Retail Workforce Management On The Go

Many retailers had barely mastered the conversion from Excel and paper–based workforce management (WFM) systems to dedicated solutions when the mobile revolution began to hyperaccelerate their adoption. Today, retail managers and store associates want the flexibility to engage browser– based scheduling and WFM processes on the move, using mobile devices.

The advantages of enabling WFM applications on store managers' mobile devices are significant. In the 2010 State Of The Store Manager Report from Integrated Solutions For Retailers, 67% of store managers indicated that their workloads had increased year–over–year, while 45.1% said their labor budgets remained flat. Corporate directives are requiring them to spend more time on the sales floor helping customers and employees, limiting the amount of time they can spend in the back office working on schedules and labor budgets. For associates, it's only natural to leverage smartphones – devices on which they manage so many other facets of their lives – to make scheduling requests, view their scheduled hours, manage time sheets, and so on.

But with these opportunities for efficiency come challenges around device management, data plan cost responsibilities, labor laws, and the selection of which WFM functions make sense to add in a mobile fashion and which don't.

This paper will highlight these opportunities and challenges, giving retail labor management professionals a frame of reference for WFM in the mobile age.