Shakey’s reassigns employees to stores closer to their homes to reduce their travel time

Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures, Inc. is reassigning employees to stores that are closer to their homes to reduce travel time and ensure that its stores are “crisis-ready.”

The company said the move would help mitigate operation disruption as quarantine restrictions continue to affect commuters.

“The ultimate goal is for 80% of our workforce to spend no more than an hour on the road,” said Vicente L. Gregorio, Shakey’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

“Plans are already in place—from fully mapped out store reassignments to new hiring directives ensuring that new employees live within a store’s vicinity,” added Gregorio.

Under “Project Nerdy: Near and Ready,” over 100 employees have been relocated to branches nearer to their homes since June 2020.

The reassignments have led to a 20% decrease in the employees’ average travel time to work with 7 out of 10 of them reportedly spending 30 minutes or less commuting.

“I spend only 30 minutes on the road, sometimes less. I am even able to walk home. That’s my form of exercise. I get to spend more time with my family and rest longer,” said Rashidi Forteza, Shakey’s Aseana Branch Store Manager. Her commute used to take up to two hours before being reassigned.

Shakey’s also said that reassigning employees closer to their homes helps build better rapport with their customers, allowing them to foster a sense of familiarity.

“As we seek to expand, we will always give incumbent employees the opportunity to move to even nearer stores, further reducing their travel time and helping them create work-life balance,” said Gregorio.

Shares of Shakey’s closed unchanged at ₱8.40 each on Friday.

SOURCE: Business World