Deliver Smoother Experience with Employee Rota Software
Published: 29/08/2022
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Our focus in this article is on employee satisfaction and its role in business success. This blog post is aimed at business owners and team managers, guiding them on how to enhance the performance of their staff by improving their happiness. We will explain how employee rota software serves as an excellent tool for this purpose.
Most businesses are laser-focused on ensuring their shift employees deliver the best experience to clients. However, they are nowhere near as attentive when it comes to ensuring those employees also have a positive working experience. It is almost as if most organisations can’t see the correlation between the two. To put it shortly - unsatisfied employees will never be as passionate about their jobs. Not only does this lead to declining customer satisfaction, but also to burnout and high staff turnover rates. In fact, the problem is so deeply seated that it has evolved into a full-blown staffing crisis.
From the employer’s perspective, they can’t understand why their staff would be unhappy as long as they’re being paid - and that’s the critical mistake. If you want to see the bigger picture, as well as explore solutions, you should read this article. Today’s technology makes it easier to create healthier workplaces, and there’s no excuse for you to miss out on that.
There is undoubtedly a staffing crisis for shift-based positions across every industry. While some sectors, such as hospitality, experienced a slight reprieve during the pandemic, others, like hospital staff, faced greater challenges. However, now that the job market is becoming more balanced, we find ourselves back at square one, with every shift model industry struggling. In fact, we are pushed even further behind by factors such as Brexit, resulting in nationwide labour shortages and high turnover rates.
Regrettably, there is no singular solution; the issue is far too complex and individual for each business, let alone each industry. However, what every employer could do to begin addressing the issue is to turn their attention to the staff. It is well-known that businesses operating on a shift model are among the least employee-friendly places of work, which often contributes to high turnover rates. By breaking this stereotype and starting to enhance the employee experience through consistency and flexibility, you can contribute to tackling the problem.
Actions stem from thoughts, and thus, if you wish to alter how you approach matters, you must first change your thinking. Most industries that employ shift workers tend to be inflexible regarding mindset changes. This issue forms the basis of the staffing crisis. Therefore, let’s consider which aspects of your business you should rethink first.
When assembling shifts manually, the workload is taken into account. The individual creating a rota typically understands whether the day is anticipated to be busy and where staff should be allocated. However, what is often overlooked are the workers and how they are impacted by the rosters in question. To grasp the ideal conditions for metrics such as employee engagement, fatigue, productivity over time, and other indicators, considerable experimentation is necessary as there is no one-size-fits-all solution. In simple terms, given all they already have to consider when constructing a rota, managers lack the time to contemplate such matters.
An automated shift scheduling software, on the other hand, is designed to perform such operations. Not only can it determine how much workforce will be needed for the shift, but it can also assign the most suitable workers. Alternatively, it grants the staff a level of control by making it easy to swap shifts or find coverage if they are unable to come to work. This adds overall flexibility to their experience, serving as an effective countermeasure against burnout and chronic overwork.
It’s in your best interest to publish schedules as far ahead as possible. However, no one is a prophet, especially when it comes to predicting how busy your business will be. But if you base your estimates on data collected by shift scheduling software rather than on a hunch, the probability of making the right choice will increase. Doing so will enable you to prepare for your busiest days in advance, inform the staff to plan accordingly, and reduce the likelihood of last-minute issues.
Furthermore, this will provide your employees with ample time to either request time off or report a foreseeable absence. Conversely, you will also receive adequate notice to consider their requests, find someone to fill the gap, and inform the rest of the team about potential schedule changes. Overall, when you begin to think ahead and utilise software for both forecasting and communication, you are likely to make better decisions. Additionally, you will provide your staff with more transparency and flexibility, two aspects that many shift workers seldom encounter. Not only does this make you appear to be a considerate employer, but it is also likely to significantly enhance your team’s productivity.
Not only does employee rota software simplify communication between you and your staff, but it can also serve as a substantial source of ROI. Businesses often fail to recognise the major drains on their finances, such as high turnover rates and decreased performance due to burnout. By automating your scheduling process, you can effectively tackle these issues and prevent further financial loss. Let’s explore how that works.
There is a direct connection between employee satisfaction and productivity. This, in turn, leads to better revenue generation results. You have most likely experienced firsthand that when you’re either stressed or generally unhappy, every task becomes twice as challenging. In the workplace, this often results in burnout, a lack of interest or passion for work, and can severely affect your employees’ performance. This is frequently reflected in lower standards of customer service, missed deadlines, and declining work quality. In other words, unhappy employees will lead to unhappy customers.
Well-considered work distribution and a strong work-life balance are crucial areas to focus on to ensure your staff's happiness. An automated scheduler serves as an excellent tool for this. Not only does it account for anticipated leave, but it also simplifies finding quick shift coverage if an employee's availability changes at the last moment. Moreover, when the roster is assembled and distributed a month in advance (rather than on a Sunday night), employees have a greater opportunity to organise their outside-of-work schedules accordingly.
Employee satisfaction plays a significant role in staff turnover. It is a metric that has historically been high in shift-based industries, primarily due to the misery reported by shift workers. Naturally, no one wants to remain in a place where they don’t feel properly treated, and shift employees are often taken for granted. If you want your business to succeed, this mindset must change.
Every employer knows that it is cheaper to retain an experienced worker than to hire and train a new one. Additionally, a high turnover rate may affect how your business is perceived by both potential new talent and clients, as it will be seen as an unfavourable workplace. In terms of revenue generation, high employee turnover is likely to impede it. For instance, if you have long-term clients, the ever-changing personnel won’t be able to provide them with the personalised experience they expect. The level of service and the communication they receive will also differ, thereby leading to a negative experience and a likely loss of business. Your employees are your most valuable asset - and you should treat them as such.
The true beauty of an automatic shift scheduler is that everyone in the company benefits from it. While the workers and managers will clearly derive the most use from it, other departments will also utilise the tool, albeit in different ways. In other words, even parts of your business that aren’t directly involved with shift scheduling will be using the software. In fact, they might not even be aware of its role in their day-to-day lives.
Managers are prime sufferers of administrative hell in shift scheduling. From double-checking staff availability to frantically calling to find coverage and handling shift swaps, they have to shoulder it all. Not only does it cause headaches for them, but it also puts them in the line of fire from other departments that are affected by the changes. For example, payroll may be displeased with having to calculate numerous overtime fees, whereas HR might be receiving complaints about the uneven distribution of work hours. In other words, what starts as an annoying manual task for a manager can swiftly snowball into a series of inconveniences for everyone.
Employee rota software streamlines the experience by eliminating most of the hurdles a manager has to navigate. Instead of making changes and risking mistakes, everything is managed by the software. With the appropriate integrations, it would all rely on data collected from other solutions. It would also be easily exported to the aforementioned solution, again minimising the amount of administrative work across departments.
Industries operating on a shift model are facing a severe staffing crisis. This situation is, regrettably, a result of employers prioritising profit over their workers. A lack of attention to employee satisfaction results in high staff turnover rates and burnout, both of which can devastate a business if not addressed promptly and effectively. While you cannot ensure that every day at the workplace is joyful for your employees, there are numerous actions you can take to enhance their overall experience.
Start small - with employee rota software. Instead of last-minute schedules and the headache of trying to find coverage, such a tool will offer your staff flexibility and a reasonable work-life balance. It will also serve as a transparent communication platform between team members and management. Happy employees are proven to be more productive; thus, your success depends on how well you take care of them.
Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. Let’s have a chat.