor to help, right? So, that link, that communication lifts very quickly and strongly when the associate and the supervisor can build that relationship. Right? That engagement part, which is really critical, too. It's not just about operating efficiencies, but those two start talking, they start having interactions, those relationships build, the retention, again, improves, right? Because somebody's listening to them, they feel part of something. And so it's teaching our leaders to really do that. So I think that's really important as well, as we leverage these tools, is how that communication engagement improves over time.

00:26:56.130
Sara Schrage: That's right, and that's… and it… oh, go ahead, Natalie.

00:26:59.570
Natalie Fresen: I was just going to say that I think that comes into the storytelling. You can feel it, right? If you go into a store, and you're looking to make a purchase, and someone's coming over to help you, you can feel the energy between the two of you. If, you know, if the colleague is really engaged, and they know about the product, and they're excited because they've had this training. It comes across, and you just feel connected, and, you know, we need that connection, so…Yeah, great point, Narinder.

00:27:25.800
Sara Schrage: Yeah, yeah, I would agree. And the technology, if it makes your job simpler, gives you more space for that. That's what it really amounts to. We're moving faster than ever, we have more information coming to us than we've ever done before, and if we can… if we can, minimise the noise, maximise the scheduling and forecast, and get the right people at the right place at the right time, that's when the relationship power happens. Whether it be between the supervisor and the employee, or between the employee and that customer, and I think that's where the power is. And it is all about the personal connection in this world, where we want storytelling, and we want to find meaning in our interaction, so I agree wholeheartedly.

00:28:12.740
Sara Schrage: So I, I wanna, I wanna be cognizant of time. We're about a half an hour into our conversation, and I want to circle back. On the concept of change management. And the reason why I want to circle back on this is that, you know, I've been doing this for a really long time. I've been focused on the customer for my entire life. I bleed for the customer, I love customers. And what I see more than anything is customers who are super successful when rolling out technology, that have a very powerful change management operation. And those who struggle fiercely when that… that is very low, or it ceased to exist, or it's… it's an afterthought. And I wanted to really talk about change management and adoption, and Narinder, you have been responsible for driving big technology changes, rollouts, all of that kind of stuff. What lessons have you learned leading out large-scale change across complex organisations, because this is, like, this is where the rubber meets the road with the employees.

00:29:20.450
Narinder Dhaliwal: Yeah, so for me, key is adoption. Roll out in a sustainable manner, period. I mean, that's got to be the end game, right? So, to get to the end game, then you start questioning, well, how do you do that, right? So, for me, the key words I'm always looking for is, why am I doing this? What am I trying to do? And how are we going to do it, right? So, and…you will always see me involving operations. Always. If I'm leading operations, that's where the meat is, right? It's not in a corporate office, it's really on the floor, and truly being involved with them, and they gotta be part of that solution. So, it can't be just designed and throw across the fence, it's gotta be, let's go talk to them, let's spend time on the floor, let's figure it out together, right? So, you want to observe what they're doing and what's in their way. So that's one. The other thing is, I'm big on pilots. I'm not big on, bam, roll it out and hit it all directions and see how it lands, right? So for me, and I've done this several times with 4 or 5 different initiatives most recently, all is around, let's choose a site. Let's choose the leaders that we want to work with. Where's the problem? Let's design a pilot. Put the KPIs, or key performance indicators, if you will. What are we trying to improve, right? So you start measuring that before the pilot, during the pilot, after the pilot. And if we're getting those results, fantastic. If we're not, it's time to pivot. And that's where that loop keeps going with the frontline leaders and supervisors and the general managers of the sites, to make sure they're part of that involvement, because if you don't, then they just feel like you just threw it on them. Right? A solution, another solution they already know probably won't work. So that's critical. Once you do the pilot, you can see the results. You can start then using them as, they're gonna just really buy into it, and they become your champions, and that, credibility builds, the energy builds. And then, from there, really, like, say, okay, guys, now we can go ahead and get the money that we need to get approvals, we want quick ROIs, low-hanging fruit, let's go get it. And then you start developing a full print of where do we want to deploy this overall. And then, as you mentioned, change management, that's when you really start talking about what are the playbooks now to go fully live, not just in one pilot, but what is the full, now, training platform, the playbooks, how are we going to execute that, and make sure that it sticks once we're deployed? So, those are kind of the elements that I follow every time we look at innovation or technology, more from a pilot involving the associates, then on to a full-blown rollout. But the key, again, is I will never do this without an operator, because their voice is louder than any corporate function. And so, that's my passion.

