How AI Boosts Performance by 20% with Smarter Staff Scheduling

Most people think staff scheduling at a supermarket is a matter of simple math: match the number of employees to the expected number of customers, and the job’s done. But in Japan, where a passing typhoon, a surprise festival, or even the day’s horoscope can alter shopping patterns in a heartbeat, workforce planning is anything but predictable. 

For one of the country’s largest supermarket chains, managing shifts for over 10,000 employees across hundreds of stores was a constant challenge. Static schedules and manual adjustments resulted in high labor costs and low employee morale. The goal was to have the right people in the right place, at the right time, while keeping staff motivated and balanced.

To tackle this, the company turned to AI-powered workforce management, aiming not just to automate schedules but to intelligently adapt them to real-world conditions, in advance, in real-time, and in tune with both business needs and human expectations.  

Client’s Requirement

Before implementing a new system, the supermarket relied on manual or semi-automated methods to manage employee schedules. This traditional approach presented several limitations:

• Inability to accurately predict customer traffic, on a day-to-day or even hour-by-hour basis, resulting in overstaffing during quiet periods and understaffing during peak hours. 
• Escalating labor costs, driven by excessive staffing levels and unplanned overtime. 
• Rigid and impersonal scheduling, which failed to consider individual employee performance, working capacity, and personal preferences, led to job dissatisfaction and increased turnover. 
• Difficulty in controlling working hours limits, posing risks of labor law violations, and affecting employee well-being. 

VTI’s AI Solution for Staff Scheduling

Faced with the supermarket’s growing workforce management challenges, VTI partnered closely with the customer to fully understand the complexities behind their scheduling issues. Through a series of operational audits, data reviews, and consultations with store managers and HR teams, VTI identified the critical factors impacting staff scheduling efficiency, from unpredictable customer footfall to a lack of personalized scheduling for employees. 

With these insights, VTI developed and deployed a customized AI-driven shift management system tailored to the supermarket’s unique business environment. The system uses sophisticated demand forecasting models that combine historical sales trends, live weather data, and local event calendars to accurately predict customer traffic for each store and time slot.

Using these forecasts, the AI continuously optimizes staffing levels in real-time, ensuring that each store has the right number of employees on hand, neither overstaffed nor understaffed at any given moment.  

To complete the solution, VTI integrated the system with the supermarket’s existing attendance management and payroll systems, creating a fully automated, seamless workflow, from intelligent shift creation to attendance tracking and payroll processing. 

Main Features

For Administrators:

• Predict customer demand and automatically fine-tune shift schedules in real-time.
• Control labor costs by optimizing staffing, limiting overtime, and instantly relocating backup staff when needed. 
• Streamline attendance tracking and payroll processes through seamless system integration. 
• Customizable work hour limits ensure compliance with labor regulations and protect employee welfare. 

For Employee/Part-time Staff

• Access personal shift schedules, register availability, and request shift swaps via mobile app. 
• Monitor attendance records, total hours worked, and salary details anytime, anywhere. 
• Benefit from flexible, transparent scheduling tailored to individual preferences 

Result

Within just six months of deploying the AI-driven shift management system, the supermarket recorded substantial operational and organizational improvements:

• 15% reduction in labor costs, achieved by optimizing staffing allocation and significantly cutting unnecessary overtime. 
• 20% increase in employee performance, attributed to better managing shifts that prevented overwork and ensured adequate coverage during busy periods. 
• Noticeable improvement in employee satisfaction, driven by flexible, fair scheduling that accommodated personal preferences and work-life balance needs. 
• Enhanced customer service quality, thanks to consistent staffing levels during peak hours and fewer service delays. 

Project Scale

• Headcounts: 48 
• Development duration: 6 months (until first phase release), and continue the maintenance phase.
• Working model: Scrum

Technology used

• Machine Learning: TensorFlow, scikit learn
• Big Data Processing: Apache Spark, Hadoop
• Database: PostgreSQL, Google BigQuery 
• Optimization Algorithms: Linear Programming & Genetic Algorithm
• Frontend: ReactJS, Tableau

Building the Next-Gen Retail Work Management

Today, thanks to AI-powered staff scheduling, that story has changed. Now, every decision about who works when and where is backed by data: weather forecasts, event calendars, real-time foot traffic, and employee preferences all working together in a system designed not just to optimize costs, but to respect the people behind the numbers.

VTI is a leading IT outsourcing firm specializing in developing AI-driven solutions tailored for various industries. With extensive experience in system integration, data analytics, and workforce management platforms, we have supported numerous retailers in leveraging advanced technologies to optimize their operations.

>> Level-up retail workforce management with VTI’s advanced digital solutions.