Schuh Mücke
Solution: ATOSS Retail Solution
Usage: DE
Quantity: Employees 750
A Happy Atmosphere
Mücke was founded in Kulmbach in 1954 by Werner and Else Mücke. For over 65 years now, Mücke in Bavaria has stood for brand diversity and stylishness. The company with more than 750 employees showcases fashion for men, women and children across its 17 modern stores with a combined sales floor area of 55,000 sqm. Customers can choose styles from over 500 different brands. In addition to the company’s physical stores and outlets, Mücke is also featuring an online shop which is open around the clock and also offers a Click & Collect service.
A happy atmosphere on the shop floor is a key factor in the success of the sales assistants – and a driver of the company’s success. Employees need a reason to welcome and advise their customers with a smile on their face. And these smiles are achieved by employees being actively involved in the planning of their working time – and therefore being able to make decisions for themselves. “This individualization, and the fact that it really works for our people individually, is what we understand by New Work,” explains Kathrin Schmidt, Managing Director with responsibility for HR, Digitalization and Accounting at the retailer Mücke.
The 17 stores of the Bavarian retailer Mücke each offer up to 6,000 sqm of sales space. Good-humored sales assistants are part of the success concept.
New Work also applies on the sales floor
The term New Work is used to describe the theory that people should have the scope for personal development in their jobs. Employees should be able to find a deeper meaning in their work and align their own interests with the goals of the company. The aim is to enable a more fulfilling work life. So much for theory. For Kathrin Schmidt, though, this theory is something that needs to be implemented in practice, not just for colleagues who work behind a desk but also for those who have direct contact with customers on a daily basis. “We accommodate the needs of employees as far as we can,” emphasizes Schmidt. The retailer learned from employee surveys and appraisal interviews that there was a lot of dissatisfaction in the past about the workforce scheduling – it was the number one issue. Consequently, it was important for Mücke to get employees involved in this. “Today we can say with confidence that our employees can, must and are authorized to participate at any time in the scheduling of their work,” explains Schmidt. No one has the right to define why someone else has a preferred time to work and whose case is more important. The bottom line for the company is that a happy atmosphere is something that can be organized and at the same time elevates efficiency across all departments. This is also one of the reasons why Mücke finds recruiting new employees easier than competitors. Word of a good working atmosphere gets around.
We cannot digitalize a happy atmosphere, but we can provide employees with all of the tools needed to achieve high satisfaction levels – so that there is a happy atmosphere above all on our sales floors, in our logistics and at our head office.
Kathrin Schmidt
Managing Director HR, Digitaliszation, Accounting | Mücke
Paper-based processes are going digital
The company has a good overview of the annual and seasonal working times of employees and individuals decide for themselves in which periods they want to work more or less. Thanks to ATOSS workforce scheduling, store managers no longer need to consider every day what might be an important reason to allow someone to have time off – or not. This also saves time and a lot of trouble for all involved. Schedulers, too, have more reason to smile at work, given that workforce scheduling ensures that the workforce is deployed efficiently. What is more, numerous time-consuming, paper-based processes have been eliminated. The approval rate for working time applications currently stands at some 90 percent, according to Schmidt. “Workforce scheduling is a very emotional and sensitive topic in retail, because it is almost always the case that you can only lose,” explains Schmidt. Employees consider it very important that working time is allocated fairly. The working time of colleagues is sometimes more important than their own working time.
Visibility over sales and footfall
For workforce scheduling, Mücke provides the ATOSS software with the demand drivers such as sales and footfall in the stores, as well as any second jobs that employees have and their preferred times to work. Prior to the scheduling, employees themselves can specify certain times, and other colleagues may also have different plans. The workforce scheduling then allocates shifts based on these parameters. “We cannot digitalize a happy atmosphere, but we can provide employees with all of the tools needed for high satisfaction levels to be reached – so that there is a happy atmosphere above all on our sales floors, in our logistics and in our head office,” explains Schmidt.
The MückeApp – everything in your hand
The employees on the sales floors, together with their colleagues in logistics and planning, are quite simply happier. Inside the company, the title of the project is “Let*s smile more than others.” Employees can access all of the tools centrally via the MückeApp. The digitalization of processes has helped to raise efficiency and save resources. The company has benefited from greater flexibility and trust as a result. All of the information can be accessed at any time, and this has given everyone involved the transparency they were looking for.
Source: ATOSS Customer Schuh Mücke | Annual Report 2022
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