Leroy Merlin automated line employee planning in 111 hypermarkets

2021: Automatic planning of line personnel schedules in 111 hypermarkets

Leroy Merlin and IT company Verme implemented a joint project to automate the planning of line personnel schedules. In 111 hypermarkets of the network, the Verme WFM system has been launched to calculate the load and optimize the scheduling of line employees. Until the end of 2021, it is planned to introduce the system in 4 stores opening in April 2021. Verme announced this on April 14, 2021.

A key factor in the success of the project was that before the implementation, we conducted a pilot in several stores in order to assess the volume of necessary changes in the system and better prepare for adapting stores to this process. As of April 2021, the system is part of the standard store opening package, said Ekaterina Filonova, Director of IT Business Efficiency at Leroy Merlin.

The solution analyzes operations that are historical data in 2 years and takes into account the abundance of specializations in sectors. Based on the data received, the system calculates the staff requirement in each trade department of the point and creates a schedule of employees based on actual labor resources. Verme's schedule is unique: with the same format and store space, customer traffic and other metrics are always different and dynamic.

The Verme solution plans a schedule for 23,000 employees, including cash desks, the customer service sector (SPOC), the sales room, logistics departments and administration. In the project, cash registers are divided into types, which allows you to take into account the nuances and peculiarities of sales of product categories and processes of Leroy Merlin.

It is noted that SPOC, sales departments and logistics departments are planned in different ways. In the first, drivers such as checks and scans are predicted, divided into types of cash registers, then the obtained data is multiplied by the corresponding norms, and the need is determined. In sales and logistics departments, online planners independently determine the required number of personnel in order to maintain a given level of service in the planning process. Further, based on these data and information on employee availability, the system plans the number of employees in such a way as to best cover the current need.

Using a flexible approach in planning employee schedules made it possible to solve several problems at once: optimize the use of our employees' time in SPOC on the one hand, make the load on employees more even on the other and maintain a high level of orientation to the needs of our customers. The transformation of the process of creating employee schedules required the business to change the very culture of schedule planning, and this would not be possible without the involvement of a large number of teams and the readiness to quickly respond to feedback from our users from stores, comments Yulia Chuprina, Director of Payments (Payment, Credit, Billing and WFM) Leroy Merlin.

We are proud that Leroy Merlin trusted us and chose the Verme solution. We strive to increase the number of points of contact in various areas and are working on the possibility of implementing an outsourcing management product. For 100% system availability, the Verme team provides technical support 12/7, as well as additional support 24/7 during the periods of preparation and transfer of timesheets to the payroll department, adds Mikhail Dyma, director of key customers at Verme.