The Co-operative Group is to introduce a workforce management system to its 55,000 employees across 2,200 stores within the next two years.

A fingerprint verification device will be used to record the working hours of staff in each store into the Kronos system. This will replace another application that requires information to be keyed in.

The system will reduce the amount of time spent on manual activities such as employee scheduling and absence management, and ensure compliance with legal requirements on breaks, maximum weekly hours and minimum rest times.

The Co-operative Group director of food retail operations Sean Toal added that improved visibility of staff hours will also improve productivity.

He said: “The use of the workforce management system in our stores will bring many benefits, not least of which will be the cost savings and the freeing up of management time. The system will be able to operate across all our stores and will help them to run more efficiently.”