Canadian Retailer - Spring 2015 - 38

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CALGARY CO-OP SERVES UP THE FRESHEST
IN WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT
Discover how Calgary Co-op saved 100,000 front-end hours while matching customer demand.
STAYING COMPETITIVE in a retail market facing increasing
labour costs by 0.5 to 1 percent, with 1,100 of its
competition, high employee labour costs, and the need for a pos- 3,600 employees working the front end.
itive customer experience requires a fresh look at your workforce
"We're seeing up to 100,000 hours saved
management strategy. Calgary Co-op, the largest cooperative food year over year in front-end labour savings,
retailer in Calgary, Alberta, has done just that.
greater savings than we anticipated," he adds.
The Calgary Co-operative Association Limited-a locally "We hit our ﬁve-year payback target after the
owned and operated cooperative with more than 440,000 mem- second year."
bers and 3,600 employees-includes 24 food centres, 28 gas bars
and convenience stores, 24 wine and spirits stores, seven travel Forecasted scheduling is 'very accurate'
The accuracy of the forecasting and schedoffices, and two healthcare centres.
uling solution was demonstrated last year when
The organisation had an initial focus on optimizing front-end
employee labour costs at its 24 food centres while maintaining Calgary Co-op renovated half of its food centres.
"The Kronos solution told us how many more
high member satisfaction scores.
hours we needed,
"There was no scientiﬁc behaviour behind "WE'RE SEEING UP TO 100,000 HOURS SAVED based on the inhow we budgeted year YEAR OVER YEAR IN FRONT-END LABOUR creased forecasts,
and hit the [sales]
over year to decrease
SAVINGS. WE HIT OUR FIVE-YEAR PAYBACK target," says Jacks.
salary costs as a percent
"It has been very
of sales," says Shawn TARGET AFTER THE SECOND YEAR."
accurate, and we
Jacks, Calgary Co-op
can still make scheduling changes based on
retail scheduling and centre operations director. "We needed a
system that would tell us the number of people we needed based what's happening in the marketplace."
Calgary Co-op will soon be adding its bakery,
on transactions. Kronos software provides this."
deli, meat, grocery, and produce departments to
POS data helps schedule to customer volume
the forecasted scheduling solution. Scheduling
Calgary Co-op uploaded three years of point-of-sale data into based on data will assist the organisation in
its Kronos forecasting and scheduling solution. "This gave us an expanding labour cost savings and productivity
understanding of when customers were coming in the store," shares improvements across its food centres.
Jacks. "We discovered we weren't scheduling to customer ﬂow."
For the full story, visit Kronos.ca/calgary.
Using this historical data, the Kronos solution
forecasts front-end labour needs throughout
each day during the week and auto-generates schedules. The result means that Calgary
Co-op has seen its scheduling effectiveness rate
go from 92 percent in year one to 97 percent in
year four.
Exceptional labour hour and cost savings

"By scheduling the right people in the right
place at the right time, we've been able to scale
down salary costs, change our shifts to meet the
needs of the customer, and maintain our excellent customer service," says Jacks. As an association, Calgary Co-op has reduced front-end

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canadian retailer | SprinG 2015
http://www.kronos.ca/showAbstract.aspx?id=23622326645&rr=0&LangType=4105&=?ecidABEA-99GJGN http://www.Kronos.ca/calgary
Canadian Retailer - Spring 2015

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