Home Depot gives associates smaller mobile devices for faster floor help

Home Depot said on Jan. 12, 2023, it was rolling out a new in-store application and the Sidekick handheld device to help store associates prioritize tasks more effectively and serve customers faster. The company said the tools were meant to improve the customer experience and make it easier for workers to help shoppers without leaving the aisle.

The change mattered because it attacked the delays that slow a busy store: walking to a back office for inventory checks, searching for product details, or hunting down order status while a customer waits in the aisle. Home Depot’s materials showed a female associate holding the new Sidekick device, a sign that the rollout was aimed squarely at the floor, where department knowledge and speed matter most. In plumbing, electrical and building materials, that can mean less time spent bouncing between a terminal and a shelf, and more time keeping pro customers and DIY shoppers moving.

The rollout was part of a broader push that had already put mobile tech in more hands. By mid-June 2022, Home Depot had handed out more than 125,000 hdPhones to store associates across U.S. stores, giving workers wireless access to the tools they need while helping the company spread digital support beyond fixed registers and stockroom computers. The Sidekick was designed to help associates know which tasks to tackle first, turning the device into a way to manage workflow as much as a way to communicate.

That shift also changed the job itself. Associates were no longer just expected to stock, sell and answer product questions; they were being asked to navigate inventory data, track tasks, handle mobile point-of-sale work and keep up with faster customer expectations. For store managers, the upside was fewer bottlenecks and better handoffs. The risk was that a device built to reduce friction could also become another source of pressure if workers were expected to do more with less time and fewer breaks from the sales floor.

Home Depot has kept tying those handheld tools to broader technology and training changes. The company said in April 2024 that it had worked closely with Google Cloud since 2015 on retail technology, and in 2025 it was using localized training and generative AI knowledge tools to improve customer service. By April 2026, Home Depot and Google Cloud said they were launching agentic AI tools for customers and associates, while Google Cloud said customer store phone support was four times faster using Gemini Enterprise. The pattern is clear: each new device is supposed to speed service, but it also demands more digital fluency from the associates carrying it.