3 Ways to Juggle the Retail Industry’s Manpower Crunch

As a manpower intensive industry, the retail sector requires Human Resource (HR) professionals to be on the constant lookout for both full- and part-time staff.

As a manpower intensive industry, the retail sector requires Human Resource (HR) professionals to be on the constant lookout for both full- and part-time staff. Given Singapore’s recent stringent manpower restrictions on foreign employees and the heavy reliance on students as frontline staff, the retail sector is facing a tight labour crunch.

Here are three practices HR professionals in the retail industry can adopt to ensure consistent manpower headcount.

Offer Flexibility
Start with the basics of offering shorter hours per shift – a regular shift lasts anything from six to eight hours. Shorter shifts of four hours can help manage manpower needs. Students will have less barriers to accept the shift, and allocating extra manpower for peak hours will be more cost-efficient.

Consider flexi-work arrangements, which give full-time employees the option of working at different outlet locations or staggered shift hours. Offering these options might require a little more effort and planning when drafting weekly rosters, but it will definitely serve the purpose of having enough frontline staff.

Anticipate Manpower Needs
Create a shared manpower calendar which has clear plans to manpower requirements, and sees at least three months into the future. This will give you ample time to search for talent, plan out a budget and provide sufficient reaction time in the event of any sudden changes.

Tap on Older Workers
With an aging population and an increased retirement age, older workers are a good resource for the retail workforce. They might not be as agile or computer savvy as their younger counterparts, but they offer wisdom and responsibility. Older workers always prove to be reliable and ever willing to hone new skills in order to perform better at work.