00:32:14.360
Sara Schrage: That's right, I want to put my hands in the air and say, yes, 100%, 100%. Natalie, what are your thoughts in regard to change management and making sure that we take the frontline workers and the supervisors along with the journey of change?

00:32:30.090
Natalie Fresen: Yeah, my thoughts, phone Narinder and get her in. That's some real good gems. I mean, that's some really top advice. We've clearly gone through the trenches on that one. For me, I think the heart of success… successful change is this very human need to feel heard and to be seen, you know, this is sort of the psychological perspective, but, you know, at the heart of everything, we just want to be seen, right? We want to feel like we're heard. So, to me, it's incredibly powerful when employees feel like their voice matters. One of my biggest recommendations for leaders is to literally step on the shop floor, and just listen, actively, and show that you're really, truly paying attention to what people are saying. Because when employees feel heard. And seen, they're so much more likely to embrace the journey of change, rather than to resist it.

00:33:31.750
Sara Schrage: Yeah, I would agree wholeheartedly. … feeling heard, seen, these are human aspects to all of us, where it goes to the purpose of why we are, and work is one of those, one of those areas where it's a huge portion of why we exist. It's… we want that purpose, we want that understanding of ourselves in a place where we give so much time of ourselves, so I think that's really important. I'm gonna plus this conversation by something in my experience where I've really seen success from a change management perspective. So, I hear both of you of what you've talked about. You've talked about making sure that you've got the right people engaged in the conversation, that you build out a training plus change management plan, that you iterate on it all the time, because things change on a consistent basis. I think that you're rolling out new into new locations. While you have to circle back and catch people up, because things are always changing. From the ones that you've already, rolled out to, so you need to circle back around. But one of the greatest opportunities I've ever seen customers really take advantage of, and it goes to that trooper of improving the business, but also highlighting the employee, and that is to share the success stories happening all the time by the new changes that are rolling out. So for that new location, maybe they are driving that more efficient schedule. They see an uplift in their sales per hour. They feel the energy, or they're seeing a higher retention because they're publishing their schedules a couple of weeks in advance, and the employees have more opportunity to swap schedules and define their preferences. So when all of that comes together, and then you can give a floor to those folks who have been part of your change agents to share their success story, and to provide that to others who have not yet been rolled out, or who are just rolling out, it is a huge momentum of, okay, I can do this, they did this. How exactly did you do that? And it creates networking and a foster of relationships across your locations as well. So I feel like that is a really.

00:35:52.040
Narinder Dhaliwal: Good morning.

00:35:52.470
Sara Schrage: differentiator.

00:35:53.700
Narinder Dhaliwal: That's a great point, if you don't mind me just jumping on that, because again, I have a huge passion for this. The voice of your peer is stronger than some engineer, or me, or somebody else, right? If I can get an operator on the mic. Talking about this solution or that solution, whatever we're trying to do, that… you just can be mute, because they'll take over, and they're already making phone calls to each other, and that trust, credibility just builds on autopilot. So those are… Sara, I 100% agree with you. That… that energy and networking is… is gold. Gold when you're doing these projects.

