Tag Archives: happy employees

Retail Employee Scheduling – Case Story

Posted on May 26, 2010 | 3 Comments

We recently did a small interview with retail gift store Acquisitions from Timaru, New Zealand. Acquisitions have been with BusyBeeManager since autumn 2009. Here is their story of retail employee shift scheduling:

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Can you briefly describe which business you are in?

Acquisitions is a retail gift shop that is perfect for gifts … our byline in fact. Our range is eclectic, but there is always something for that “hard to buy for person”. There is nothing in Acquisitions that anyone needs … but everything that everyone wants. Our customers love browsing the shop and talking to us about their desires.

retail employee scheduling manager

Manager Mellanie of Acquisitions at Timaru, NZ

We offer gift baskets and a gift registry and complimentary gift wrapping. There are 13 stores around New Zealand all owned by the same company, and have been since starting some 21 years ago. I currently manage the Timaru store.

What’s the URL to your website?
Our website is at www.acquisitions.co.nz

It is currently in the process of being revamped with a shopping cart. (We’ll update this post when it happens ;)

How does BusyBeeManager help you in your job?

Before I started with Busy Bee, I searched the internet for a suitable program that was going to assist me in employee scheduling. Being only one store out of the 13, I wanted to find something simple to use, easy to understand software that I could ultimately pass on to others managers. We only have 6 staff in this store, but all but one are on part-time hours, and they all have times they are or are not available. Keeping track of when staff can work and can’t can be quite time consuming. Thanks to BusyBeeManager – that’s a lot easier now.

What is your favorite feature of BusyBeeManager?

That would have to be the template saver and the email options. It makes it so easy to just email the rosters to staff and know that they have them and can confirm their shifts.

How much time approximately does BusyBeeManager save you monthly?

To be honest I wouldn’t know – several hours I guess. I just appreciate the fact that I have software that does the hard work for me and I know that it does it right. It helps me concentrate on what I do best – manage the store, serve customers and sell products.

How is your impression of Value for Money in BusyBeeManager?

Retail Shop Employee Shift Scheduling

The Acquisitions Gift Store in Timaru NZ

Having been on the free plan since starting with BusyBeeManager it will be interesting to see the effects of the “paid” benefits that I will get now that I upgraded. I really like the thought that staff can log in and put in days they are unavailable or request holidays. Often in the course of a busy day, a staff member will mention that they are not available at some point … I often don’t remember this. To be able to put that responsibility onto the staff members themselves makes it easier for me in the long run. That will definitely save me a lot of time and above all frustration.

Other comments?

Fantastic program, highly recommended by myself and my staff, who have said that they like the way the email comes with all the hours laid out clearly for them.

Thanks to Mellanie for giving this interview! You might also want to check out this other case story from Tea Salon – Tante T.

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Posted in BusyBeeManager, Employee Scheduling

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How to prevent employees from burning out

Posted on February 25, 2010 | 1 Comment

Hi there,

You want your employees to do the best they can, when they are at work. Happy employees tend to give a better service for the customers and have in general a better performance than unhappy employees. So how do you prevent them from burning out and instead keep that spirit up that put the sales numbers up there?

According to this article there are numerours factors that contribute to their well being and thus numerous things you can do to keep them going:

  • Training – obviously – if they feel like they’re good at what they do – they probably are
  • Employee Rights, Employee Incentives, And Employee Time – value their opinions, involve them in decisions, devote time for just being together as a team
  • Performance and evaluation – reward good employees, motivate and help poor employees to do better

And (you guessed it?)

  • Employee Scheduling

Yes – as it turns out – proper employee scheduling can actually help your employees from burning out. If you take care to schedule the late sleepers in the evening shifts, the morning persons in the morning shifts – in general – involve them in the scheduling proces – make them propose requests as to when they will prefer to work and when they’d rather not. If it is no hassle to you – then why not strive to meet these requests?

Do you have any examples that prove this point? Please feel free to comment!

I believe that our employee scheduling software can help take the administrative pain out of meeting these requests – thus helping you as a business owner in having motivated employees and thus having a more successful business.

Take care of your employees!

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Posted in Employee Scheduling

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