Staff scheduling software can save your company money in several ways. Firstly, over-booking your employees can trigger overtime that can otherwise be avoided. Secondly, double-paying your employees when they have time off but work anyway is expensive. Thirdly, your employees are more likely to be productive if their schedules are not an undue burden. Further, employees who can see that their needs are being addressed tend to be both more productive and easier to retain than employees who feel ignored.
No Unneeded Overtime
Overtime is a legal requirement, as well as being something your employees will demand if their times get out of hand. By using staff scheduling software, you can easily identify when one employee is being over-worked and is about to hit overtime, while another employee may be working too few hours. It can be complicated to manage these details when you are doing the scheduling by hand, but with software the process becomes far less veiled. In fact, most of the time this software features automatic alerts that you do not even have to look for. In some cases, you may even be able to cut out all employee overtime. This can be a tremendous savings over longer time periods.
Avoiding Double Payments
Doubly paying your employees is frustrating, and it can also be a costly error. When you keep everyone's schedules by hand, it can be difficult to also keep in mind who has accrued paid time off that needs to be used. If you keep your PTO pool in your scheduling software, this process becomes far easier to manage. By not having people work through their vacation time, you avoid the peril of double-paying them, and this can save you a lot of money. As well, your productivity tends to rise when your employees feel like they have time to pursue their own interests.
Greater Productivity
Productivity tends to plummet when your employees do not feel like you respect their schedules. Productivity may not always be as quantifiable as the dollars and cents you spend, given the creative nature of some people's work, but it is every bit as important in the end. You can improve morale by allowing your employees to have a slightly more tailored schedule, and by being able to explain the schedule to them more easily. This increase in morale tends to reflect back on your company with more productive employees.
Legal Problems Reduced
Some legal problems come about because of accidentally over-working employees. This is particularly the case for younger employees who may not be legally allowed to work as many hours as their elder counterparts. For many employees, the legal problems can come from a complete morale breakdown. If an employee feels as if they are being singled out for either too many or too few hours, they may decide to file suit. While this is a rare occurrence, it can happen. When an employee sues or your company is hit by a fine, it impacts your bottom line. In many cases, using staffing software can virtually eliminate these problems.
Quantification
Your company quantifies many things, one of which being your employee time spent working. When you quantify something of this nature, it becomes easier to show employees why they have to work. You can compare the staffing situation to the amount of work that needs to be done. As well, you can explain that some people need time off for various reasons. This is not only good for keeping morale reasonable and avoiding legal hassles, but is also good for letting your employees know how they fit in.