Giving
people a
voice.
Leadership needed an effective way to enable frontline workers to manage their own schedules and actively participate in store communications. Doing so would boost employee satisfaction and positively impact brand engagement.
Gloria
Front-end leader
21 years with the company
Leads a team of 25+ cashiers and baggers
Manages scheduling, online orders, and customer service
30% of her day spent on shift management
A large multi-channel retailer, with nearly 500 locations, was facing operational strain from large numbers of frontline workers missing their assigned shifts due to a variety of reasons, including Covid-19. As available employees from other stores were secured to fill vacant shifts and to run a store they were not accustomed to, senior management recognized the need for store managers and frontline employees to collaborate more effectively and get up to speed in each store/department. Ultimately, they needed to serve their retail customers as well, or better, than prior to the pandemic.
A digital solution was created 30,000 frontline workers
Average time required to make shift adjustments digitally vs old in-person process
80% of employees that can now participate in store-wide communications using new platform
Results
Gloria and her co-workers were facing a workplace challenge they had never encountered before, the once-in-a-lifetime Covid-19 pandemic. As essential workers, Gloria’s colleagues were trying to work and service their customers, while also needing to quarantine and deal with widespread illness themselves. Company leadership quickly realized the need for an overhaul to staffing policies and team communication methods, and asked Carpool to assist.
Carpool partnered with HR, IT, and store operations to launch and promote an employee communication and connectivity platform geared for use on each employee’s smartphone. Optimized for tens of thousands of frontline workers, the new communication tools allowed shifts to be scheduled without going into the store, making it possible for employees to request days off, and even swap shifts with other team members, without involving their manager.
The primary concern facing Gloria and her colleagues was, “Will these new digital tools be easy to use?” Carpool worked diligently to create an awareness campaign that emphasized the ease of using the modern tools. It demonstrated how work would actually be easier because each frontline worker would be able to manage their own shifts and engage in store communications. Providing their frontline employees with the means to connect more easily and quickly with one another during the pandemic helped to strengthen the employee-centric culture that was vital to the organization’s ongoing success.
“As a store manager, being able to send a quick message out to my entire team and know they will all get it on their phones, even if they are off that day, is a real game changer. Thanks Carpool.”
~ Gloria ~
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The information outlined in this case study is based on an actual Carpool engagement.
