Post-Holiday Survey: Retail Employees Blow the Whistle on Ineffective Scheduling
New survey finds retailers were unable to balance employee and customer needs
NEW YORK, Jan. 15, 2007 — Today, the Workforce Institute™ announced the findings of a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive® and sponsored by Kronos® Incorporated (Nasdaq: KRON). The "Holiday Aftermath" survey of nearly 600 retail employees uncovered that only 20 percent of respondents strongly agree that their employer was able to provide great customer service while ensuring their employees' work/life preferences were satisfied. In addition, when asked what their employer can do next holiday season to meet the needs of their employees and customers, the number one response was: schedule employees to better meet customer demand.
"This survey is a wake-up call for retailers. To the extent that they neglect the needs of their employees, they put themselves at risk of meeting the expectations of their customers," said John Anderson, director of retail at Kronos. "In order to remedy lackluster performance that many retailers experienced this past holiday season, they must invest in technology that empowers them with the ability to balance the needs of their business, customers, and employees."
Dissatisfied employees lead to underserved customers
Many retailers fail to recognize that satisfied employees are as important to their bottom line as happy customers. Therefore, they often focus on their workforce as an expense rather than an asset – cutting costs and not realizing the impact it has on customer satisfaction. According to the "Holiday Aftermath" survey, 37 percent of retail employees said they worked either too many or not enough hours this past holiday season. Of those that stated they did not work the number of hours they preferred, 23 percent said it had a negative impact on the customer service they delivered. In addition, only 61 percent of respondent were satisfied with their employer's ability to meet their scheduling requests this past holiday season.
Unmet customer demand
The "Holiday Aftermath" study also uncovered that retailers are not only struggling to meet the needs of their employees, they also are struggling to meet the demands of their customers. The survey found that 57 percent of retail employees said their employer was unable to effectively match employee scheduling to customer demand this past holiday season. Of those respondents, 90 percent explained there were not enough employees scheduled to meet customer demand.
Striking the balance
Implementation of an optimized scheduling solution can help retailers improve employee satisfaction, leading to reduced turnover and improved productivity and customer service. Automating and standardizing the scheduling process allows retailers to consistently deploy their workforce based on the skills, availability, and work/life preferences of their employees while also optimizing to store-specific sales targets, labor budgets, and detailed customer and product demand patterns.
Retailers also can increase employee satisfaction with the use of automated self-service tools. With this functionality, employees can make on-line time-off and availability requests in advance, making it easier for managers to track and manage the approval process. As part of an end-to-end workforce management solution, optimized scheduling and employee self-service enable retailers to effectively balance the needs of their business, customers, and employees.
This survey was completed by nearly 600 retail employees among the more than 1,000 respondents to the "Black Friday: Inside the Retail Employee Psyche" survey also conducted by Harris Interactive and sponsored by Kronos in October 2005. Kronos made this announcement from the National Retail Federation's (NRF) 97th Annual Convention & Expo being held in New York from Jan. 14-16. Kronos is exhibiting in booth #1355.
About the Workforce Institute
Established by Kronos in 2006, the mission of the Workforce Institute is to provide research and education on critical workplace issues facing organizations around the globe.
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Kronos between December 28, 2006 and January 8, 2007 among 586 hourly retail employees (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with actual proportions of retail employees ages 18 and over in the U.S.. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online. With a pure probability sample of 586 one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 4.1 percentage points. Sampling error for data based on sub-samples may be higher and may vary. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
About Harris Interactive®
Harris Interactive is the 12th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world. The company provides research-driven insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the world's largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiary Novatris in France and through a global network of independent market research firms. The service bureau, HISB, provides its market research industry clients with mixed-mode data collection, panel development services as well as syndicated and tracking research consultation. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com.
About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos Incorporated empowers organizations around the world to effectively manage their workforce. At Kronos, we are experts who are solely focused on delivering software and services that enable organizations to reduce costs, increase productivity, improve employee satisfaction, and ultimately enhance the level of service they provide. Kronos serves customers in more than 50 countries through its network of offices, subsidiaries, and distributors. Widely recognized as a market and thought leader in managing the workforce, Kronos has unrivaled reach with more than 30 million people using a Kronos solution every day. Learn more about Kronos at www.kronos.com.
Note to Editors
Cite survey findings as: "Holiday Aftermath" survey conducted by Harris Interactive and sponsored by Kronos Incorporated.
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