When you schedule employees, your goals may be to ensure shift coverage and employee satisfaction in their work schedule.
Working with multiple teams and ensuring you have each shift covered may be stressful. There are many ways to schedule your team, but optimizing the process is the most important thing to remember. Without further ado, here are a few tips to optimize your workforce scheduling processes.
Be Flexible
When scheduling your team, try to be as flexible as you can. Everyone has a life beyond their roles, so scheduling equally amongst your employees is essential.
For example, if you employ students, ask for their availability as soon as possible so that you can work around their schedules.
As you comb through different availability times, you might notice that some employees prefer to work fewer days during the week but have more availability on the weekends or vice versa. Accommodating your team’s conflicts, prior engagements, and requests helps streamline the process.
Consider Hiring Part-Time Employees
If you currently work with only full-time employees, you may benefit from hiring part-time team members to assist with specific shift needs. They can help you cover gaps in the shift schedule.
Furthermore, part-time employees know what to expect regarding availability; most understand that they will not receive a set schedule. Be sure to inform them of their purpose during the hiring process to avoid any conflict or confusion down the road.
Utilize Automated Scheduling Software
Analyze the system you’re using to create the schedules for your employees. Is it outdated? Are you manually entering employee shifts? If so, it might be time to make a schedule with time-tracking software.
When you utilize an automated system, the process instantly becomes smoother and optimized for future use, enabling you to focus on other tasks.
Be sure to follow the above tips to optimize your workforce scheduling processes. Analyzing and improving different approaches as you go is essential to the success of your business.
