SMCP: Bringing People and Business Together with AI-Based Scheduling

We recently had the pleasure of presenting a webcast with Traci Rubin, Director of Human Resources at SMCP, who joined our CEO, Sanish Mondkar. SMCP is a leader in the global ready-to-wear and accessories market.

Traci and Sanish discussed how AI-based scheduling has the power to bring people and businesses closer together – more than ever before. Traci described how Legion has helped SMCP increase employee engagement and eliminate key challenges, including compliance issues, inequitable schedules, poor visibility into operations, and poor experiences for part-time workers.

Traci is a firm believer that scheduling is the foundation of everything: efficiency, productivity, and employee engagement. When she arrived at  SMCP, the organization had the managers create schedules using the HR system. It was a time-consuming, manual process. The HR system wasn’t intuitive, and it was essentially a glorified online spreadsheet. It couldn’t account for all of the things an AI-based system does. It couldn’t analyze sales data, transactions, traffic, historical data, or compliance requirements.

“On average, managers spent seven hours per month creating and maintaining schedules.”

They posted paper schedules in stores or emailed them individually to employees, which was inefficient and not suited to operating during COVID. It was also a challenge to ensure compliance with strict labor laws and to create equitable schedules. She and her team knew there was a better way, and they turned to AI-based WFM for three primary reasons:

• Increase productivity and reduce administrative work for their managers
• Increase profitability by optimizing their labor and giving managers more time to sell
• Ensure compliance with labor laws and regulations 

“We would not be able to manage COVID without Legion.”

Traci believes AI-based scheduling is like a relationship coach; it helps create a common language, so there’s a balance between what the employees want and the business needs. Employees want to work all of the hours they’re willing to give to the business. Managers want everyone to have open availability and to create a compliant schedule that’s within budget. AI makes it possible to match the preferences of both. It inherently drives better engagement because the more time an employee’s preferences are matched, the happier they are. 

Watch the webcast to learn more about SMCP’s success with AI-based scheduling including:

• 50% reduction in scheduling time
• 22% increase in manager productivity
• 100% adoption of the mobile app, which increased employee engagement by putting more power and control at the employees’ fingertips 

You can also listen to Traci’s podcast, Bringing the Human back to Human Resources, where she explores the delicate balance between people and business and works hard to de-stigmatize what it means to be in “Human Resources.”