Q&A: Andrew Northcott, CEO and Founder of Roubler
“I wanted to create a solution that brought everything together – from compliance to managing and rostering staff, to accurate payroll – in one easy-to-use, seamless solution. This has informed our approach every step of the way, resulting in a unique software system that is quite literally shaping the future of workforce management.”
How would you describe Roubler’s software in once sentence?
Roubler’s cloud-based workforce management software provides retailers with one seamless system that includes everything they need to recruit, onboard, manage and pay their team.
Can you tell us how Roubler came about?
Roubler began back in 2012, as a rough idea scribbled in the back of a notebook, when I was on a train from New York to Boston heading to a business program at MIT.
As the former owner of one of Australia’s largest privately-owned workforce businesses, I had experienced first-hand the unique complexities of managing shift-based workforces.
I wanted to create a solution that brought everything together – from compliance, to managing and rostering staff, to accurate payroll – in one easy-to-use, seamless solution.
This has informed our approach every step of the way, resulting in a unique software system that is quite literally shaping the future of workforce management.
Today, we are helping businesses worldwide including MAC, WHSmith and Estee Lauder manage their workforces more effectively.
Why all-in-one workforce management?
Unlike so many platforms, Roubler is a true all-in-one. We unify the entire workforce management process into one seamless system. At a time when and creating efficiencies and cost savings is paramount for many so retailers, this is absolutely vital.
Think about it – if you’re relying on multiple systems to manage your workforce, your HR and payroll teams – and more than likely your store managers – have to bear the brunt of messy data, piles of paperwork, and systems that don’t talk to each other.
It’s a nightmare, really, and they could be spending their time on much more productive things.
Roubler simplifies all of this, so there’s no more administrative burden. This means your team can focus on driving results – rather than having to worry about whether the data they are looking at is accurate, whether someone is available for that particular shift, or whether their staff are being paid properly.
By applying the latest AI, machine learning and automation to this dataset, we can provide retailers with unique insights into how to build an even more successful workforce – while cutting the admin by up to 81%.
The ultimate benefit, though, is peace of mind. Our built-in risk management tools are always working in the background to help ensure compliance. This is made possible by the fact that we include everything from recruitment through to payroll in the one system.
How do new customers get started?
At Roubler, we work in partnership with our customers and support them every step of the way.
We guide them through the initial setup and coaching, provide them with a dedicated customer success manager, and ensure our support team is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week to help out as needed.
What challenges and opportunities do you see in UK retail for 2021?
We’re all sick and tired of Covid, but it’s certainly here to stay. Which means that businesses who take an agile approach and roll with the punches will come out on top.
The pressures of the pandemic aside, compliance really is a constant challenge in retail. If HR and payroll can spend less time focussing on things like what your gender pay gap statistic are, or the positive ripple affects across the entire business will be profound.
Within Roubler, pay rules that align with current legislation, which are used in conjunction with time and attendance data to automatically calculate pay and help ensure compliance.
What is on the horizon for Roubler?
It’s shaping up to be a very exciting time!
We’ve been constantly evolving our software over the past five years, building a solid foundation that so many businesses trust with their workforce management. Now we’re ready to deliver some genuine game-changers for the retail industry.
Artificial intelligence is at the tip of everyone’s tongue, and we are especially excited to launch some AI features that will completely transform our rostering process.
Without revealing too much, this will take our automated smart roster feature and overlay this with further AI-driven insights such as employee engagement and sales performance.
The results will be intelligent rosters the likes of which have never been seen before.
For more information see HERE
LinkedIn: HERE
Andrew Northcott is the CEO and Founder of Roubler, an all-in-one workforce management software system designed with compliance at its core.
As the former owner of Labour Solutions Australia, one of Australia’s largest privately-owned workforce businesses, Andrew launched Roubler in 2016 based on his own real-life experience of managing the complexities of shift-based workforces.
Today, Andrew oversees Roubler’s strategic direction and drives constant technology improvements, helping customers mitigate the risk of non-compliance, while providing a new depth of insight and intelligence by harnessing the latest AI, machine learning and automation.
Andrew has been recognised as a finalist in the Queenslander of the Year Awards, the Australian Institute of Management’s Manager of the Year Awards, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, and was awarded the 2015 Young Alumnus of the Year Award at Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
Andrew is a Harvard Business School Alumni, holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from QUT, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and Graduate of the Entrepreneurial Masters Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
