Employee Self-Service Impact On Labor Scheduling

By Erin Harris, Editor-In-Chief, Cell & Gene
Follow Me On Twitter @ErinHarris_1

March 2015 Integrated Solutions For Retailers

A Q&A with Erin Harris and Joe Olson, EVP and GM of enterprise workforce management, Empower

How should retailers create a schedule that caters to the customer when employees have a greater say in when they work?

What role does employee self-service play in labor scheduling?

Olson: Employee self-service plays an incredibly important role in labor scheduling. Scheduling dictates the employees’ work/life balance. As well, it’s a mobile world, and allowing employees access to self-service applications via their mobile devices rather than driving or calling into the physical store gives them unprecedented control over their schedules. Employees have access to when the schedule is posted as well as the ability to input time-off requests and update or change their availability. Some systems allow the employees to designate a preferred availability so that not only do they have their regular availability but they can express inside of that availability when they prefer to work.