Founded in 2015 as a unique direct-to-consumer beauty buyers club, Beauty Pie distinguishes itself by offering high-end beauty products at cost price to its members, challenging traditional retail markups. Despite its innovative business model, Beauty Pie faced operational challenges typical of fast-growing e-commerce platforms, particularly in managing a globally distributed team and ensuring seamless coordination across multiple time zones and their tech stack.

Company size: 100-200

Industry: E-commerce

Headquarters: London, UK

Founded: 2015

The challenge

Beauty Pie faced significant operational hurdles due to disjointed workflows from using multiple platforms like Zendesk, Slack, HRIS, and Google Calendar.

The limitations of the previous system they had trialled for two months, Tymeshift, in providing full integration led to manual updates and constant switching between systems, creating inefficiencies and requiring extensive micromanagement.

Without advanced scheduling features or reliable support, management was burdened with over six hours of scheduling tasks weekly, equivalent to losing more than 41 days annually.

This inefficiency not only diverted management’s focus but also left team members unclear about their schedules and upcoming tasks, undermining both efficiency and team cohesion.

“Surfboard’s user-friendly interface and seamless integration made the setup process remarkably easy. We witnessed the benefits almost instantly, with improved team coordination, streamlined operations, and a noticeable boost in overall team clarity. Surfboard has proven to be a game-changer in optimising our workforce, and its impact was evident from day one” – Charlotte, Member Happiness Operations Manager

Surfboard’s solution

Unified platform integration and enhanced communication

Surfboard’s native integration with common CS tools like Zendesk, Slack, various HRIS, and calendars streamlined Beauty Pie’s operations. This integration cut down on manual work, errors and communication gaps, significantly boosting workforce management efficiencies.

Real-time Slack notifications helped the team stay aligned on their schedules and tasks, resulting in 100% of Beauty Pie’s team having clearer daily roles and improved team cohesion. This increased visibility was particularly beneficial for Beauty Pie’s distributed team, as it improved their productivity and morale through better visibility and collaboration.

Global scheduling made effortless

Surfboard’s global scheduling features provided Beauty Pie with key advantages for managing their international team. Automatic time zone adjustments for shifts and daylight savings ensured accurate scheduling without manual calculations.

Managers could easily view and adjust shift timings across different locations using the timezone picker, simplifying global shift planning. This enables Beauty Pie’s managers to maintain consistent and error-free scheduling, ultimately saving time and enhancing the critical aspect of customer experience for the business.

User-centric scheduling solutions

Surfboard’s design focuses on simplicity and effectiveness, equipped with features addressing the scheduling challenges that contribute to workforce management inefficiencies.

With 86% of Beauty Pie’s team finding the platform easy to navigate, Surfboard has demonstrated its commitment to a user-friendly experience.

“Surfboard has been a game-changer for us on the frontline. It shows us exactly what we need to do and when, allowing us to focus more on delivering exceptional service to our members. Surfboard has simplified our work lives and enhanced our efficiency.”  Ivy – Member Happiness Specialist

Streamlining operations

Prior to Surfboard, Beauty Pie’s management spent an average of 6 hours each week on scheduling tasks, with a significant cost in management capacity.

“Before Surfboard, a significant chunk of our time was dedicated to organising and coordinating the team. It was a manual, time-consuming process that often led to inefficiencies. After the implementation of Surfboard, that narrative has completely shifted. Surfboard has not only saved us time but has allowed us to redirect our focus towards more strategic initiatives, ultimately contributing to a more agile and efficient operation” – Charlotte, Member Happiness Operations Manager

By leveraging Surfboard’s efficient scheduling features like round-robin scheduling and activity plans, Beauty Pie has seen a dramatic reduction in the time and resources previously consumed by manual scheduling processes.

The adoption of the more efficient scheduling approach backed by Surfboard has not only saved considerable time but also significantly boosted team morale, with over 50% of the team feeling their workload is more evenly distributed.

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