The Life of a Modern Stocktaking Specialist – The Team at Scanmatix and What They Can Bring to Your Business
Considering a stocktaking project might feel like stepping into uncharted territory. The role of a Stock Taker comes with a requirement of unique skills including, in particular, Dynamic Problem Solving within varied workspaces. But what can you expect from a stocktaking as a service provider?
While the dictionary defines stocktaker as “someone who counts goods or materials owned by a company or available for sale in a store at a particular time”, there’s a lot more that it entails.
Let us delve into the intricacies of what you can expect from working with companies like Scanmatix who provide stocktaking as a service. These points are generalised and your experience or needs may differ according to the stocktaking requirements of your company. As mentioned before though, the main attribute of a good Stocktaker is their ability to find solutions to these changing needs.
- Contract Types: Stocktaking jobs are usually advertised as casual positions and so with that comes the inconsistency in approach and process. The more flexibility your stocktaking provider has then the more suited it is to your company's needs and hours of business.
- Work Hours: Most stocktakes are conducted outside of usual trading hours to reduce disruption to the retailer and improve count accuracy. Shifts can continue through the night, meaning early mornings or late-night arrivals and may not suit your working hours policies or safe working practices. This is where a reliable Stocktaking Service provider can ease those business pressures.
- Work Duration: As the finish time varies depending on the amount of stock and preparation, it’s not uncommon for a stocktake to extend over 18 hours for larger stores/warehouses. Are you prepared for long abstractions of staff without a pre-determined end time.
- Travel: Stocktakers are mobile workers, meaning they serve across various locations and regions. Travel arrangements can vary depending on the company you task and can involve significant travel time to and from the job site, this is all factored into our quoting model.
- Payments: Overtime payments to your staff combined with travel compensation can vary greatly between companies. It's essential to consider potential spend or indeed savings compared against the hours you're likely to cost your company to have those staff abstracted from other roles.
- Task Assignments: Stocktaking assignments are typically provided in advance, detailing start times, job locations and the process to be followed. Regular communication and clarity are crucial for smooth operation and inexperience, poor planning or lack of H&S understanding could be far more costly for you in the long run.
- PPE: Many companies will provide appropriate clothing, equipment and tools. But are they adequate to the task and do they cover the necessary Health and Safety requirements of manual activities and working at height in some cases.
- Performance: Speed and accuracy are the key performance indicators of a good stocktake service provider. The ability to maintain accuracy while efficiently counting stock is a skill that improves with experience. A one off stocktake done by staff who are not overly interested simply will not yield the results a Stocktaking service provider can.
- Health & Safety: We must all comply with the various and often daunting Health & Safety legislation as well as those guidelines displayed on-site. Are your team properly equipped to handle different types of stock such as goods in a freezer or fridge, at height, confined areas/spaces?
- Partnership: Working with a well established team affords you the benefit of cohesive slick processes where communication, execution and timely completion are a foregone conclusion and expectation.
Being a stocktake specialist is unlike most other jobs. It involves early mornings, unpredictable work hours and ever-changing job locations. Yet the diversity in people and places, coupled with the gratifying work of bringing value to businesses like yours makes it an incredibly rewarding role for us.
At Scanmatix, we emphasise providing more than just a stocktake. We aim to create an encouraging and fulfilling work environment with our Partners. If you're interested in joining the Scanmatix client base please get in touch.
Stay tuned for our future blogs that provide even more insight into the world of stocktaking.
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