Blain’s Farm & Fleet Leverages Zebra Workcloud to Optimize Scheduling, Achieving a 7% Reduction in Labor Hours
Blain's Farm & Fleet, a specialty retailer, refers to itself as a modern general store, serving customers in-store and online. The company implemented Zebra Workcloud to modernize its employee scheduling system. The previous system, dating back to the early 1990s, didn't meet Blain's contemporary demands.
Zebra Success Story: Blain's Farm & Fleet
Overview: Retail Challenge
By adopting Workcloud Scheduling, Blain’s achieved a 7% reduction in labor hours, improved sales per labor hour and better managed wage expenses. The new system also enhanced the digital experience for associates, offering them greater flexibility and control through the Workcloud Scheduling Employee Self-Service app, which allows for schedule visibility, time-off requests and shift swaps.
Benefits / Outcomes
- Improved productivity metrics such as sales per labor hour, wages as a percent of sales and reduction in labor hours by 7%
- Associates can access their schedules, time punches and submit time-off requests from their mobile devices, improving overall efficiency
- A more seamless experience for management teams and associates, facilitating process improvement and efficiency within the organization
Customer
Blain's Farm & Fleet
Janesville, Wisconsin/USA
Industry
Retail
Solutions
About Blain's Farm & Fleet
Blain’s Farm & Fleet is a specialty retailer with 45 locations throughout Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. This modern general store remains steadfast in its commitment to offering customers high-quality products, competitive prices and reliable service.
Blain’s customers enjoy shopping in multiple ways: in-store, by phone, online or even by taking advantage of the store’s “Shop on the Spot” service that allows them to pick up items at the store without placing an order in advance. To better serve its shoppers, Blain’s invested in Workcloud Scheduling with the goal of enhancing scheduling, optimizing labor forecasting and delivering a better digital workplace experience for its frontline associates.
The Challenge
Blain’s Farm & Fleet’s previous scheduling system had outlived its usefulness and began to fall short when faced with the realities of modern business. “Our prior scheduling system was implemented in the early 90s, and before that, we had completely separate scheduling and time and attendance systems,” explained Mike Schabacker, Director of Stores, Finance and Communications at Blain’s Farm & Fleet.
“But in today’s world, creating a great digital experience for our associates is critical to helping us improve retention and reduce turnover. And with our large format stores with multiple departments, we needed a modern solution that could integrate our systems to provide a more seamless experience for our management teams and associates,” said Schabacker.
By incorporating our labor model work into Zebra Workcloud Scheduling, we achieved a 7% reduction in hours within the first year. And we’ve been able to maintain that ever since.
The Solution
To address these challenges, Blain’s Farm & Fleet implemented Workcloud Scheduling and provided its frontline associates with the Workcloud Scheduling Employee Self-Service app. “Our associates can access their schedule, time punches and even make time off requests — all from the palm of their hand using the self-service application. It’s been a tremendous advantage for us in terms of efficiency and visibility,” said Schabacker.
Associates appreciate the mobility and flexibility that Zebra’s mobile app provides. ”Associates love having visibility into their schedules anytime they want. And requesting time off is much easier. In the past, our time-off requests were paper-based — hardly ideal because some of our stores have 200 associates,” said Schabacker. “With Zebra Workcloud, associates can enter their time off request in the app and then get immediate notification when it’s approved. And associates can also easily swap shifts, advertise a shift if they don’t want it, and view any open shifts. It’s been a super way to support them, giving them more control over their lives and schedules.”
Additionally, Zebra has helped the company with labor modeling. Blain’s imports labor modeling and planning data into the Zebra application, aligning the company’s forecasted demand with each store’s budget hours and wages. “It’s important to meet our financial budget targets and Zebra helps us do that. Zebra automatically aligns our forecasted demand to meet each store’s needs. As wage pressures have continued to increase, Zebra Workcloud Scheduling has been critical in our ability to manage wage expenses,” said Schabacker.
The Zebra Difference: Outcome and Benefits
Blain’s Farm & Fleet has realized numerous benefits since implementing Workcloud solutions. “By incorporating our labor model work into Zebra Workcloud Scheduling, we achieved a 7% reduction in labor hours within the first year. And we’ve maintained that ever since, Schabacker added.
Zebra has helped Blain’s boost other important productivity metrics. Since implementing Zebra Workcloud solutions, the company has seen improvements in sales per labor hour and wages as a percent of sales.
In the future, Blain’s plans on expanding its collaboration with Zebra. “We see so many features and functionality coming up in the next version of the software, including machine learning and AI. We’re excited about how Blain’s is continuing to grow — and excited about continuing to work with Zebra’s software and solutions as they help us reach our goals,” Schabacker concluded.