00:36:32.690
Sara Schrage: Yeah, we're in it together. I always have a… I have that motto, better together, hashtag better together, all of my emails, and I truly believe it in my soul. And, I think that that is really important as part of change management. I can't…underestimate how important it is. You know, technology is a huge piece of it, but the people are even a bigger piece of it. And I think that in order to harness all of the potential, we need the technology, we need the training, we need the change management, and we need the right people in the right room to make all of these decisions.

00:37:09.260
Narinder Dhaliwal: And I also love what you said about the training, because we will move on, right? And so, new people are going to be constantly joining in, so that's another opportunity in itself from a technology standpoint, is, like, how do you put technology in place where these platforms of training become autopilot, and also helpful to the HR community for onboarding new associates, so… Great point.

00:37:33.620
Sara Schrage: Yeah, absolutely. Well, we have, we've moved on to the Q&A portion. I want to make sure that we get to a couple of the questions and answers that have been lifted up. So here's… here's the first one. What best worked for you when rolling out new workforce management tools? Piloting first, or going all in? You've already expressed that. But what about anything else? Like, in regard to just the pilot, how about the communication plan? Like, setting the, like… I always call it dream casting. So, talk a little bit about how you set the vision, and then you follow it up with the communications, along with the pilot.

00:38:17.490
Narinder Dhaliwal: Is that for me, or…?

00:38:19.190
Sara Schrage: I would… I'm gonna… yes. Can you jump over on that one?

00:38:22.590
Narinder Dhaliwal: All right, no problem. Or if, Natalie, you want to jump in, feel free. So communication, obviously, is critical, right? So along the way, because you are involving them, you are having a cadence, hopefully, of meetings, to go over how the pilot's going, what are the results. So typically, I'll personally have gone with, like, a every two weeks kind of scenario, and then also some on-sites, married up with that, so communication to the operations community, as well as the engineering community, the project team, if you will, on how it's going, and are we tracking to the KPIs, and if not, what do we need to do to pivot? So, pretty basic, but yes, communication is essential.

00:39:00.870
Sara Schrage: Yeah. How about you, Natalie? What are your thoughts around that?

00:39:04.410
Natalie Fresen: Yeah, I think what I'd add to that is a term that I love, which is be scrappy, and that's, you know, the ability to kind of pivot and be agile, and just change as you go. I think it's brilliant to come up with these huge change management plans, or these massive new rollouts. The reality is, you're working with people. Sometimes you've got to, you know, you've got to have that flexibility where you can sort of shift and change, and learn as you go, and, you know, you need to be able to be not too restrictive so that you lose some of the magic.

00:39:37.130
Sara Schrage: Yeah, yeah, and I would… I'm gonna plus both of those things, and the best communications I've seen is where you… you dreamcast with everyone. Here's what we're doing, here's why we're doing it, and here's how we're gonna do it. We're gonna provide updates along the way. And those updates are not just rose-colored glasses, they're not just, you know, happy and sunshine. This is, here's what we tried, here's what we learned, here's how we're changing from it. And so, it's that constant understanding of where we are, we've listened, we've adjusted, and we keep moving forward. And I think that plays really well into pointing back to feedback, and working with the right teams, and making sure you're piloting along the way. So, love that.

00:40:24.220
Narinder Dhaliwal: Yep.

00:40:24.990
Sara Schrage: The next question I want to get to is, what lessons have you learned from workforce changes that didn't go as planned? What was, like, your big key lesson? Natalie, maybe I'll start out with you, like, when it didn't go right. What is the one thing that you learned in spades, and potentially, how did you rectify it the next time around?

00:40:46.980
Natalie Fresen: Yeah, it comes back down to listening.

00:40:49.460
Sara Schrage: Mmm hmm.

