The Works
How The Works is Transforming Workforce Management with ShopWorks
Location
Across the UK and the Republic of Ireland
Industry
Retail
The Challenges
Prior to implementation, The Works managed scheduling and time and attendance largely through manual processes, resulting in several challenges:
- Time-consuming scheduling and a lack of approval workflows.
- Lack of integration between HR and payroll systems.
- Difficulty managing labour budgets and controlling overspend.
- Frustration among managers and colleagues due to a lack of flexibility and transparency.
- Disjointed holiday and absence management processes
The Solution
Core features of the implementation include:
- Core Workforce Management System: The foundation of ShopWorks, with modular capability tailored to the needs of The Works.
- Full Time & Attendance with Worklog: Captures realtime clock-in/out data and exceptions to planned rotas.
- Target hours is a bespoke module that ShopWorks built with The Works, to assist the client in ensuring that the correct management and non-management hours are planned and worked across their retail estate.
- Compliance Module: Ensures full adherence to the Working Time Directive across the store network.
- Standard Reporting Suite: A suite of operational and workforce reports designed to surface key data from the platform.
- Self-Service App with NFC Clock In and Out: Available on Android, iOS, and web, allowing team members to view schedules, request time off, and clock in/out using NFC.
- Integration Management Module: Monitors and manages data flows between ShopWorks and iTrent, including joiners, movers, and leavers.
The implementation was tailored to The Works’ operational and technical environment, with additional scoping work for iTrent integration and advanced reporting.
“Shopworks has transformed how we manage time and attendance across our estate. The platform is intuitive, reliable, and has helped us streamline rota planning, compliance tracking, and payroll integration. Their team has been responsive throughout, and the reporting tools have given us real clarity on labour spend and operational efficiency. It’s been a genuine step forward for our business. Mike Hennessy and his team managed the process exceptionally; everything went to plan, and the feedback from operational teams has been overwhelmingly positive. Their commitment to truly understanding and delivering what the client wants, while remaining patient and supportive throughout, was thoroughly refreshing. We now have a system that people genuinely love using, and that’s not something you hear often when it comes to workforce management software..”
Jack Bates, Head of People at The Works
Bespoke Development
To support The Works’ need for more precise planning across their large estate, a bespoke Target Hours Administration feature was developed.
This functionality enables head office teams to define, structure, and assign target working hours across different roles, locations, and labour types such as management and non-management hours. With the ability to set up rule-based role mappings and apply targets across specific store groups, the system ensures staffing is aligned to budget and operational priorities. Combined with bulk data import options, this solution gives The Works greater control, consistency, and scalability in managing workforce expectations and performance at site level.
Managing Organisational Change
Introducing a new workforce system at scale requires more than just technology; it demands careful attention to people and process change. To support this, ShopWorks ran an initial pilot across 35 of The Works stores and the Distribution Centre. This was subsequently extended to test the rollout plan.
This phased approach helped:
- Identify and address potential concerns from colleagues early on.
- Gather feedback from managers and frontline teams to inform configuration.
- Build internal confidence in the system before going live across the entire estate.
- Establish advocates in pilot stores to support wider adoption.
The pilot played a crucial role in minimising resistance, demonstrating quick wins, and ensuring that employees understood both the “why” and the “how” behind the change. By the time the platform was rolled out to the wider estate, teams were already bought in and excited to use the new system.
The Result
Labour Cost Control
Real-time visibility of labour hours usage, which is expected to result in 100% compliance with the internal labour model and eliminate discretionary overspend and consequently deliver efficiency savings of 0.5%.
Operational Efficiency
- Payroll processing time halved.
- Onboarding into payroll is now significantly faster and simpler.
- Management hours and non-management hours are tracked consistently and accurately.
Employee Experience
- Simple, user-friendly interface for booking time off and viewing schedules.
- Increased engagement and better communication of rotas at store level.
- Strong adoption across teams with only a reasonable amount of training required.
