Why is Scheduling Important?
The reason for creating a detailed employee work schedule is pretty self-explanatory. Without a formal schedule as a reference point, how would your employees know when they’re supposed to be working, when they’re not, and what exactly they’re expected to achieve during their work hours?
Scheduling is important for a number of reasons. These include providing structure, preserving a work-life balance especially within the remote working environment, and managing workload, compensation, and compliance.
Studies show that employees who follow a schedule are 63% more productive than those who don’t. Reduced stress and meeting deadlines are additional benefits of implementing an employee work schedule especially for a business that provides man hours
7 Tips to Create an Effective Employee Work Schedule
Now that you understand the importance of creating and implementing a work schedule for your employees, you might be wondering about the finer details and how you should go about creating yours. These seven tips should get you started:
1. Identifying Resources
Before getting stuck into the task of building out your schedule, make sure you have a good understanding of the financial and staffing resources at your disposal. Determine how many hours you can afford to pay your employees for each week, and outline your wages based on this. This way you will avoid any potential issues with overtime or costs that weren’t in your initial budget.
2. List What Each Shift Needs
When creating a needs list for each shift, consider the following:
- How will you manage requests for time-off?
- What sort of shift schedule best suits your business needs?
- How flexible can you be with your scheduling?
Are your teams made up of employees who have different roles? If so, consider the roles that need to be filled during a shift. For example, a retail store would need a manager and sales assistants for each shift.
3. Collect Shift Preferences
Being considerate of your employees and their private lives is important. It shows that you care and respect them as humans and not just staff. That said, there is an extent to which this should be done, and accommodating their preferences shouldn’t lead to business compromises.
We recommend putting out a staff survey to collect preferences. In addition, those who have worked for you the longest should get first preference.
4. Review Past Employee Schedules
Referring back to previous employee schedules is a great way to identify what works and what doesn’t. They’re typically a good guide for drawing up a new one. Once you’ve created your new schedule, compare it with a previous one to see who actually worked each shift. Make adjustments where necessary.
5. Create a Plan for Replacements
Before sending out your new work schedule, make sure your teams know what the replacement policy is. For example, when someone is sick, do they need to call in sick and find someone to cover their shift if they’re unavailable? Do employees need to get management approval before switching shifts? Set up a written policy and communicate it clearly.
6. Use a Scheduling Software System
Are you still setting up your work schedules manually? It’s time to automate this process with a “schedule maker” or digital schedule system like EasyRoster.
7. Ask for Employee Feedback & Input
Let your employees know that they can expect to receive their draft roster on a specific day. And that feedback is required by a set time on that day before the final schedule is communicated. Make it clear that any changes given after that time will not be considered.
How Does EasyRoster Simplify & Assist in this Entire Process?
As a workforce management software, EasyRoster is trusted by many companies from across industries to do it all. Built to handle all the ins and outs of an employee work schedule process, EasyRoster includes features like shift assignment and calendar building, automated problem identification and correction, grading the productive and non-productive time of teams across multiple client locations to improve your employee work schedule.
Is EasyRoster sounding like the program for you? Get in touch today to book a demo and learn more about how we can assist you in simplifying your workforce management processes.
As a Senior Product Manager at Adapt IT, I lead the division responsible for one of our flagship products, EasyRoster. Our primary focus is to empower organisations with top-tier Workforce Management Software, enabling them to optimise operational efficiency and streamline processes.
With over 12 years of experience in the industry, I have collaborated with clients across 25+ countries, delivering training sessions and offering labor efficiency consultations to diverse groups of professionals.
In my capacity as Senior Product Manager, I oversee a multidisciplinary team that together, strive to create innovative solutions and maintain our commitment to excellence in the realm of workforce management.
