With three departments already using Oasis to help determine where and when to schedule associates, Publix is ready to kick off the second half of the game featuring bakery, grocery and produce.

After the successful rollout of Oasis to customer service, deli and meat, it’s now time for bakery, grocery and produce to gain the benefits from this scheduling tool. Oasis uses engineered labor standards to help our managers gain new insight into how many hours are needed to do the work at their particular store. In other words, it helps our managers place the right associates at the right place at the right time for our customers.

Oasis supports Publix’s core strategy of differentiating on customer service. Oasis calculates the time to do the work — which includes production tasks and time to serve our customers — so managers don’t have to. This scheduling tool can do these things because it considers several factors like a store’s size, customer traffic patterns, cases shipped and the amount and type of products sold.

To help increase our customer service levels, associates may notice changes in bakery, grocery and produce like associates being positioned to interact with customers, work on the sales floor and dynamically sell at all times of the day. Associates with set schedules may see their schedules change and perform different roles throughout the day. Associates may even find themselves being cross-trained in a variety of roles.

“I’m very excited to roll out Oasis to bakery, grocery and produce. There will be some changes that may be challenging, but overall, everyone will benefit from Oasis,” said Director of Labor Forecasting and Scheduling Karen Hall. “Managers will have a better scheduling tool to help place associates at the right times, and associates will have more opportunities to learn new roles and find their niche at Publix.”

With 72 stores joining at the end of this month, the 88-store pilot for bakery, grocery and produce will be in full swing. Oasis scheduling for these departments will roll out to all stores beginning July 2014. Managers will receive more information via email, including go-live dates, as they become available.