Most executives aspire to have the ideal work schedule. Unfortunately, only a tiny percentage of people succeed. Even though technology has made it easier than ever to simplify the process and get it right in the first place, the ideal schedule is ever so elusive!
There are a few key facts to bear in mind even if you use online scheduling software or have your own scheduling methods. These considerations include scheduling shifts for workers to prepare for the worst and utilizing the best equipment for the job. This blog post will provide some suggestions for putting together the ideal employee work schedules for your team.
The Advantages of Appropriate Employee Scheduling
What are the most significant advantages of efficient employee scheduling?
- Customer service is ensured by sticking to a schedule.
- Profitability is ensured by following a schedule.
- Schedules create employee satisfaction and reduce turnover.
- All relevant labor laws are followed in the development of the schedules.
That being said, let’s take a deeper dive with our comprehensive guide on scheduling. We’ll start by talking about the best practices for designing employee schedules.
Understand The Business
When creating a schedule, there are several things to remember. You will have to be mindful of your employees’ requirements, but you’ll also have to consider various business requirements. Your payroll structure and expenses will determine what level of staffing you will require. That is just one of the details you’ll need to think about. Both of these variables will impact the schedule you have, and they will differ depending on the nature of your business.
You’ll also want to think about how many part-time employees you are using and how many full-time employees you possess. If your organization depends heavily on part-time employees, you would want to be careful of how many hours each employee is scheduled for. That is because there are specific laws and policies regarding how many hours you can give your part-time employees to maintain their part-time status.
Get to Know The Team
Getting to know your employees is probably the most fundamental aspect of designing a work schedule. It’s so simple that you might be thinking why we even brought it up.
We bring it up because many managers do a poor job of really getting to know their workers. Some people also skip this critical step entirely. They just care about ensuring that there are enough employees to cover each move.
So, why is it so essential to get to know your teammates? Understanding your employees’ strengths and weaknesses will greatly affect how you operate your business and allows you to be more strategic in your decision-making process.
Fully understanding your team members allows you to mix and match abilities, talents, strengths, weaknesses, and personality styles (to name a few) to build the ideal staffing schedule for any situation.
This eliminates conflicts and discontent while ensuring everyone you have put in teams is working well together and providing the service you expect them to provide.
Employees Should Be Involved
While allowing employees to seek and swap shifts show you are flexible, asking them for their input and feedback in designing the schedule is another critical component in creating a successful schedule.
Determine what times are most suitable for them. A mother of 2 kids, for example, would choose to serve during the day when her kids are at school, whereas a single student with daytime classes may find it more suitable to work night shifts.
You may find it counterintuitive as a manager to ask your employees’ feedback, but it really gets to the compassionate side of planning a work schedule. Events can occur in your employees’ personal lives, which they can’t predict, so make sure you’re flexible and prepared to respond when a new schedule is required. It also helps keep them motivated, make them feel empowered, and relieve your burdens of planning duties. This level of empathy would result in a greater sense of team unity and increased productivity.
Keep an eye on the overtime situation
According to federal law, companies have to pay non-exempt workers overtime (1.5 times their daily salary) if they work more than 40 hours in a workweek. In some areas, like California, overtime is needed in various other situations. Overtime can raise payroll costs while also lowering efficiency and morale. Keep a close eye on overtime to make sure it’s factored into employee scheduling.
Shift swaps and cross-training are two options to consider
Allowing workers to switch shifts will help employers retain sufficient staffing levels while also providing flexibility for employees by providing a work-life balance. Consider cross-training staff to make the process of finding a backup for unplanned absences simpler. Create and communicate guidelines for shift swaps with workers, such as requiring them to send written requests a few days in advance.
Collect Employee feedback
You can also try to solicit employee reviews regularly. This doesn’t only imply that they should be able to request time off or shift changes. You should also poll them or talk to them regularly to see if they have any ideas about what kind of schedule will be most successful for them. For instance, some individuals are most effective during early shifts, while others may struggle with back-to-back day and night shifts. Learning these small details will help you improve your scheduling significantly over time.
Making minor adjustments based on this feedback can dramatically improve employee satisfaction, productivity, and overall morale.
Analyze Sales and Expense Forecasts
To achieve the right balance of productivity and morale, you must delve deep into the numbers. You must examine revenue and income during each change to determine how to maximize those opportunities. You must also add them to the labor costs incurred during those shifts. When making these assessments, take into account both historical data and predictions. Planning ahead of time is essential, as is reviewing planned labor, scheduled labor, and the previous year’s revenues.
Choose the Correct Tool
Employee scheduling software can improve the scheduling process significantly. One alternative is ShiftNote. However, there are numerous resources available. Be sure to carefully assess the company’s unique requirements and find a tool that contains all of the features you use daily. Experts suggest prioritizing collaboration features between workers and supervisors and transparency features, revenue, and labor forecasting when assessing these scheduling tools.
The Bottom Line When It Comes To Job Scheduling
Creating a work schedule that meets both the company’s needs and the requirements of your employees does not have to be too complicated. When scheduling is done correctly, you can plan for emergencies, quickly pivot to contingencies, maintain a work-life balance, prevent mistakes, improve productivity, and ultimately save money.
