How to Do a Shift Comparison in Retail

Control the amount of labor needed at your business by scheduling effectively.

Reduce labor costs and make your business more productive and affordable by carefully analyzing the various shifts that you have employees work. This will keep you from having too few or too many employees on duty at any one time. There are a variety of factors to take into consideration when doing a shift comparison. Just use a spreadsheet to help you organize and analyze your data.

Things You'll Need

• Spreadsheet software
• Shift scheduling software (optional)

Instructions

1. Develop a spreadsheet that will keep track of your business and help you quickly analyze important trends that develop. Use a software program such as Microsoft Excel or Apple Numbers to customize spreadsheet data to suit the needs of your business.

2. Track your sales and take notice of the busiest times of your work day. Base your findings on a survey that spans at least four weeks. Understand that your numbers will vary but should make certain trends obvious in regard to peak times and income.

3. Analyze how many staffers that you have working at various times of the day to determine whether you are effectively utilizing your workforce. If your business is slow in the mornings, rushed in the afternoons and then slow again in the evenings, take that into consideration when comparing your various shifts. Schedule accordingly.

4. Determine the amount of income that your business is bringing in and also determine the cost of your overall payroll. If your payroll is costing too much and creating a hardship in regard to effectively running your business, consider changes in the amount of staff that you require. Add and remove various staffers from various shifts to create a balance that makes your business run in a more streamlined manner.

5. Analyze your business using a software application to provide reports that will outline the factors that you need to better understand. Shift scheduling software will take into consideration a variety of factors, including expected workload, working hours, job deadlines and amount of sales.

References

• Lakpuraya: Scheduling Retail Workers
• Task Management Guide: Shift Scheduling Software as the Way to Reduce Idle Time and Optimize Workforce Scheduling

Resources

• Info Packets: Create Custom Worksheet Templates