The Stable Schedules Study Leap HR Retail February 8, 2017

Transcription

1 The Stable Schedules Study Leap HR Retail February 8, 2017 Joan C. Williams Distinguished Professor of Law, Hastings Foundation Chair Center for WorkLife Law University of California, Hastings College of Law Slide 1

2 Why study stables schedules? Just-in-time scheduling: analogy to just-in-time inventory Focus on driving down front-end labor costs Flawed analogy: people aren t widgets Back end labor costs spiral Slide 2

3 Stable Schedules Study Experimental design; only prior experiment addressed predictability through advance posting Need to change entire ecosystem Affecting stability, predictability, adequacy and control Evaluated the experience at many levels Senior leadership/ managers/ associates HR, analytics, marketing, finance, supply chain Slide 3

4 Intervention design Elimination of on-calls Techenabled shift swapping 14-day advance schedules Part-time plus Targeted additional staffing Core schedule Stable shift structure Slide 4

5 Sequence Gap s system: computer-generated schedules that changed daily 3 month pre-pilot took 18 months! Tried four different systems for tech-enabled shift swapping 18 month Pilot After pre-pilot, two interventions rolled out in all U.S. stores Elimination of on calls 14-days advance scheduling Slide 5

6 Initial impact Elimination of on calls and 14-day notice took away tools managers use to cope with uncertainty Our fear: managers might respond by pressuring associates to stay on after their shifts were over (with no notice whatsoever) The five other elements provided managers with alternative tools to achieve the coverage they need Slide 6

7 Elimination of on-call shifts Last minute schedule changes can occur, but only with employee consent It s hard at the beginning. But after while you get forced to find that ideal schedule where you have people coming in a ideal times when business is at its peak. We re better prepared for things versus just throwing in on-calls. We plan more for what could potentially go wrong. Slide 7

8 14-day advance notice Scheduling managers required to finalize and publish associate workschedules at least 14 days in advance Associates must request planned time off at least 14 days in advance as well Weird now to think I only looked out 1 week ahead before. You have to change the way you think be more strategic and plan out more. You have to find that skeleton schedule that works for you week in and week out that s going to make your life easier. It might be painful in the beginning, but in the long term it s going to help you. It really makes you look into your business and analyze even more. I think that s a good thing. Slide 8

9 Targeted additional staffing Algorithm identified understaffing during peak hours Adding hours increased weekly sales by $4,790 (10%) in small stores Both units per transaction and conversion rates increased 35 week experiment; 9 smaller stores total ROI was $400,000 now that they re focusing people s energy onto the sales floor they re seeing a big return on that. Now we have an extra person servicing the customers. Now the leader of the day can be on the floor and can help with fitting rooms, or help with customers. Our fitting rooms look a lot better, our floor is better organized, our customer effort score is improving too. Slide 9

10 Part-time plus Gave high-performing staff members soft guarantee of 20+ hr/wk Some managers combined with core scheduling; others required lots of availability Increased % of employees got 20+ hrs 75% of the time: 36.6% 55.9% The consistency for business and customers is good.they re good at what they do.because [Angie s] here so often she knows where the product is, and she s able to tell you if we have something or don t. Robert rings a lot so he s good at knowing what s going on in terms of what code is still good, or expired, or what. He s able to have real dialogue with customers, rather than answering questions with I m not sure. We added Maria to part-time plus. She got another job, but we really want her stay as she is a good employee. She does shipment, markdowns, and sometimes overnights." Slide 10

11 Core schedule Identified employees who can consistently work specific shifts on specific days of the week Assigned same people to same shift on same day for majority of shifts Some managers used w/ PT+; others used for those who didn t get PT+ Created tools so managers could reuse same schedule w/ minor edits It has made things faster. It gave me a place to build from. I had core opener, and core closer and I could build off that. I was very hesitant initially, but when I was gone for two weeks one time, I had my schedule manager just use the core schedule and build from there. Slide 11

12 Stable shift structure Shifts consistent day to day (ex: Early AM, AM, Mid-day, Early PM, Close) Manager set firm start-times and end-times for each shift Goal: same start and end times for majority of scheduled shifts People work at the same times, get the same shifts. Shipment is the same people, same time.it s quicker to do the schedule. [After summer is over] I really hope we go back soon to 50 75% stable shift structure, like we had before, because it makes my life so much easier. It s less work for you. You know when someone is coming. You set your day up better. I know at 4-4:30 I m going to get somebody. Slide 12

13 Tech-enabled shift swapping Identified a tech-enabled tool that permits peer-peer communication and shift swapping coordination capacity (Shift Messenger) Trained employees and managers on selected tool Deployed tool across all participating stores The shift app has saved us at least ten hours a week. They swap through Shift messenger. We love it; it saves our butt. That s why we barely get any call-offs. Stores that don t have SM spend a lot more time making calls for coverage for markdowns. 'Computers crashed last night at 7pm. Used the app. If I have to cut hours, I know where it won t hurt. Slide 13

14 Early findings and observations Slide 14

15 Interventions worked together PT+ created a core group of committed and skilled associates People didn t leave messes because they knew they d clean them up Core Schedules Some managers combined with PT+ Others used Core Schedules to create loyalty in non PT+ employees Core Schedule and Advance Scheduling working together with Part-Time Plus provide stability for the associates and make scheduling easier. Having Core Schedule and Stable Shift Times helps me get my schedule done faster. Slide 15

16 Interventions worked together Many managers: dramatic decrease in # of hours spent on scheduling SM eased impact of elimination of on-calls & 14-day scheduling Without Shift Messenger, I would probably wish we had the on-call shifts. Sometimes I do miss them, but I think we have Shift Messenger, so it kind of fills in that void. Slide 16

17 Employee input into schedules Seeing early statistically significant differences between treatment and control stores at study s end that didn t exist at baseline such as Employees who agree they have a lot or some input into the days they work: Control Treatment 66.90% 78.54% Difference % Employees who agree they have a lot or some input into their the days off: Control Treatment 63.38% 73.68% Difference +10.3% Employees who agree they have a lot or some input into the number or hours they work each week: Control Treatment 41.55% 55.28% Difference % Slide 17

18 Schedule predictability Employees who agree they can anticipate the hours they will work each week: Control Treatment 61.27% 71.54% Difference % Slide 18

19 Schedule stability Employees who agree they begin work at the same time each workday: Control Treatment 58.45% 70.20% Difference % Employees who agree they end work at the same time each workday: Control Treatment 53.85% 65.16% Difference % Slide 19

20 Management practices Employees who agree their managers honor their availability (not scheduled when they cannot work): Control Treatment 81.89% 92.02% Difference % Employees who agree their managers understand their preferred work hours: Control Treatment 75.00% 85.85% Difference % Slide 20

21 Pressure to comply Employees who agree they receive fewer hours if they say no to management requests to change their schedule: Control Treatment 32.09% 23.68% Difference % Employees who agree they feel pressure to stay late when asked to do so by managers: Control Treatment 55.97% 38.16% Difference % Slide 21