The summer season is officially here and for many that means a chance to slow down and take a break from the pressures of work. However, for frontline retail staff, the seasonal shopping surge is often one of the busiest and most stressful periods of the year, leaving many workers feeling overworked, underappreciated and burned out.
Sandra Moran, Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer at WorkForce Software, points out for HR Director’s readers that the business case for improving the employee experience (EX) for retail workers is clear, from reducing staff turnover rates to enhancing productivity and increasing profitability. This is more important than ever amid staff shortages and low UK consumer confidence levels.
Moran offers proven solutions for companies and details how businesses can leverage technology—and what EX technologies they should prioritise— to improve the employee experience for their deskless employees. She underscores the importance of enhanced real-time communications and allowing staff to set their availability and have more autonomy over their schedules – which is critical amid ongoing labour shortages.
“Modern workforce management solutions have emerged as the single greatest enabler for companies to transform their employee experience. Data-driven intelligence is now vital for effective decision-making and monitoring burnout to better protect the wellbeing of staff,” says Moran.
She continues, “More broadly, such capabilities will increase employee performance to drive better business outcomes. Most importantly, it will enable retail businesses to tap into the power of their people and treat them as the valuable resources they are.”