Priyanka Bhadani7/19/2022An employee scheduling system is a tool that helps businesses create and manage employee work schedules. It can be used to track employee availability, time off, and shift patterns. The system can also help businesses create and manage employee workflows and optimize staffing levels.
Employee Scheduling organizes and controls the workload of an organization. Employee schedules are like a roadmap for organizations -- charting out a clear path for employees and employers to stay on top of the work that needs to be completed and defining the timeline in which that needs to be done. It effectively streamlines the employees' time while meeting their professional needs, maintaining clear communication, and optimizing labor costs. In short, employee scheduling helps build schedules for staff by arranging and controlling workload across a 24 hour-period through shift division.
However, creating a schedule for employees is a challenge. In many businesses, like hospitality, restaurant, healthcare, retail and IT, scheduling for hourly employees is an extensive and exhaustive process. Many factors must be accounted for, like managing the number of hours employees can work, ensuring they get sufficient breaks and lunch hours, and considering the hierarchy. Creating hourly employee schedules, in particular, is a burdensome task for a business owner. An ineffective schedule can have devastating effects on your employees and, ultimately, your company's bottom line. It's critical that, as you initiate your schedule, the one you finalize should represent what you call 'the best possible case scenario' and give you the flexibility to add or remove staff depending on how well or poorly business has been going.
Since a human resource manager dedicates many hours weekly to creating schedules and keeping track of labor costs, it is important to optimize the employee schedule while also ensuring that the time spent on it is minimal. It is the key to building a successful business operation.
One can broadly break down the process of employee scheduling into 8-steps-
1. Identifying resources
2. Recognizing demand
3. Listing shift requirement
4. Understanding employee preferences
5. Taking cognizance of past schedules
6. Creating a backup plan
7. Compliance with labor laws
8. Scheduling
Adding scheduling software to a business helps in automating and streamlining the process. By taking into account past schedules, identifying available resources, and recognizing demand, a scheduling software solution creates an efficacious schedule that helps increase productivity and job satisfaction.
New research from Paychex (a provider of integrated human capital management software solutions) and Future Workplace (an Executive Networks member company) highlights the adverse impact that unpredictable work schedules can cause on full-time and part-time employees. Three-in-ten respondents reported having erratic work schedules, according to the study. It has aggravated in the post-pandemic world, where there's been an acute staffing crisis. The report suggests that irregular schedules can have negative consequences for employees -- 44% reported having difficulty in personal scheduling commitments, 39% said they feel burned out, 30% reported financial distress and feeling disconnected from family and friends, and 24% acknowledged that they have been unable to take care of mental health.
Irrespective of the enterprise's domain, a fair and functional schedule form a company's core. It helps keep track of employees' time and utilize it in the best way possible. Some of the important goals that effective employee scheduling meets include-
1. Maximize workplace efficiency- Effective scheduling maximizes employees' productivity by ensuring that each worker's workload is divided equally. Thus, employees are less likely to burn out or resign due to an adverse work environment or working under unnecessary high pressure. Scheduling is important for maximizing the effectiveness of workers' efforts and improving overall company efficiency.
2. Ensure employees don't miss their shifts- Scheduling systems help business owners and employees stay more regulated. Cloud-based scheduling apps allow them to easily keep schedules accessible to all in real-time, update individual shift availability, monitor who has next time off and see who is covering for another employee, etc., at any given time. Part-time employees working in restaurants, retail and hospitality industries who work different daily hours or only on certain days may find it the most accommodating.
3. Improve employee engagement- Whether there are excess employees or the company is short staffed, that too with poorly managed schedules; employee engagement drops, and the discontented employee is most likely to leave the organization. However, one big or small scheduling delinquency can cause employee disengagement, soaring operating costs, and affect your brand image. Effective scheduling sets out employee satisfaction, accurately calculates the required staffing, keeps your employees happy with their working hours, and helps keep your operating costs lower.
4. Incorporate a flexible environment- Let the employees select their shifts by giving them the flexibility to come and go as they please from the available time slots. A flexible working environment reduces the concerns about ever-changing schedules and will save you time and make everyone happier. When you use the right scheduling software, your employees' rota will be automatically managed, which means they will only be offered available slots that match their preferred working hours.
5. Grow profits- Although most businesses understand the importance of staffing, it is not always easy to schedule employees. An effective scheduling system allows managers to streamline the process and delegate tasks while freeing them up to focus on other aspects of their business. A scheduling app can help reduce chaos in high-demand situations and create an effective schedule that is customizable to meet the needs of each employee. In addition to creating an effective schedule, most newer technologies have data analytics features that allow employers to predict needs in advance and create effective schedules with a plan in place, resulting in a better work environment and soaring profits.
