Labour Standards
By establishing consistent expectations for common tasks, retailers can improve workforce planning, increase productivity, and ensure labour is allocated efficiently across every location.
What are labour standards?
Labour standards are measurable guidelines that estimate the amount of time required to complete operational activities under normal working conditions. These standards are used to calculate workload and determine the labour hours needed to support both customer service and store operations.
Examples of activities that often have labour standards include:
Stocking shelves.
Receiving inventory.
Price changes.
Merchandising displays.
Order fulfilment.
Store cleaning.
Opening and closing procedures.
Modern workforce management platforms use labour standards as an input for labour forecasting and scheduling, helping retailers align staffing with operational workload.
Why are labour standards important?
Without standardised task estimates, staffing decisions are often based on assumptions or historical averages rather than actual workload.
Labour standards help retailers:
Improve labour forecasting accuracy.
Build more efficient employee schedules.
Allocate labour consistently across stores.
Increase productivity.
Support fair workload distribution.
Improve labour budgeting and operational planning.
Standardised labour expectations also make it easier to compare performance across locations and identify opportunities for process improvement.
How are labour standards developed?
Retailers typically develop labour standards by analysing:
Time studies.
Historical task completion data.
Operational best practices.
Store layouts and equipment.
Productivity benchmarks.
Observations from experienced employees and managers.
Many organisations review and update labour standards regularly to reflect changes in processes, technology, or store operations.
