Greatwood Lumber & Ace Hardware opened at the beginning of 2001 along the I-70 in Bennett, Colorado. The location is comprised of a lumberyard and Ace Hardware supplied store run by a developed full-time, part-time and seasonal staff of helpful and knowledgeable individuals.
Greatwood, a home improvement and Ace hardware store, was struggling to keep control over their employee scheduling. Each week they were taking a lot of time to complete the schedule and usually had inaccurate information. Once schedules were made, if people requested an absence or there was a last minute shift change, the printed copy became an unorganized mess. Seasonal staff had a habit
of missing shifts, which meant a manager had to take time off the sales floor to call other employees until they were lucky enough to find a replacement. On top of all this, shift errors and scheduling conflicts were frequently occurring, creating frustration for department managers and employees.
A Microsoft Excel® built schedule was out of the question for Greatwood after struggling with its limitations for too long. Jim made it clear that they didn’t want an overly complicated solution, but instead something that would be easy for him to use and for his employees to view their schedules from. Basic alternatives didn’t have an absence management module that could easily track time-off requests, another requirement of his.
“Scheduling and managing employees with eSchedule has become easier and requires less time.”
– Jim Sprecker
eSchedule flawlessly fit with the home improvement and Ace hardware store’s business requirements. There is now less room for errors or conflicts and as their store owner Jim puts it, “eSchedule has removed all schedule ambiguity for staff regarding shifts, scheduled positions and absence requests.”
Both time and effort has been significantly reduced for department managers as the process has become mostly automated. Real-time functionality and workflows make absence request approvals and shift changes visible to both managers and employees, ensuring everyone remains up-to-date.
Now when an employee calls in sick or misses a shift, instead of going to the backroom to sort through a list of employee availability and phone numbers, managers log-in to eSchedule from a mobile device. With a couple taps, they can release the missed shift as open and automatically notify all available employees via email and SMS. This has ensured they find a replacement as quickly as possible… without even leaving the sales floor!
As a bonus, since using eSchedule, Greatwood has gone paperless and couldn’t be happier doing so (especially as a lumber company).
Greatwood loved the easy setup and helpful, receptive service that was received upon their eSchedule trial sign-up. It was quickly apparent their this businesses requirement for a simple, organized form of scheduling that could handle absence requests would be addressed. The department managers and employees at the home improvement and Ace hardware location are happy to have a solution that simplifies their lives.