Sunday 22nd July 2012 – Fashion retailer New Look has deployed a new workforce management system in an attempt to boost productivity across its 670 stores in the UK, Ireland, France and Belgium. New Look is seeking to align its 16,000 full- and part-time staff to demand in each store. A workforce management system from Kronos will optimise scheduling and manage the time and attendance of the staff.

“This will ensure that workforce productivity is maximised, labour costs are controlled, and customer service is optimised,” said New Look.

The chain is also seeking to improve sales conversion rates and increase profits with the help of the system.

In addition, New Look will have at its disposal the Kronos InTouch time clock system built into its system, which features employee self-service features and cloud-ready capabilities. Steve Challes, head of channel development at New Look, said: “Our priority was to leverage a workforce management solution to increase productivity and improve sales conversion rates. The system will support us in scheduling the optimum number of people at all points throughout the day.” New Look’s distribution centre, where 1,000 are employed, was already using a Kronos time and attendance system before this latest deployment.

Earlier this year the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain also deployed a Kronos system with the aim of cutting costs and improving productivity. Prior to selecting Kronos, Sainsbury’s managed time and attendance and scheduling through a blend of manual and partially automated processes.