Employee Time-Off Request Management in Retail Stores

Abstract

This paper presents the first large-scale empirical analysis of time-off request management practices and their consequences in retail, examining over 1.8 million requests from more than 100,000 employees across 500+ stores over five years. We demonstrate that time-off requests significantly impact labor supply, affecting up to 10% of available store labor, and are difficult to predict. Our analysis reveals an important trade-off for managers: approving requests can reduce scheduled labor and sales, while rejecting them increases absenteeism and employee turnover. We explore heterogeneous effects based on employee characteristics, manager decision timelines, and employee advance notice to provide guidance on optimizing time-off request management. Overall, we offer some insights for balancing operational needs with employee satisfaction and retention in retail environments.