00:40:50.480
Natalie Fresen: I think the art of communication here is to express the why and the how. You've got to take people on a journey with you, right? And I think if you… if you're not being transparent, especially in today's age, right? If you're not being transparent and being really clear… or really clearly articulating your why and how. It's just not going to get people on board, and you're going to be running 5,000 miles ahead of everyone else, and you're going to turn around, and all of a sudden, there's going to be no one there. And that's a… that's a failure. You know, that… that's not a great place to be in, so I think… You know, my lessons learned, from this area is always be really clear with your communication, make sure that you've got allies around you who are, you know, people that… your peers that you can talk to, and, you know, sound out your ideas. Sometimes things that are great ideas in your head don't always play out as great ideas for everyone else. So, you know, that team sort of… that team sort of camaraderie, especially in retail, I think camaraderie is quite a big thing. You know, getting teams input, and then going back to the listening.

00:42:03.550
Narinder Dhaliwal: Yeah, I can add to that. Similarly, I think the… I can probably think of a gazillion projects that didn't go well, and usually it's because you're dreaming them up in your office or at corporate, and I'm a corporate person, so I'm not dogging corporate, too. I've been in operations and corporate on both sides of the fence, but the reality is, when you start dreaming up stuff and you think it's gonna work, and then you deploy, it doesn't work out, typically, because the associates already know. In fact, it's resentful to have an application come your way knowing very well. They already know, they're already talking, like, this isn't never gonna work. And so, it's like avoiding that, and you hit it, Natalie, too, is get on the floor, make sure you see it through with the associates, and get their inputs. Will this work or not? Because they know the best, we don't.

00:42:53.500
Sara Schrage: Yeah, I would agree wholeheartedly. …And I know we… we are almost out of time. There's one question out there that, if it's okay, I'm going to answer from my perspective, and that is, Hedy asks a question, and it says, when the rollout is done, and we leave people to use the tool and found out the adoption of the useful features like swaps or shift offers are barely in use, how do you get operations to refocus on this priority when they move on to other things? This is when you have to have a couple of key people in these areas, who know what they're doing, who are innovation evangelists, and can tell stories of success. Get those stories out, whether they're written or they are at a team sync. However that is done, people will listen. Peers will listen. They want to do the right thing by their people and the business, and so that would be my number one thought in regard to this particular point. Based on… based on… I've been doing this pretty much for 30-plus years. So with that, I want to thank Narinder and Natalie for your time today. It has been absolutely outstanding. I'm super excited that we have the opportunity to gather. Next time we're gonna gather, we're gonna have our coffee cups, and we're just gonna dig in. Maybe just in, like, our lounge clothes or something like that, and just dive more into what does this workforce want? How can we serve the workforce, but also the business? And how do we learn from tools like the State of the Hourly Worker, and then how do we take the appropriate action on it? So thank you both for your time and energy, and to all our audience members today, thank you for joining us. Thank you for walking through this conversation and sharing your Q&A with us. A couple of the leave-behinds that I want to make sure you understand, and that is that you should have a button, it says resource button for you, and so you can download a couple of the artifacts that are important. We have the State of the Hourly Workforce Report, we have a retail buyer's guide, and we also have a scheduling demo, CTA, or call to action, if that's something of interest to you. In the, and with that, I just want to say, I'm going to bring it back to one thing that I heard very loudly and clearly, and that is that, you don't have to have an "or" conversation. In fact, you can't have an "or" conversation anymore. It's an "and". How do I serve the business and the employee. And you can't have one without the other, and I think it goes back to listening as its principle and engagement of the right resources. And I will leave you with a saying that I remember all too clearly. All my life, I've been told you have one mouth and two ears, Sara.

00:45:50.230
Narinder Dhaliwal: But I heard something even better recently, and that is that our ears can never close, but our mouth was meant to do so.

00:45:58.950
Sara Schrage: So that's another opportunity for us to live into everything that this world is bringing at us, and be able to respond well. So with that. Have a wonderful day, have a wonderful week, and thank you for joining us.

00:46:14.220
Narinder Dhaliwal: Thank you, Sara, for navigating this, and thank you, Natalie.

00:46:18.200
Natalie Fresen: Thanks, Narinder.

00:46:18.970
Narinder Dhaliwal: Everybody.