“A really huge issue is not knowing what manager is on duty... we think we've got a no call, no show. 4 hours later we find out they contacted the manager that was off.”

Solution: Call out request

The new Call Out Request feature enables an employee to create and send a message from their Schedule in the employee app. Managers who are in the store will be sent a notification or can see Call Out Requests in the Leadership Engagement app.

Iterations and Insights

Rapid iterations were done with general managers and their concerns shaped the experience to something they were comfortable with. What we learned:

• Leaders care about their employees. They do not want an automated process that removes this.

• Some concern that if a call out is easy this may result in more call outs.

• “I like that all leaders would have a line of sight.”

• It’s important that employees understand a manager’s approval is still required.

“I love the idea, I just think it takes the human side of care for our employees out. When someone calls out or is late I reach out and see if they are ok.”

For the employee experience the language was adjusted to reinforce a request is not automatically approved. An absence policy link and acknowledgment were added to prevent the perception of an easy call out.

Expanding on call outs

Managers being able to post an open shift to the billboard from a call out was positioned as a logical extension of the call out workflow. When I conducted interviews with store leaders I learned:

• Leaders were rarely using the billboard
• Call outs were frequently handled by flexing current staff or texting managers in the market

I presented journey maps to help create some awareness. There are multiple options an employee could explore if they want more or less hours, and the billboard has a relatively minor role in that ecosystem. Based on the data, I shared that the feature might not offer significant value. I felt my input challenged assumptions respectfully and improved the conversation, but the decision to move forward on a “post from call out” capability was guided by priorities or context that were not fully visible to the team.