Employee scheduling is a big issue for workplaces that rely on multiple shifts to generate revenues. If you are scheduling by the seat of your pants, you may be doing yourself and your employees a disservice. Using tools like HRIS scheduling software may help you to optimize schedules while making scheduling tasks easier for yourself or your management team. Optimizing your scheduling is something that really needs to be done for several reasons:
1. Your Customer Service and Productivity Depend On It
Employees are more productive when flexibility is allowed in their schedules. This means considering and acting on feedback that employees give you regarding their preferred methods of working and hours. Some employees may love morning shifts that end at a certain time, while others may prefer nights or even split shifts that allow them to spend time with kids after school. When your employees can stay on top of their home lives, they will be better able to wow your customers and focus on work.
2. Scheduling Affects Job Satisfaction and Retention
Scheduling has a huge impact on employee job satisfaction and can even affect turnover rates. When employees cannot rely on a schedule – or in some cases a regular paycheck – they will likely become frustrated with the workplace and seek other employment opportunities that provide more stability. Even if they do continue working for you, employees will be less likely to feel satisfied if they cannot count on a regular schedule.
3. Sloppy Scheduling Practices Waste Time
Scheduling is not easy: there is employee availability to consider, changing job demands, labor percentage allowances, overtime considerations, and legal requirements that can all come into play. Trying to create manual schedules week after week that factor in all of these things can be time consuming and ineffective. Using scheduling software can make it easy for managers to use a job template from week to week that automatically factors many customized rules in.
4. Scheduling Abuse Is Bad for Everyone
Scheduling abuse by employers puts employees in a tough position, as employees make time for shifts that are canceled or scramble to make it to work when called in. These types of abuses are against the law in some states under Fair Scheduling Standards laws and may soon be illegal everywhere under the Schedules That Work Act. Scheduling abuse harms employees in obvious ways, but also establishes bad habits that are not conducive to continued growth for the workplace.
5. Labor Is Likely Your Biggest Expense
Labor is the single largest expense for most companies. Instead of viewing labor as a boon, however, viewing it as an asset to be utilized like tools and inventory can really help to change the perspective. Scheduling strategically is the best way to utilize labor effectively and maximize the return that you get on this large and recurring investment.