Employee scheduling can have a huge impact on organizations, affecting productivity, performance, employee satisfaction, and even profitability of the business. Yet many companies fail to view employee timetables as an important priority – a potentially costly mistake. Without an efficient planning process, organizations face high labour costs, noncompliance issues, compensation inconsistencies, payroll errors, and more.
To help your business steer clear of such risks, we’ve compiled a list of 4 helpful employee scheduling tips that will ensure that your planning process works to improve, rather than hinder, organizational success.
1. Ditch paper/manual timetables
Paper-based, manual timetables pose a great risks to businesses, particularly those working in shifts. Most obviously, manual processes are susceptible to human error, and a simple mistake can lead to fairly severe consequences, including labour regulation or legal noncompliance and associated penalties. Consequently, organizations may want to consider upgrading to another system, such as employee scheduling software in order to alleviate potential issues.
2. Pay attention to overtime
Unsanctioned overtime – in some cases, even the presence of overtime itself – may indicate that there are issues with your employee timetables. In particular, high volumes of overtime could signal that you are improperly allocating resources, or that your staff have too much on their plates. Use past schedules to identify issues and gaps, and take necessary corrective action when creating future employee schedules.
3. Account for employee requests
Overworked employees often means unhappy employees, which adversely impacts performance. In the same light, if employees feel that management doesn’t take their job satisfaction, or their work/life balance seriously, productivity will likely suffer. The more open you are to accommodating employee requests when it comes to time off, preferred shifts, etc., the more open they will be in terms of planning vacations or days off and following due process, meaning you can schedule more efficiently rather than scrambling to make last minute changes. In the end, this helps you create schedules that work better for both the company and for your workforce.
4. Don’t forget other qualifying factors
Employee planning can be highly complex. Depending on the needs of your organization, it can extend far beyond simply having an employee work a shift. In fact, it is more than likely that a company’s employee scheduling process must take into account other important factors like availability, seniority, skills and qualifications, and more. It’s not just a matter of having people working at particular times – it’s also about having the right people, in the right places, at the right time. Failing to account for these aspects in the employee planning process can adversely impact operational efficiency, and ultimately cost your business money.
Employee scheduling software can help you put the above tips into practice and improve your overall employee timetables. With the right system, the gains can be substantial, positively impacting productivity, performance, employee satisfaction, and ultimately, the profitability of your business.
