STORES Magazine - October 2008 - (Page 40)

EXECUTIVE SUITE / COVER STORY “Internal studies have shown that our relationship with the student groups is a boost,” he says. “Employees that are recruited from those groups are more productive and remain with the company longer than those recruited elsewhere.” Training initiatives for hourly employees also reflect Finish Line’s understanding of Gen Y. “Paper-based programs are old fashioned,” Marchetti says, so the company developed an elearning solution called Shoe University. Using a POS terminal set up in the stockroom, associates learn the finer points of service and selling via a module-based interactive program. Others criticize Gen Y, but not Marchetti. “This is an extremely bright group,” he insists. “They don’t just accept things at face value; they challenge everything and we’re better off for it.” Company: DUANE READE Headquarters: New York City Employees: 5,000 Retention Strategy: Synchronize Scheduling dopting a healthier lifestyle requires a certain amount of discipline, and that — as anyone who’s ever tried can attest — takes time. Still, the rewards are sweet for those who can stay the course. That’s what David Sparks is hoping as he writes a prescription for improving employee retention rates at Duane Reade, the feisty metropolitan drug store chain that is battling industry Goliaths for market share. Formerly of Albertsons, Sparks joined Duane Reade 20 months ago as director of store operations. One of the company’s longrange goals is to lift A retention rates, but as Sparks quickly realized upon arrival, getting there would require some fundamental changes. The company undertook an essential one earlier this year with the deployment of a workforce management application from RedPrairie. “Having the right number of employees to staff the stores, the right caliber of associates to provide assistance and the right balance of workers to shoppers during peak times makes for shorter lines at checkout,” Sparks says. “Shorter lines equal happier customers, and happier customers equal happier employees.” A desire to improve customer service is what initially prompted Duane Reade to deploy the workforce management application. Sparks acknowledges that it can be difficult to draw a straight line from the introduction of the new application to improved employee retention rates. Still, he anticipates that the scheduling improvements yielded by the new software are having a positive impact on both sides of the counter. “When an employer can be responsive to employee requests for flexible scheduling or time off, that can lift retention,” Sparks says. “Still, first and foremost, the spotlight is on the customer.” RedPrairie’s workforce application is a far cry from the handwritten schedules that many store managers were using or the makeshift Excel spreadsheets that others created. Duane Reade has now standardized schedules across its 241 stores, making the job of scheduling labor more efficient and more accurate. The newfound scheduling features are a good fit “When an employer for Duane Reade for sevcan be responsive eral reasons. Unlike comto employee requests petitors in this space, for flexible scheduling Duane Reade’s urban locations result in the drug or time off, that can lift store operator’s having retention.” — David Sparks more full-time employees than average; in most instances, employees commute from a distance and therefore expect to work eight-hour shifts. In addition, many associates work in multiple stores. “A store manager can ‘lend’ an employee to another store on the basis of need,” Sparks says. “Using the scheduling application allows them to keep close tabs on the amount of hours each employee works in their ‘home’ store and exactly how many hours they’re putting in at the ‘borrowing’ store.” Though still in the early phase of rollout, efficiencies have already been realized. The software can be configured to generate a schedule from a forecast and to assign the best-performing employees to work during peak selling times. RedPrairie reports that the application has the potential to provide employees with the ability to access the schedule from a webpage or — eventually — from a mobile phone. StORES WWW.STORES.ORG 40 STORES / OCTOBER 2008 http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - October 2008

STORES Magazine - October 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Force of a Different Collar What Shoppers Think Bagging the Competition 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Favorite 50 Sticky Strategies for Retention Concept2Watch Kiosks Online Business Intelligence RFID NRFtech Wrap-up E-Commerce Credit Warehouse Systems Logistics Selling Tools Supply Chain LOEB Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - October 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.