Case Study: Leading Grocery Chain Improves Labor Efficiency And Scheduling Through Workforce Management

Starting In 1930, Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg opened a small general store in Beaconsfield, Iowa which later became known and named as Hy-Vee. Today, Hy-Vee is one of the largest privately owned supermarket chains in the nation with their corporate office located in West Des Moines, Iowa. Their distribution operations are based in Chariton, Iowa, where they have more than 650,000 square feet of state-of-the-art warehouse space plus a large distribution center in Cherokee, Iowa. They also own several subsidiary companies including, Lomar Distributing (specialty foods), Perishable Distributors of Iowa (fresh foods), and Florist Distributing (flowers).

With their unique employee-owned approach to achieving success, they have grown to more than 220 retail stores in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota. With sales of more than $6.0 billion, Hy-Vee is ranked among the top fifteen supermarket chains in the nation. As an employee-owned company, Hy-Vee encourages each of their more than 50,000 employee-owners to help guide the company and fulfill their vision. The Hy-Vee brand has become synonymous with quality products, low prices and superior customer service. Their slogan, "A Helpful Smile In Every Aisle," expresses the foundation of their corporate philosophy.

At Hy-Vee stores, appropriate staffing levels are critical to providing superior customer service. The issue of understaffing has a severe impact on customer service and can result in abandoned sales or even loss of repeat business. Yet scheduling more employees than are needed results in unnecessary labor costs and can affect morale by underutilizing employees. The company's previous scheduling system did not allow it to adequately consider historical traffic trends or forecast customer demand.

Hy-Vee envisioned a comprehensive workforce management solution that could deliver a number of operational benefits.