6. Help in complying with labor law- Employers must adhere to numerous workplace regulations imposed by the United States government to ensure that employees are treated fairly. For instance, there are very strict guidelines about how long an employee can work in a day and when an employer must notify employees about their shift schedule. These regulations also require employers to notify their staff in advance to make changes in the employee schedules. In addition, there are also regulations regarding overtime and when the employees are entitled to time off for rest periods during their shifts. These strict labor laws have made it easier to comply with shift scheduling apps.
The ultimate goal of any business is to be profitable. Poor scheduling, however, can be detrimental to a company's financial performance. In a study last year- The Cost of Poor Scheduling- Lessons from 300 Operations Executives, conducted by Quinyx (a provider of workforce management tools), 300 global operations executives were polled. They shared insights on their priorities and the challenges in managing time-strapped workforces who do not work from an office desk.
The study shows that companies most affected by the Covid pandemic did not use workforce management or scheduling software. Companies without AI-driven workforce management lost 15% of their earnings and spent 25% more on salary costs alone. In addition, they committed three to eight labor law infractions a week, resulting in massive fines because of their dependence on manual scheduling methods.
Another recent research- Call to Duty- Just-in-Time Scheduling in a Restaurant Chain, by Masoud Kamalahmadi of the University of Miami, Qiuping Yu of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Yong-Pin Zhou of the University of Washington, surveyed 1.5 million transactions from 25 restaurants in 2016 to look at the impact that unpredictable work schedules have on server sales efforts and restaurant revenue.
The research reveals that providing employees with a couple of days' notice (short-notice scheduling) doesn't affect sales efforts. However, altering employees' hours during their shift (real-time scheduling) by having them stay longer adversely impacts revenue. As per the analysis, "servers reduced the effort spent on upselling and cross-selling additional menu items" when their schedules were changed without prior notice.
The researchers found that minimizing real-time schedules helped create predictable work schedules and bettered productivity, increasing profits by up to 1%.
A poor employee schedule often leads to chaos in operations, poor productivity, unnecessary workplace stress and increased absenteeism. It forces employees to fill in on short notice for co-workers who don't show up even when scheduled to work. This is a major reason for staff conflicts, which in turn increase the employee turnover rate. There isn't a definitive way to tell if a company incurs losses because of poor employee scheduling, but it certainly affects business.
Most employee schedules are designed to reflect the tasks the employees must perform throughout each shift, especially in businesses such as restaurants, health care, transportation, call centers, manufacturing and protection or security services.
As per the demand of the individual profile, certain employees need to be assigned to fixed shifts. For example, in manufacturing and call centers, employees might be required to work three shifts - morning, evening and night shifts. The same goes for nurses, but there might be just day and night shifts in the protection or transportation jobs. Various constraints to be considered while drafting the scheduling include demographics, health and legal requirements.
The automated staff scheduling systems do their jobs efficiently by taking care of every minute detail. They have enough scope of backup given the dynamic constraints like a sudden illness, unplanned leaves or a family emergency with employees who have very specific skill-sets, changes in the nature or urgency of the tasks by management information systems, employee satisfaction and their competencies to fulfill the assigned job in the given time for better business productivity. It allows enterprises to more accurately and ably manage their workforce.
Using employee scheduling algorithms can give your team the necessary flexibility and keep your enterprise running without hassle. Scheduling Algorithms optimize the efficiency of employees and are part of creating a better working environment. For any business, it is crucial to spot the overwhelming requirement for automation and its pervasive use.
Employee scheduling algorithms are used to determine when employees should work and for how long for better productivity. The best employee scheduling software also analyzes customer trends and patterns of seasonal sales. Organizations can sometimes take advantage of these systems by making staffing changes based on their needs when they are supposed to provide more choices and flexibility. These systems are altering the lives of many US fast-food and retail industries by reducing the time spent each day on scheduling shifts and making staffing changes so that employers can take care of their employees' needs better.
To create the best, most accurate or perfect schedule, managers need to predict demand, create the right shift pattern and fill that shift panel with the right employees. Each of these steps may have its pain points for managers. But by investing in the right employee scheduling software, organizational leadership can eliminate those problems and make this process smoother and more accurate. The right software will consider factors such as weather or time of year, but managers also have a human role. They can identify demand predictors that are unique to that location.
