Labor Management

           The study of labor management refers to the rules and policies which govern and organize employment, and how these are established and implemented. They affect the needs and interests of employees and employers. Labor Management regulates the company's internal control, the relationship with employers and the employees  who are in charge of the work done in the company (krajewski).  Labor management works by storing a database of standards for each of the companies key tasks, from time allotted for truck unloading to sales time for employees on the floor. 
           Best Buy's Labor Management system is called Time and Labor Center. This system is an intelligent forecasting tool that analyzes historical data to estimate future data. It optimizes the balance of overtime, regular and temporary labor needed to meet daily demands. The system helps the managers and supervisors improve labor efficiency by setting out a specific amount of dollars per department based on last year's sales and reports. This helps the management team reduce overtime and increase service levels. Every associate's actual time for task completion is them monitored in real time, from punch ins, lunches, and punch outs. One of the critical aspects that this system does not take a look into is weather forecasting. Best Buy tends to see more customers walking through their buildings when days tend to be gloomy or rainy and many people choose to stay home because of lack of outdoor activities. This is what the company calls Retail Sunshine. Because this is not taken into effect forecasting by this system labor forecasting tends to be wrong. Some days there are too many employees and not enough customers, other days there are too many customers and not enough employees. With the release of the Iphone we want to find a way to incorporate weather patterns to our labor forecast. The goal is to make sure that every customer coming into the store to purchase and Iphone is helped by an employee no matter what weather conditions are. 

           The top diagram represents a visual of what the Time and Labor Center would create; however, the bottom chart is the manual updated weekly employee schedule in which the weather forecast plays a role and this must be updated according to weather changes a week in advance.