Workforce Management in Retail | Black Friday | Staff Planning

On Black Friday 2025, more than ever, companies’ ability to respond to unpredictable peaks in demand will be put to the test. The German Association for Parcel & Express Logistics (www.bpex.de) records an annual rise in parcel volumes around Black Friday, and the trend continues upward. What sounds like success means one thing above all for HR, dispatchers and operational managers: a major challenge in staff planning.

When revenues explode, shift scheduling can come under intense pressure. Employees call in sick, demand shifts hour by hour, and balancing efficiency with overload becomes a tightrope walk. That’s where intelligent workforce management solutions come in – not as a theoretical concept, but as a core tool to manage operational reality in real time.

Black Friday is no longer just a question of maximizing sales, but a testing ground for data-driven personnel strategies. Modern WFM solutions analyze historical sales data, live sales, order volumes, and shift utilization to calculate when and where staff is needed down to the second. Artificial intelligence recognizes patterns from previous years, combines them with current sales forecasts, and creates precise staffing level analysis.

 Content:

↓ What are The Risks of Inadequate Staff Planning on Black Friday?/a>
↓ How does Workforce Management Software help with Planning?
↓ Intra-Day Employee lending in Retail: Stay Flexible on Black Friday with plano Pooling
↓ Which Software Features are Crucial for Black Friday or Other Promotional Days?

What are The Risks of Inadequate Staff Planning on Black Friday?

A lack of sufficient staff can lead to long queues, delayed order processing, and dissatisfied customers. On the other hand, overstaffing leads to unnecessary costs that reduce profitability. This makes it even more important to consider the expectations of the working world:
A recent SD Worx survey 2025 (https://www.sdworx.de/de-de) shows that flexible working models are a priority issue for 28% of companies in Germany, while 32% see employee retention as a critical challenge. This makes it clear that during peak periods such as Black Friday, employees expect not only clear plans, but also flexibility, transparency, and fair working arrangements.

How does workforce management software help with planning?

WFM software such as plano WFM analyzes historical sales and performance data, takes seasonal fluctuations into account, and generates reliable demand forecasts. Automated shift scheduling considers both employee preferences and legal requirements such as working hours and rest periods. Even last-minute changes can be implemented in real time. Workforce management solutions therefore not only help with staff planning, but also with skills management, training, and optimal resource allocation.

Intraday Employee Lending in Retail: Flexible Black Friday with plano Pooling

When customer queues stretch out the door on Black Friday 2025 and orders come in every second, it’s not advertising that determines success, but the ability to deploy staff intelligently and flexibly. During peak periods like this, traditional shift planning quickly reaches its limits. Employees are absent, requirements change hourly, and every decision has a direct impact on service quality and sales.
This is precisely where a concept that has often been underestimated in the past is gaining importance: intraday employee lending. It enables companies to move employees between departments, branches, or functional areas at short notice, often within a few hours, to compensate for bottlenecks and efficiently manage peak loads.
With workforce management software such as plano WFM, this concept becomes not only practical, but also strategically valuable. With the plano Pooling module, a group of employees with similar skills can be combined in an employee pool and flexibly assigned to open shifts according to current needs. Based on intelligent algorithms and real-time data, the tool dynamically decides where the workforce can be deployed most effectively, ensuring that open shifts are filled quickly and efficiently.

Which Software Features are Crucial for Black Friday or Other Promotional Days?

Precise, reliable AI forecasts that take historical sales and performance data, real-time information, and seasonal trends into account are crucial. Automated shift scheduling ensures that qualifications, working time regulations, vacation, and employee preferences are considered. Self-service functions enable employees to swap shifts, submit vacation requests, or record working hours, which increases motivation. Dynamic suggestions for temporary assignments through intra-company employee lending round out the system. In addition, reporting and controlling functions provide real-time data on staff utilization, cost structure, and productivity, while seamless integration with existing ERP, HR, or logistics systems avoids duplication of work.

The combination of precise planning, flexible assignment management, and intra-company employee leasing ensures that companies are optimally positioned even during the most stressful times. Employees experience fair and transparent assignments, bottlenecks are identified early on, and costs remain controllable.

Would you like to learn more about intelligent workforce management with plano WFM?

Further information about our workforce management software and its
areas of application can be found here:

→ Workforce Management from plano