Problem #1:

Reconciling total hours paid versus total hours scheduled.

Scheduling reconciliation is the process of comparing the current pay period’s total labor hours to the number of hours paid. The purpose is to ensure that both figures match. Reconciling is a final check to ensure labor hours expenses are accurate and within the planned budget.

Labor hour reconciliations are an important procedure, as a company’s labor constitutes the largest component of the Indirect Cost Rate (ICR).

At Canadian Tire in Saint John, the old system was less accurate and unreliable, making it challenging to plan and control labor expenses. What’s more, the system was time-consuming as it required managers to manually input each of the 49 employee’s hours.

Problem #2:

Communication of Scheduling

If you are a retail manager or employee this response may make you smile, cringe or even chuckle. But, this is one of those legacy traditions that has become part of the retail culture. It works, sort of…

Canadian Tire in Saint John’s, before 2017, used the traditional way of communicating current and future staff schedules by printing and posting them in a common area. Schedules were usually posted in advance, allowing employees time to check their schedules and plan their work and personal lives accordingly.

For instance, when employees found that their work schedule conflicted with something important in their personal life, such as a family event or medical appointment, they could work with management to swap shifts with another employee.

Similarly, open shifts were usually posted in the staff room on a piece of paper or post-it note. Time off requests were communicated in the same way, handwritten on paper or form and submitted. Managers would follow up with verbal announcements or phone employees who were available.

For the most part, the system worked. However, it was inefficient, stressful, and often did optimize scheduling capacity. Further, on occasion, shifts would go unfilled due to limited communication options.

In the traditional system typical scheduling issues such as open shifts, time off requests, and employee availability; were not optimally managed. Many organizations still use this scheduling process today; the system is functional but far from optimal and it wastes time and money.

Problem #3:

The old system was cumbersome, requiring manual input for each employee’s hours

In 2022, it may seem odd but, 25% of small-to-medium sized businesses still use pen and paper for their payroll records. A recent study by the American Payroll Association has found 30% of businesses use a payroll system that is 10 years old or older.

In many retail operations, Canadian Tire included, manual scheduling systems often result in over- or understaffed shifts. The labor costs are challenging to forecast with staff having to work extra hours or employees being assigned to shifts without actual business necessity.

Manual scheduling systems are often simple to use. However, in many cases, older software solutions were not solely designed for shift scheduling. For example, retail scheduling is dynamic and requires the flexibility necessary to deal with business fluctuations, employee needs, and payroll. Older systems were designed to calculate, print but not adapt to changing circumstances.

On the administrative side, manual scheduling makes it difficult to keep accurate records of employee attendance and is time-consuming for managers. In addition, these scheduling practices add to labor costs and are unreliable, which can hurt employee morale and even lead to voluntary turnover.

Simply put, manual scheduling and older scheduling systems invariably lead to lower employee productivity, higher costs, and poor use of managerial time.

SOLUTION

TimeWellScheduled’s Cloud-Based Scheduling Software

Online access through the app or employee portal allows managers to modify current or future schedules and quickly communicate them to the entire team.

And to ensure everyone is on the same page, employees and managers receive alerts through their mobile phones or other devices. So a sudden unexpected schedule change does not mean a shift will go unfilled.

“Employees like the ease of clocking in and out. Using the app to see their schedules and requesting time off” – Mike Denomme

Replicate Success with Scheduling Templates

Employee scheduling templates are a calendar for a specific period with employee names and shift times. Managers at Canadian Tire use scheduling templates to assign hours to employees and provide a reliable reference for shift times.

TWS’s Schedule templates allow managers to take selected shifts (a day, an entire week, etc.) and save them for re-use in future schedules. Templates work particularly well for retailers such as Canadian Tire, where shift patterns are similar week-to-week.

There are several benefits to using Scheduling templates:

• Helps plan and control costs
• Ensures everyone is on the same page
• Can be refined and improved over time
• Assists in preparing for unexpected problems
• Allows for the tracking of performance
• Eliminates the need for manual entry

In the case of Canadian Tire, schedule templates reduce the time required to create consistently reliable work schedules and eliminate the need for manual input of employee schedules.

“This is a great tool for budgeting and managing labor costs”
– Mike Denomme, General Manager, Canadian Tire Saint John’s NB.

TimeWellScheduled is the perfect solution for your retail business. Our cloud-based software makes it easy to create and manage employee schedules, and our time clock feature allows employees to clock in and out from any computer or mobile device. Plus, our customer service is always available to help you get the most out of our software. Contact us today to learn more about how TimeWellScheduled can help your retail business optimize performance.

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