WorkForce Software published the results of global retail workforce management study with Retail Systems Research (RSR), which revealed that giving frontline deskless workers access to modern workforce management technology frees up their managers’ time and allows employees to have real-time access to smart business communications, KPIs, sales trends, and goals.
“Mobile” is the underlying theme for technology enablers when it comes to the deskless retail workforce. Mobile devices allow associates to have an immediate impact to the daily business – exactly where their work is happening – on the sales floor servicing customers, the study found.
The study found that mobile automated time and attendance capability is the number one use of mobile technology for the deskless workforce of top retailers, with 76% of retail winners placing a “high value” on it.
The research also showed that retail “Winners” have a more favorable view of employee management tools, such as employee performance dashboards. Retailers with WFM technology can lean into the unprecedented changes in the retail industry – accelerated by the global pandemic – and quickly equip their workforce to meet fluctuating customer demands.
“Retail is often our canary in the coal mine, forcing them to be early adopters of leading technologies with a do-or-die business mantra. Other industry leaders should look to these retail ‘Winners’ that are building organisations of the future,” said Sandra Moran, Chief Marketing Officer at WorkForce Software. “This research demonstrates there are clear performance variations between winners who leverage WFM technologies and improve their employees’ experience, and those that have not.”