Effective workforce management has always been a top priority for global retailers. Friendly and helpful frontline staff are crucial for a positive customer experience, while backend operations cannot function without appropriate teams in place.
But ensuring the right staff are in the right place at the right time has never been harder. Costly over- and understaffing challenges have become more common for large retailers and quick service restaurants (QSRs), exacerbated by a persistent shortage of labour and a growing compliance burden. Managing employee satisfaction is also crucial amid high rates of turnover.
Large retailers and QSRs must address these demands if they want a more engaged and productive team but traditional workforce management solutions have become unsustainable.
Flexibility to meet demand
The big problem with traditional solutions is that they lack flexibility, explains Alberto Del Barrio, the co-founder and chief executive of Orquest, a leading AI scheduling platform that works with large retail brands across the globe.
“The conventional approach, where schedules are determined in advance and manually updated, simply isn’t dynamic enough to keep up with the current needs of business,” says Del Barrio. “It leads to inefficiencies in labour allocation, such as overstaffing during quiet periods or understaffing in busy times. Many retailers also rely on outdated forecasting models that cannot reliably predict demand.”
Orquest, which operates in 85 countries, uses AI-driven technology to simplify workforce management in the retail and QSR industries. Using advanced analytics, it analyses historical business data for patterns and trends so it can model future demand with precision. The brand’s artificial intelligence-powered solution offer an exciting new route forward, enabling global retailers to not only access the kind of intelligent workforce management that drives real business impact - but to do so while maintaining a consistent brand experience customised to local needs.
It then determines required staffing levels and generates optimised schedules ensuring the right resources are available to maintain efficiency and service quality for individual stores, while respecting employee preferences and complying with labour laws - no matter how complex.
The solution continually updates, adapting as events change. “Scheduling needs a high level of flexibility because things happen,” explains Del Barrio. “Sometimes you have an incident, absences, or patterns of demand change and you have to be able to readjust as fast as possible.”
Del Barrio says intelligent scheduling is crucial to maintaining good levels of staff satisfaction as it allows managers to meet their needs more effectively. It also aligns perfectly with employee rights, ensuring staff get the breaks and overtime they are entitled to, no matter what country they work in.
“For a frontline employee working different shifts day to day, week to week, schedules are a big concern, obviously. We know that when managers dictate work schedules without employee input, this can contribute to higher levels of employee turnover.”
Improving efficiency in retail and restaurants
McDonald’s restaurants around the world are using Orquest to enhance scheduling efficiency, boost employee well-being and elevate customer service.
By using Orquest, McDonald’s restaurants in 38 countries are optimising staffing levels by accurately predicting peak demand and assigning employees with the right skills for each task. They have also been able to accommodate different types of employee contracts, improve communication between team members and managers, and reduce scheduling time by 87%.
“Orquest allows us to make strategic day-to-day data-driven decisions,” said Robert Ros, former chief operating officer at McDonald’s Spain.
Orquest has also helped other major QSRs, like Burger King, as well as fashion retailers to transform their operations, from luxury clients such as Dior – where customer service is paramount – to more affordable brands like Kiabi, H&M and COS where efficiency and well-organised staffing are key.
Managing staff scheduling in the industry can be complex due to factors such as high employee turnover. Employers must ensure an adequate workforce to meet peak demand while adhering to labour laws governing shift lengths, rest periods and time-off.
They must also consider employee preferences, availability constraints and training needs – all while balancing different contract types.
With Orquest, leaders at large retailers can get ahead of the game. The system analyses factors such as historical sales data, footfall and store trends to accurately forecast customer demand. This enables large retailers to anticipate peak and low traffic times sometimes months in advance.
Orquest calculates staffing requirements for each store or section, based on metrics such as productivity. It also automatically adjusts shifts based on demand, employee availability and preferences, ensuring the right number of employees are assigned at the right times.
To date, Orquest has cut the average time retailers spend on scheduling by 90%. This frees up managers to focus on more strategic tasks, such as team training or improving store performance.
Thanks to this innovative approach to transforming workforce planning, Orquest is also part of the Santander X 100 global community. This international community includes the most outstanding companies of Santander X, Banco Santander’s global entrepreneurship initiative, which supports them throughout their business journey.
Personalised workforce planning
Del Barrio predicts workforce planning will become more personalised as the AI revolution progresses, enabling companies to balance employee and business needs even more effectively.
“I think over the next five years we can expect major achievements in terms of personalised workforce planning, where schedules are more closely adaptive to employee preferences, skills and work-life balance.”
He also thinks platforms such as Orquest’s could become even more autonomous – making decisions by themselves within parameters set for them, rather than waiting for a manager’s sign-off.
Right now, Del Barrio is focused on his core mission: helping retailers transition away from legacy planning solutions that hold them back.
“Retailers want to improve business performance, employee satisfaction and customer service. They also need to manage their workforce and compliance.
“It adds up to a big and complex problem that is too much for traditional software or manual processes. With AI, however, we can guarantee we are getting the best results and the optimal solution.”
Click to find out more about Orquest
Effective workforce management has always been a top priority for global retailers. Friendly and helpful frontline staff are crucial for a positive customer experience, while backend operations cannot function without appropriate teams in place.
But ensuring the right staff are in the right place at the right time has never been harder. Costly over- and understaffing challenges have become more common for large retailers and quick service restaurants (QSRs), exacerbated by a persistent shortage of labour and a growing compliance burden. Managing employee satisfaction is also crucial amid high rates of turnover.
Large retailers and QSRs must address these demands if they want a more engaged and productive team but traditional workforce management solutions have become unsustainable.
