Retail workers were true heroes of the pandemic. From distribution centres to the shop floors, when customers couldn’t visit physical stores, retail workers kept the world turning, preventing mayhem by making essential and non-essential resources available to the masses.
However, retail workers could never work from home. The pandemic shed light on the importance of having a system in place to support continuity as well as mitigate risks while continuing to operate.
The unfortunate reality is that this will not be the last global pandemic in our lifetime. The question is not if the next major outbreak will arise, but when and even at this writing the delta-variant is on the rise. For now, customers can return to stores and get back into the flow of their daily lives. But make no mistake… this is an important opportunity for retail leaders to review their pandemic business performance to identify where to streamline operations – so they’re prepared to operate efficiently for the long haul – in any situation.
Workplace safety, as most things, often comes down to the quality of communication. During the pandemic, we bore witness to how quickly SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) can change. The ability to easily send updates to different locations in real-time goes beyond improving employee retention – it can also impact the amount of time employees have to spend on the floor.
To solve this, consider a digital workplace solution specifically built for the frontline.
Achieve synergy between operations, HR, learning, and internal communications through a single ‘frontline system of record.’ Enable every stakeholder to advance and evolve the business.
Onboarding and re-boarding.
Employee safety is paramount to workplace effectiveness. With the right digital solution organisations can update employees on health protocols, new technologies, and safety standards in real time.
The hiring and training loop can also be closed as you shorten the time to productivity. Streamline onboarding while leveraging your content library through a more conducive platform.
Organisational excellence with union compliance
Simplify the complexity of operations by enabling employees through compliant self-service tools. Open additional shifts with fully auditable open shift bidding and shift swap tools.
Compliance, compliantly
Send critical SOP updates and verify they’re read. Audit health and safety adherence systematically. Make sure compensable work stays at work with comprehensive content fencing. Stream SOP updates in real time.
Unite your workforce and include everyone
Bridge cultural gaps across with auto-translated communication. Capture the voice of your employees with surveys and social functions. Democratise access to open shifts. Offer upward mobility with targeted learning tracks and career development.
Measure and improve
Monitor each location in real-time and ensure consistent execution. Gain a clear understanding of your operational efficiency with detailed reports on executed tasks, course completions, shifts covered, and internal communications consumed.
Digitised task management now becomes critical
Finally, as you advance your operations, digitised task management and activity tracking processes can quickly become one of an organisation’s greatest strengths. Manual checklists, non-compliant SMS, or even task tools not meant for an hourly workforce, are time-consuming and invite miscommunication. The opportunity here is to improve communication, reduce costs, and align associates – especially during a pandemic when the proper completion of protocols can have life or death consequences.
Connect and present to every single employee a clear outline of the tasks that need to be completed at the beginning of their shift.
Give managers a big picture view of their organisation and more bandwidth to ensure that every branch of their company is staying on track.
Better communication and keener execution lead to fewer errors, sick days, and injuries… and delivers an optimal workplace for both customers and the workforce.
