How to get ahead with staffing this December

By Ned Gammell, Head of UK&I at Quinyx

The retail countdown to Christmas is on. But many businesses are facing the festive period against a backdrop of concern over geopolitical uncertainty and rising costs. With so many factors that affect the cost of doing business out of retailers control, what can they do to approach the festive season with more certainty? The answer lies in their workforce.

Frontline staff are the point where retailers win or lose Christmas. Good workforce management boosts productivity, in turn leading to higher profit margins. Without it, more money is spent on less productive work, which retailers can’t afford.

The cost of getting it wrong

There are two ways to get Christmas staffing wrong, and both are expensive. Understaff, and sales are lost, service slips and the team is stretched and stressed. Overstaff, and unnecessary wages are paid, eating into margin.

Getting it wrong hurts the bottom line – our research found that over half (58 percent) of shopfloor staff cite understaffing as the top driver of stress during peak season, which leads to lower productivity and poorer staff retention rates.

A post-Christmas staff exodus eats into the profits made over the holiday season as resources are funnelled into rehiring and training.

This is why accurate scheduling is non-negotiable. In December, more so than any month, retailers need the right staff in the right place at the right time with the right focus for that shift, and poor workforce management simply won’t cut it.

Planning for the unpredictable

This year, that means planning for less predictable demand as a result of economic uncertainty. According to our research just 19 percent of shift workers are confident their company’s scheduling matches customer demand during peak seasons.

Demand that looks random can often be predicted in ways other than simply copying last year’s rota into this year’s calendar. Workforce management must consider many factors from local events to weather to product launches in order to forecast demand, allocating shifts based on these findings.

And when something last-minute and unavoidable happens, like sickness, a good workforce management platform can suggest cover from people with the right skills and availability to step in. Importantly, it also aligns additional shifts being picked up with local labour laws.

Ensuring staff on shift are then allocated jobs such as visual merchandising or discounting in those rare moments of quiet over the holiday season, means no hour is wasted and shift workers feel the benefits of a clear focus.

December is too late for action. Retailers can’t control exactly what this Christmas season will look like, but they can control who’s on the frontline when it arrives.

Image courtesy of Unsplash. Photo credit: Alexander Faé.