Many of the best managers struggle with scheduling their employees. Depending on the business, they need to accurately manage the schedules of dozens of people, some of whom might try to swap shifts once the hourly list is posted.
These schedules are of utmost importance, especially in retail or warehousing, where every shift needs to be covered. In addition, issues can arise when one employee receives more hours than the other, or when certain shifts end up being under-staffed.
For all of these reasons and more, you need to follow some of these below-mentioned employee scheduling tips. Hpwever, they’re the only way to keep your employees happy and your business operations in Ireland running smoothly.
Five Handy Employee Scheduling Tips
1) Plan The Schedule in Advance
The ideal time frame is two weeks in advance. This gives your employees plenty of time to adjust and swap shifts if necessary. On top of this, they may have to get babysitters for certain days or set other things in motion for when they’re at work. The more warning you can give them, the better everything will be. You’ll have fewer employees calling off when they can’t get a sitter.
2) Take Advantage of Technology
There have been a number of technological advances when it comes to scheduling software. These programs can help you quite a bit. All that you need to do in some cases is enter your employee’s information and their ideal hours. The automated software will take care of the rest. You can use less automated systems to ensure that every shift is evenly covered.
A system like this can even alert you to when your employees are approaching the overtime mark. The advanced algorithms that these programs use can come up with some very sophisticated things.
3) Make Sure That the Schedule Can Be Changed
Schedules shouldn’t be set in stone. You never know when an emergency is going to come up and one of your employees needs that day off. Plus, you’ll always have employees trading shifts with each other in order to manage their time better. The more flexible you are, the better the scheduling process will be. Your employees will be happier as well. It will make them feel as though they have more power over the times that they work.
4) Set an Example for Your Workers
You need to remember that you’re the person that your employees look up to. If you give yourself the best work hours and give your employees the shifts where business is slow, they’ll catch on quickly. You also don’t want to play favourites among your staff or make it clear that you’re purposely giving one or two workers poor hours. You’re in charge and need to act responsibly. This means that you might have to take some of those unfavourable shifts.
5) Have A System in Place
You also need to put a specific system into place. If you make this clear from the outset, then your employees will follow the rules. This means that if they need a specific day off, you need to be told (in writing, preferably) by a certain day. You also need to set up procedures for things like shift swapping, call-offs, and even vacation requests. The clearer you can make these rules, the better off everyone will be.
Why These Systems Matter
This goes beyond employee scheduling tips. Systems like this matter for many reasons. The usual turnover for jobs that require specific scheduling arrangements, like those in retail, hover around 70%. The main complaints are lack of hours, too many hours, or other unfair scheduling problems.
In order to make your employees happier, you need to utilise a fair scheduling process.
In addition to this, many employees need flexibility in their schedules. Others want hours that are more static – they want the same shifts all of the time. A good scheduling system, particularly one that utilises software and algorithms, is able to accommodate all of these requests. You might be able to utilise an attendance roster to track these things.
If every employee has access to the schedule at all times, if it’s a “living, breathing” document of sorts that they can see on their smart phones, then you’ll have less turnover. Employees will stick around if they’re scheduled and treated fairly.
Hopefully, you and your managers will be able to use these employee scheduling tips to your advantage. If you follow through and put a proper system in place and begin to use scheduling software, then your turnover will shrink, and your employees will be happier. There’s nothing quite like having a batch of happy, productive employees. This just leads to a better-run business that’s even more successful.