Like everything else, employee scheduling algorithms, too, have certain limitations. Even the best Employee Scheduling Algorithms can never predict with 100% accuracy. It doesn't matter the amount of information it has from the employees about their preferences. At times, information from employees is not accurate. It may cause managers to make decisions based on partial data. It isn't a peculiar problem. We inhabit a world riddled with uncertainties. The solution, however, could be a combination of technology, management expertise, and employee participation before, during, and after the start of a shift.
By using software to analyze and predict demand and consider the needs of both employees and customers, managers have one less burden in the workplace. Once demand prediction models have been developed, managers can start building shifts. Software solutions like Altametrics Scheduling and Time Clock use the software's smart algorithms to divide workers across shifts while adhering to labor laws that set minimum and maximum numbers of staff on call at different times. In addition, the recent development of shift auctions allows workers to bid for the desired shifts they would like to work.
Employee scheduling software automates creating, modifying, and assigning employee schedules. These digital solutions can often process large amounts of data to forecast labor needs and create schedules that meet business objectives without spending more on hiring additional consultants or human management resources.
A scheduling system is crucial for any business as it helps manage resources more efficiently. The best employee scheduling software has automation built into the system, allowing managers to easily generate reliable schedules for a month or even a week. As a result, it increases the punctuality of your employees.
The software you choose for your business can substantially improve the functioning of your workplace. With customizable features, choosing software over a manual application like Excel spreadsheets saves time and money.
With employee scheduling software solutions, employers can be considerate towards employees' needs and preferences and, at the same time, create reliable schedules that don't adversely affect the work. Most solutions offer built-in templates and help avoid scheduling conflicts. Good scheduling software also creates schedules for multiple locations, teams, and projects.
When in need of upgrading your scheduling system, it's worth investing to ensure that you get something that will serve your business for a long time. Decide beforehand what features are necessary for you to use a particular software effectively.
It is important not to make a hasty decision, as any business conclusion can affect you and your company in the future depending on what was picked. Always look at the full picture before signing any contract and commit fully to a reliable platform with all the necessary elements built-in rather than looking at additional third-party extensions or apps. The software solution you choose should be able to analyze historical data before suggesting your schedule templates. Excellent customer service is important, too.
For instance, Zip Schedules, an all-in-one scheduling solution for restaurants and other businesses in the food industry, comes with easy-to-install apps for your mobile devices and computers. It allows you to quickly create a conflict-free schedule for your employees in real-time, even when you're away from the restaurant. In addition, the free app and the internal messaging system help communicate with your team at any point. For example, employees can manage their leave requests; managers can check employee availability and schedule the number of people required to complete tasks like taking orders or delivering food without needing to find new staff members.
Zip Schedules also allows users to save their favorite shifts as templates. For example, if you have a Friday night sales shift every week, you don't have to set that up every week. The saved templates can be modified according to the needs of the labor and management team, saving time on common tasks. It is easy to save these templates on your iPhone, iPad, or other smartphones, allowing employees to check their schedules on the go quickly and not stress about it. The software also enables employees to trade shifts in times of need. Everyone gets what they want! Also, with its forecasting tools, employers can reduce labor costs and track wages more effectively.
With all the benefits of implementing a fully automated employee scheduling system, you'll wonder why you hadn't done it sooner.
Orchestrating a work schedule is a tricky and challenging task. Yet, the "work-life balance" concept is no longer far-fetched and unachievable. With governments pushing for labor laws that benefit employees and employers alike, everyone aspires to bring some semblance between life and work. But it can be difficult to achieve in today's fast-paced, demanding and technology-driven society. The work hours, the shift, and the schedule- for decades, these tools have been used to guide and often dominate work and everyday social life.
Now, with AI-driven apps, scheduling software has become one of the most important aspects of enterprises.
Employers increasingly depend on shift schedules to forecast the amount of work needed and organize staff to complete the work at designated times. Workers, however, have multi-faceted lives and identities, with demanding roles outside workstudent, parent, caregiver, for example. An inflexible work schedule or changes frequently and unexpectedly makes it difficult to fulfill such roles.
Shift scheduling at the workplace, thus, becomes particularly important. Employee scheduling software tracks the amount of work that needs to be done and organizes workers to carry out their assigned tasks at specified times. However, since people have varied commitments, inflexible or frequently changing schedules make it difficult to fulfill commitments, which could devastate society.
Employee scheduling is designed to prevent overscheduling and under-scheduling. It can help employers in striking a balance between the needs of their organization and the needs of their employees. It is a tool that saves time, money, and unnecessary head-banging. Implementing an automated scheduling system can dramatically decrease the amount of paperwork and record keeping. It improves information flow and alerts management for necessary staffing adjustments. It categorizes staff by position and qualification, blending information from an enterprise perspective.
