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Building customer loyalty starts with greater workforce visibility

Amanda Nichols, senior manager, retail and hospitality practice group, Kronos, writes that by streamlining store execution retailers can drive higher employee productivity and foster a deeper level of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Photo by iStock.com

May 30, 2019

By Amanda Nichols, senior manager, retail and hospitality practice group, Kronos

We've all seen the headlines: While the job market becomes more competitive, seasonal fluctuations, changing employee expectations, and shifting customer demands can contribute to workforce burnout and challenge retail organizations to run at a competitive pace.

To combat employee burnout and diminish its potential impact on customer satisfaction, retail managers need greater visibility into labor data so they can forecast, assign, and track work more efficiently. With the right tools and technologies in place to leverage this data, store managers can create schedules and workflows that actually work for everyone on their team. And if these schedules, designed around employee needs, can also meet the goals of corporate, it's a win-win.

The combined power of time and task solutions is key, as it can help retailers build manageable workflows that are specifically oriented for their unique workforce. In the end, if associates are empowered by fair schedules, a balanced workload, and feel like their company has their best interests in mind, then they're more apt to be engaged and productive at work, which positively impacts customer experience — and isn't that what it's all about?

Leverage technology to give managers key insight into store tasks and associate workloads

In a busy retail environment, the top priority is delivering exceptional customer service. But really, that goes hand-in-hand with empowering store associates to balance their daily tasks with impromptu customer needs. Understanding and managing workloads across teams is key to achieving this balance. With a view into what work is happening when and where, managers can ensure that associates have time to complete these critical tasks without feeling overwhelmed or overworked – especially if the store is experiencing unexpectedly high volume, or if an associate calls out last minute and leaves the team short-staffed.

Managers will also benefit from having insights into their team's attendance and performance trends, including nonproductive hours, overtime, and outliers, all of which can empower retail managers to become more agile in responding to workforce challenges, addressing individual employee needs, and building stronger customer relationships.

Plus, with the ability to view important labor and task data in a single view, regional managers and field leaders can plan detailed store walk-throughs prior to visiting a store, while quickly assigning new tasks to fix problems on the fly and ultimately making the most of their time at each location.

Employ task data to fine tune labor forecasting and scheduling

In order to truly streamline associate workloads, retailers should be able to rely on an integrated database of time and task information. With the ability to identify expenditures and compare store activity over time, retail managers can make more informed decisions about labor forecasting and scheduling. This way, they're more prepared to staff up for seasonal peaks like springtime home improvement, back-to-school, or the holiday season, and build schedules that mirror the natural day-to-day and week-to-week ebb and flow of foot traffic in the store.

For managers, this heightened level of visibility means that managers spend less time on manual administrative work — like scheduling the right people with the right skills — and ticking task-related checkboxes, and more time on the floor focused on employee development and customer satisfaction. For associates, this means feeling empowered to complete the tasks at hand and contribute to the success of the organization.

Once you've nailed the basics, count on your engaged employees to build customer loyalty.

The brick-and-mortar retail customer experience remains critically important to retailers' bottom lines. Although the digital brand has a wider reach, one thing will never change: Customers crave a personal touch. And in today's world of digital touch points (think one-click purchases and touch-screen order kiosks), physical stores have an incredible opportunity to satisfy this consumer need by investing in their workforce and adopting modern solutions to drive exceptional, face-to-face customer experiences.

It's simple: Engaged employees naturally attract and engage customers. By streamlining store execution — including automating task management, effectively balancing store workloads, and helping associates prioritize actionable tasks alongside customer needs — retailers can drive higher employee productivity and foster a deeper level of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Start by empowering the workforce, and customers loyalty will follow.