Ralph Lauren Workforce Strategy Manager

Company Description
Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is a global leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in five categories: apparel, accessories, home, fragrances, and hospitality. For more than 50 years, Ralph Lauren's reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. The Company's brand names, which include Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps, among others, constitute one of the world's most widely recognized families of consumer brands. At Ralph Lauren, we unite and inspire the communities within our company as well as those in which we serve by amplifying voices and perspectives to create a culture of belonging, ensuring inclusion, and fairness for all. We foster a culture of inclusion through: Talent, Education & Communication, Employee Groups and Celebration.

Position Overview
​​​The Workforce Strategy Manager uses data and analytics to drive operational efficiency and support business growth and results.  The role analyzes field behaviors and store KPIs to identify opportunities to drive efficiency.  The role will work with the Retail Operations, Field Leadership team, finance and business partners to establish action plans to convert these opportunities; establishing the optimal payroll model, improve store KPIs and accelerate business growth.
* Directly protects gross margin by optimizing payroll (often the largest controllable store expense) through demand-based scheduling and labor model governance.
* Improves forecast accuracy and reduces budget variance by building consistent payroll plans, monitoring leading indicators, and recommending in-quarter corrective actions.
* Creates measurable ROI by translating productivity and traffic conversion insights into targeted actions that increase sales per labor hour and improve 4-wall contribution.
* Strengthens financial controls by standardizing store org structures, census processes, and commission/bonus guardrails-reducing leakage, errors, and compliance risk.
* Enables faster executive decision-making with a single source of truth for payroll performance reporting and scenario modeling to support trade-offs and investment cases.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Develop and execute company workforce strategy to drive productivity and 4-wall profitability Lead ongoing census and store org chart evaluation and updates Accountable for the S&B and productivity performance of division of responsibility Responsible for creation and management of payroll budget Lead the communication of payroll performance and workforce strategy to field and business partners Review data to identify trends and insights and translate the information into strategy Lead in any necessary change management to optimize the labor model and field engagement Oversee commission and bonus calculations, payout, and reporting process Provide the highest level of customer service to the field and home office Support project implementation and KPI initiatives through facilitation, project management and documentation follow-up Drive performance metrics and KPIs Support other projects as assigned to enable Retail Operations and workforce strategy overall functionality Responsible for the development and performance of Workforce Strategy Analys

Experience, Skills & Knowledge

* ​Ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced environment to prioritize tasks and to delegate when appropriate.
* ​Ability to act with integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality.
* ​Experience working with retail or frontline teams is highly preferred. ​ Financial acumen to manage budgets, forecasting and cost optimization. ​ Collaborative mindset with a proactive approach to problem-solving.
* ​Ability to challenge assumptions, ask the right questions, and explore alternative perspectives
* ​Strong communication skills (listening, written, verbal, facilitation) and build strong relationships cross functionally.
* ​Proficiency in project management tools (Smartsheet or similar); Excellent Excel & Adobe Acrobat skills; Strong Word, Outlook & Adobe Suite
* ​Must be able to work various hours depending on project scope and needs
* ​Ability to travel