Bon-Ton leverages tech to lower turnover
DALLAS — Bon-Ton is turning to PeopleAnswers to help the company improve retail sales and lower employee turnover. Under the terms of a five-year software licensing agreement, the company will leverage PeopleAnswers’ HR-focused business solution to achieve its goals.
“Today’s challenging retail market is growing more competitive with shrinking margins that require us to focus on improving our sales productivity and performance,” said SVP of HR Denise Domian. “PeopleAnswers is a strategic tool to help our organization find the best, most productive talent who will remain with us longer while also improving sales and service across all of our locations and brands.”
Bon-Ton will implement the cloud-based PeopleAnswers desktop and mobile software platforms in each of its 272 department stores across all nameplates in the U.S. to pre-screen and hire new team members, including managers, supervisors and sales personnel, as well as to fill all distribution center processor positions. The retailer will also use the PeopleAnswers assessment to fill corporate positions.
By using PeopleAnswers, Bon-Ton will have a consistent employee recruiting process that uses talent science to improve the quality of its hiring decisions while also helping managers be more efficient. The assessment process will include a pre-screen behavioral evaluation that will determine best-fit candidates prior to a formal interview and a custom performance profile for each position. The unique ability to compare candidates with multiple profiles to determine a future career path helps hiring managers select the candidates with the highest probability to have long-term success. Managers will also use PeopleAnswers as a guide for candidate interview questions, employee development and succession planning.
“A retailer’s associates are often the competitive differentiator,” said Gabriel Goncalves, CEO and president, PeopleAnswers. “As a proven technology used across the retail industry, PeopleAnswers will help support Bon-Ton’s strategic sales, productivity and customer service goals with a consistent, efficient hiring process that will scale across all locations and brands.”
The Bon-Ton Stores operates 272 department stores, which includes 11 furniture galleries, in 24 states in the Northeast, Midwest and upper Great Plains under the Bon-Ton, Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson’s, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s and Younkers. The department stores offer national and private brand fashion apparel and accessories for women, men and children, as well as cosmetics and home furnishings.