Bunzl Retail Supplies
How Bunzl Retail Supplies moved from spreadsheets to a smarter way to manage shifts and Time and Attendance
Bunzl Retail Supplies (BRS) is a specialist sourcing, warehousing and distribution UK operating company with a warm welcoming team of over 400 people that is part of Bunzl UK and Ireland. Owned by Bunzl Plc, a £12 Billion UK listed FTSE top 50 international business of 21,000+ global employees and origins dating back to 1854, with operating companies in over 30 countries.
Bunzl is a decentralised operating model that is structured with global regions of North America, Latin America, APAC, Continental Europe, and UK and Ireland.
Bunzl Retail Supplies (BRS) is a specialist provider of Goods Not For Resale (GNFR). Items such as packaging, consumables, expense items, and semi-permanent assets for their retail customers. They provide many of the UK’s leading retailers with their GNFR requirements direct to their stores in the quantity and frequency they require.
Location
Across the UK
Industry
Distribution and GNFR (Goods Not For Resale)
The Challenges and Objectives
Before ShopWorks, Bunzl Retail Supplies (BRS) relied on spreadsheets to manage shift patterns and track working hours.
This created a number of challenges. Tracking overtime accurately was difficult, attendance records required manual oversight, and producing reliable payroll data could take time.
The business wanted a more robust system that would allow it to:
- manage shift patterns more effectively
- record attendance accurately
- support compliance with working time regulations
- provide reliable labour reporting for payroll
At the same time, Bunzl Retail Supplies wanted to give employees greater transparency around their working hours and recorded attendance.
The Solution
BRS partnered with ShopWorks to implement its workforce management platform to support BRS with scheduling, time and attendance tracking and labour reporting.
The rollout included the ShopWorks core platform, the Worklog module for attendance management, the compliance module and the standard reporting suite. Together, these tools provide BRS with a clearer view of both planned shifts and actual hours worked.
Managing shift patterns
ShopWorks allows BRS to manage shift patterns and planned schedules in a structured way. Most rotas are built using ShopWorks default schedule and copy and paste for others where needed. For employees, this creates clearer expectations around shifts and helps ensure rotas are applied fairly.
Accurate time and attendance
Attendance is captured using biometric readers installed at each site. Employees clock in and out when they start and finish their shifts. That data flows directly into ShopWorks, where it is recorded within the Worklog module and compared with the planned rota.
Clearer payroll and compliance
With attendance data captured automatically, Bunzl Retail Supplies can generate reliable worked-hours reports for payroll.
The ShopWorks platform also supports compliance with working time regulations by applying rules around working hours and break deductions.
This reduces manual checks and gives the business greater confidence in its workforce data.
“Moving to ShopWorks has given us much clearer visibility of our shift patterns and working hours. It’s made managing attendance far simpler for our teams and gives our employees confidence that their hours are being recorded accurately.”
Helen Warburton, Head of Operations – Agecroft, Bunzl Retail Supplies
The Results
A better experience for employees
The move to ShopWorks is improving transparency for employees at Bunzl Retail Supplies.
Staff can view their shifts and absence information through the ShopWorks portal and mobile app, giving them a clearer picture of their working hours and recorded attendance. This helps employees feel confident that their time is being tracked accurately and that they will be paid correctly.
A platform for future workforce planning
The pilot rollout across BRS locations provides the foundation for further workforce improvements.
With ShopWorks in place, the business now has a scalable platform that can support future
workforce planning, analytics and operational insights.
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