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WORKFORCEMANAGEMENT 31


WOOLLENS RETAILER UPDATES TIME AND ATTENDANCE


B


larney Woollen Mills is automating employee time collection and eliminating manual entry, while saving


time and reducing errors with Softworks Time and Attendance (T&A) Flexitime. As a thriving family business,


headquartered in Blarney, in the South of Ireland, the company consists of seven retail stores and three hotels. With more than 30 years of retailing experience, Blarney Woollen Mills has been a leading retailer of classic Irish clothing and gifts since its foundation. Tony Jackson, Blarney Woollen Mills IT


manager, said the Softworks enterprise T&A suite satisfi ed all of the company’s requirements. “After speaking to other companies where their systems were operating live, we were convinced that Softworks provided an excellent fi t with our current infrastructure and the systems fl exibility, ease of use and security. Softworks’ excellent project management services and value for money were an added bonus,” he explained.


With over 400 employees spread across nine locations, consisting of full-time, part-time and job-share staff, as well as fl uctuating seasonal staffi ng requirements and a cumbersome punch-card system of recording employees time and attendance, “payroll processing, was a very complicated and time-consuming process for Blarney Woollen Mills,” recalled Margaret Barry, Blarney Woollen Mills payroll manager. The company piloted the Softworks system in its Blarney retail outlet, choosing a department with the most complicated shift patterns, pay rules and premiums. This was an ideal way to ensure that all of Blarney’s rules and shift eventualities had been confi gured into the new system and to gauge employee and supervisor acceptance. “The speed at which Softworks acted in resolving any initial queries was tremendous and gave us added confi dence in the system and the company,” Barry added.


RETAILERS RETHINK HIGH STREET APPROACH


Following the publication of the government commissioned Mary Portas review last December, which came out with a wide range of recommendations to revitalise Britain’s town centres, highlighted the plight of the UK High Street. The review came hot on the heels of


news that Arcadia Group billionaire Philip Green was looking to expire 250 to 260 stores from its 2,500-strong UK estate over the next three years. The move responded to a fall in profi ts and ambitions to expand the Topshop brand further overseas. Ian Thurman, vice president location planning at marketing and information systems provider CACI, commented: “The combination of falling High Street spend, internet retailing and a desire by large town centre retailers to rationalise their


portfolios will mean that many towns will experience a fall in shop numbers. The world of town centres is changing forever and we need to recognise that, for some centres, retail will have a diminishing role.” CACI identifi ed those town centres


that would suffer most from portfolio rationalisation by the UK’s largest High Street retailers (see listing opposite). “The analysis shows the resilience of the larger centres and continuing decline in the retail role of smaller centres,” added Thurman. The CACI ranking is based on a


scenario, where all retailers with at least 250 stores decided to reduce their portfolio by 20%. Typically, these ‘at risk’ centres have a strong competitor on their doorstep offering a larger, more modern retail offering.


Softworks was rolled out to the other


departments within eight weeks. Despite the fl uctuations in staffi ng levels, the system had no problems handling Blarney’s changing requirements. For Blarney Woollen Mills, the ability to integrate with existing applications and technology platforms was key. It developed an intranet that linked all of the stores to the head offi ce. “The resulting integration enabled Blarney to capitalise on existing technology and drive effi ciencies,” according to Jackson. Softworks is running on a centralised


Windows NT Server at the Blarney head offi ce. “The system automates employee time collection at each site and transfers it to payroll at Blarney headquarters for processing, eliminating the need for manual entry, saving time, producing accountability and safeguarding against errors. Very little of my time is spent administering the system, it runs like clockwork,” Jackson concluded.


Top 20 ‘at risk’ centres: London, Clapham Junction


Birkenhead


Loughborough Altrincham


Richmond, Surrey Wimbledon Brentwood Kirkcaldy Windsor


Portsmouth Barnsley


Welwyn Garden City Keighley


Dunfermline Rhyl


Maidenhead


Stockton-on-Tees Hounslow


Gillingham, Hempstead Valley Weston-Super-Mare


22% 19% 16% 13% 13% 13% 12% 11% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 9% 9% 8% 8% 8% 8%


(Percentage decrease in large multiple retailers i.e. those currently with 250 or more stores in the UK)


JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 RETAIL TECHNOLOGY


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