Big Lots workers may benefit from better scheduling, study finds

A new Forrester Consulting study tied Legion's workforce-management platform to a 1,340% return on investment, a result Legion summarized as 13x ROI and one that puts scheduling in the same bucket as labor cost control for Big Lots teams. Legion commissioned the study in July 2026, and the finding centers on a simple store-level point: frontline retention is an operations outcome, not just an HR problem.

For cashiers, stockers and department associates, the day-to-day mechanics matter. Better forecasting, shift visibility, labor planning and time-off management can reduce callouts, burnout and overtime while making schedules more predictable for workers trying to plan childcare, second jobs and transportation. TimeForge has said predictable work schedules encourage retention, and OneAdvanced's 2026 retail workforce-management guide said retailers are facing core workforce-management challenges while looking more closely at AI applications and scheduling best practices.

That backdrop matters at Big Lots, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept. 9, 2024 and sold the business to Nexus Capital. Reuters later reported court approval on Jan. 1, 2025 for a last-minute sale of 200 to 400 stores, and the chain later began going-out-of-business sales at all locations. Kroll's restructuring site said Big Lots initiated voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings on Sept. 9, 2024. For a retailer operating under that kind of pressure, the difference between a workable schedule and a bad one can show up quickly in absences, overtime and the ability to keep a trained staff together.

The turnover backdrop is tight as well. An MRA turnover survey published Feb. 16, 2026 found overall turnover at 21.7%, and 65% of separations happened within the first two years of employment. That kind of early-tenure churn is exactly where scheduling, shift flexibility and labor planning can have the biggest effect, because every departure adds onboarding time, training gaps and extra strain on the associates who remain on the floor.

Legion has been making this business case for years. A Legion PDF from August 2021 shows the company was already pointing to a Forrester Total Economic Impact study for its workforce-management platform, underscoring how retailers keep coming back to the same question: whether better labor planning can keep stores staffed, customers served and experienced workers from walking out the door.