When managing your staff, one of the greatest difficulties you face is building a schedule. So many factors play into who needs to be at work when. It’s a delicate balancing act that you have to perform to near perfection to get the desired results.
Ineffective scheduling leads to absences, insubordination, and high turnover. It is frustrating for employees to deal with a manager that can’t schedule them according to their time-off requests, their preferred number of hours, or the shift they were hired to work.
Many managers struggle with these same issues and find it challenging to marry all of these factors into one smoothly-running schedule. They waste time on a procedure that is easily improved.
Why Do I Need Employee Scheduling Tips?
Retail has one of the highest turnover rates of almost any industry in Ireland at almost seventy percent. Constantly hiring and training new employees costs a lot of money. One of the most common complaints surrounding this turnover is scheduling frustrations. Scheduling tips help you build a more effective schedule, leading to higher employee retention rates.
Along with employee satisfaction, you save time, money, and energy trying to manage your employees’ schedules. You can move on to work that has more value and spend your time doing more meaningful tasks with these tips.
Foster a Healthy Work Culture
If you make your employees feel comfortable and valued, then performance increases. They enjoy coming to work, they feel open to seeking your help and advice, and they shape every aspect of their day around the environment you built for them.
Lead by Example
The tone of a workplace usually comes from the top. As a manager, you can effectively lead your employees by showing them how you expect them to behave. Your behaviour creates a strong bond between the members of your team and creates more opportunities for collaboration and support.
A strong leader creates empowered employees. Enabling your employees to make smart decisions helps them feel like they have ownership in their role and gives them more pride in what they do.
By communicating effectively, you demonstrate timeliness and responsibility. You also convey that you expect the same of your subordinates. It shows that you are open to working with them on resolving issues by trying to prevent them proactively.
Be Considerate
Sometimes you can’t avoid scheduling an employee when they don’t want to work, but you should always do your best to keep their needs in mind. Avoiding conflict when building the schedule makes the process easier for everyone.
Giving your employees the option to solve their own scheduling problems takes the weight off of your shoulders. If there is a scheduling conflict, make sure that your employees know they are free to trade shifts or find a replacement.
Employees should know you value them and always listen to their requests and honour them when you can. Mitigate conflict as soon as possible, building a positive work environment for everyone.
Keep Simple Procedures
The best scheduling procedures are clear and precise. They are easy to understand and prevent confusion. When you communicate your expectations up front, your employees are more likely to work with you.
Plan Two Weeks in Advance
You should provide a base schedule for your employees at least two weeks in advance. Everyone has a chance at this point to sort out any personal conflicts they have or arrange shift changes before the last minute.
Make it Easy to Change
Allowing two weeks for changes almost guarantees there will be changes. A lot of things can happen between the time you post the schedule and when those employees need to come to work. People get sick, conflicts come up, and adjustments happen. Creating simple ways to change the schedule allows more fluidity and flexibility for your business and your employees.
Trusting your employees to deal with scheduling issues on their own empowers them to make good decisions. Giving them shift swapping options allows you to focus on other things besides the schedule.
Use Technology to Help
Employee scheduling software can help you manage rosters to save time. It makes scheduling easier and can accommodate complex intricacies that make it more difficult for you. Many Businesses in Ireland have adopted this technology in order to solve the challenges of complex work schedules where skillsets must be allocated accordingly.
Algorithms
Most software uses an algorithm to determine schedules based on company information like peak times, required tasks, and staff availability. It pre-populates the best schedule based on these factors. It may not be perfect, but it gives you a starting point. All you have to do is spot check to make sure it’s functional, and make a few changes if needed. You don’t have to build it from scratch.
Improve Communication
You already do your best to communicate with your employees effectively. Technology assists with this because it can deliver an electronic copy of an employee’s schedule directly to them. They don’t have to copy it down from a board in the office or risk making a mistake when transferring it to their calendar.
You have a master copy of the schedule, ensuring you always have access to the most up-to-date information. You keep your staff in the loop with notifications of changes to their schedule, eliminating confusion. The software also manages processing shift changing and working through conflicts.
Effectively managing your employee schedule reduces turnover rate and helps your staff maintain a work/life balance. As a result, you have happier, more productive members of your team. Your business runs more smoothly, and building a schedule is faster and easier for you and everyone else involved.
