New Research from Legion Highlights Need for Transforming the Employee Experience to Attract and Retain Talent

Legion, the pioneer in AI-powered workforce management, released a research report highlighting the need to better understand workplace concerns and desires of hourly employees, who comprise 48% of the U.S. workforce. The study, Hour by Hour: Attracting and Retaining Hourly Employees and Their Managers, provides actionable insights to help businesses improve experiences of hourly workers. The survey of one thousand hourly workers and managers in North America was conducted in May 2021.

The report highlights the need to offer schedule empowerment, automation, modern communication tools, and early access to pay to successfully attract and retain hourly workers in today’s highly competitive job market. According to the survey, 59% of employees cited scheduling issues as reasons they would quit a job, while 39% would leave their current jobs for poor communication with their employers.

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“Millennials and Gen Z, who make up a majority of the hourly workforce, grew up with the internet. They expect modern communication tools, gig-like flexibility, and the ability to complete transactions quickly and easily from their mobile devices,” said Sanish Mondkar, CEO, Legion. “To attract and retain these employees, enterprises must make investments in digital transformation and workforce technologies. The alternative is to suffer from being short staffed, which often leads to costly overtime, burnout, and poor customer service.”

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Businesses also need to invest in automation and modern communication tools to free up managers, so they can upskill their teams and focus on creating great employee and customer experiences. Manual and outdated processes not only have a negative impact on employee satisfaction but also can lead to frustration among managers.

• While 83% of employees surveyed felt it is important to share their preferences on scheduling, almost half (48%) of the managers surveyed struggled daily to match employee preferences and availability with the needs of the business when creating schedules.
• More than one third (35%) of managers surveyed report spending 3-10+ hours per week creating and managing schedules.
• Managers reported that the top two things employers could do to make their lives easier were to provide tools that would make it easier for managers to communicate with their teams (42%) and reduce the time spent on routine tasks, like scheduling (36%).
• Almost half of the managers reported that if their administrative burdens were reduced, they would spend more time coaching and developing their team (49%) and interacting with customers (27%).

“Many businesses have focused on digital transformation efforts to create a great experience for customers, but they have overlooked the experience managers and hourly employees have on a daily basis,” added Mondkar. “Digital transformation is key for businesses to create and operationalize an empowered workplace that attracts and retains hourly employees and their managers.”

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More than 80% of hourly workers and their managers reported being as stressed or more stressed in 2021 as they were in 2020. As a result, many of them are reevaluating where and how they want to work. Competition for talent is intense, so businesses must look beyond offering only a living wage to attract and retain workers.

“We ask hourly workers to do so much, the more we can streamline their processes, the better it is for them,” said Executive Director of Information Systems, National Convenience Store Chain. “Legion is a competitive advantage for us in attracting workers. Everyone uses the app, and they want even more features, which is a sign that you have a great product.”

Legion WFM helps enterprises to optimize their labor efficiency through AI-powered demand forecasting, labor optimization, automated scheduling, and time and attendance. At the same time, it enables employers to offer an enhanced hourly employee experience with schedules that better match employees’ preferences, gig-like flexibility, and modern digital tools. Through the Legion WFM mobile app, employees can share scheduling preferences, view upcoming shifts, swap shifts, and more. These benefits are crucial for employee retention and engagement.

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