Long-Term Business Benefits of an Online Shift Scheduler
Published: 07/08/2022
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An online shift scheduler is more than just a convenience tool. In this article, we aim to inform business owners and operations managers about the long-term benefits this software can bring to their businesses. From easily spotted opportunities to effective employee management, there is much to gain.
When you hear of a digital shift schedule builder, you most likely visualise a solution that does just that – assembles a shift schedule. However, just like any automation of a process, it offers much more. Certainly, companies that don’t operate on the shift model won’t benefit much from the tool, but those relying on the roster stand to gain more than just a quicker procedure. In a modern world where data and its utilisation are paramount, the scheduling software can become a valuable contributor to your business success and digital transformation.
It can also assist you in reducing the staff turnover rates that most shift-based workplaces experience. While it may not seem so at first glance, the simple yet vital task of employee time allocation plays a significant role in your business, and therefore, you should not miss out on the opportunity to optimise it.
The term ‘data-driven’ is widely used in business circles. However, its status as a buzzword often leads to a lack of understanding regarding its true meaning. Simply put, being data-driven means basing your decision-making on both recent and historical data rather than on intuitive guesses. This approach helps you achieve near-perfect optimisation and reduces the risk of investing money based on a misguided hunch. The best part is that any process can become data-driven.
It includes something that seems, at first glance, data-deprived, like the process of shift scheduling. Just like any aspect of the business, your roster can be optimised for maximum efficiency, and you therefore need to rely on data to achieve this. Naturally, you should consider factors such as the agreed number of hours a worker needs to cover, but what about elements like busy and quiet days, or the influence of the season? In other words, there’s likely a great deal of data you don’t take into account when scheduling your staff, and you may not even be aware it exists. An online shift scheduler would be an ideal tool to make your rota-building process data-driven. Not only will it consider various factors, but it will also collect data you were previously unaware of.
It’s very tempting to manage shifts with little to no concern - simply add names to the list and distribute it to the team. Such a practice, however, could be detrimental to your business. Considering how many moving parts and pieces of data are involved in creating a truly functional rota, it is quite evident that the process is time-consuming and prone to errors. It’s inefficient to revisit it once a week or bi-weekly, juggling new variables each time. A much better option is to rely on an automated solution to handle the legwork.
You have likely experienced accidentally scheduling someone who is unavailable. Or perhaps it has happened to you. Although the manager responsible for creating the schedule had no ill intention, this is a prime example of human error. A centralised online shift planning software can help you avoid this issue, especially if it includes or integrates a holiday management tool. When such an approach is employed, the online shift scheduler simply won’t allow you to include the unavailable employee on the roster, thus preventing the mistake from occurring.
Moreover, having all shift-related information in one location can help you identify potential absenteeism patterns. A holistic overview of everyone’s shift data will highlight trends in no-shows, sick days, or short-notice absences, if any exist. The issue with absenteeism is that when you notice it occurring without analysis, it has already caused significant financial damage to your business. A centralised view of different periods, available on demand, can enable you to detect and address it early on before you end up losing money.
Short-notice absences are inevitable and almost never malicious. Emergencies happen, although that becomes an emergency for the employer who now needs to quickly fill the position. If you’ve ever engaged in frantic calling or messaging, you know how stressful it can be. A designated shift scheduling platform, however, could handle this task for you. Whenever a shift is freed up, it will notify other staff members, allowing them to choose who wishes to take over. Alternatively, it can be configured to automatically allocate the vacated shift to any available employee.
Sometimes, a staff member facing an emergency might not want to lose their entire shift and may offer to work another day instead. For you, this would mean extra hassle in adjusting the schedule you’ve already invested time in building. This presents yet another instance where the shift management platform could be particularly beneficial – employees could then submit shift swap requests for your approval, and the system would update the schedule according to your judgement.
Turnover rates tend to be high in shift-based workplaces, regardless of the industry. However, it is a well-known truth that it is cheaper to keep a team of loyal employees than to train a new one. Therefore, it is in every employer’s best interest to provide their long-term staff with a reason to stay. There are various ways to achieve this, which do not necessarily include raising their pay. In fact, shift scheduling software can actively contribute to improving the workplace.
By employing an automated shift scheduling solution, you will be granting your employees greater decision-making power and, thus, flexibility regarding their working hours. The traditional method of constructing a roster fails to consider emergencies and personal preferences. Aspects such as time off or specific requirements (e.g. particular hours only) often fall through the cracks, forcing you to either revisit and amend the error or endure diminished performance.
A platform that provides your entire team with visibility of the shift scheduling process not only helps you avoid errors but also empowers workers to implement the changes they prefer. We’ve already discussed shift swapping and coverage, but some platforms can also allow employees to take charge of building an entire shift—allowing them to choose a designated number of hours and spread them throughout the week as they wish, taking into account how filled the other slots already are. All you need to do is create a set of rules and ensure they are communicated to the software.
Being either understaffed or overstaffed places a financial strain on the business; however, it’s the workers who truly get the short end of the stick. Fluctuations in workload make it difficult for them to manage their finances, especially if your staff are paid hourly. Consequently, this can be highly upsetting and lead to a high employee turnover rate. Furthermore, inconsistency often indicates a poorly managed business.
Additionally, a Rotageek report has found that the inability to forecast the required number of employees negatively impacts overall staff morale. Another reason consistency is crucial is that it enables employees to manage their workload more effectively. When overwhelmed with excessive work and insufficient help or resources to complete it, workers are prone to burnout, which is another issue you would prefer to avoid. In summary, an online shift scheduler can assist you in achieving a consistent and realistic workload distribution that encourages employees to remain with your company.
In our blogs, we often emphasise how automating processes provides access to data you would otherwise not have. It may not seem apparent at first glance, but automatic shift scheduling also yields substantial information about your company’s performance. Simply put, the data you gain from entrusting the creation of a roster to a tool isn’t estimated nor tracked by numbers. Yet its significance for your future business development is immense.
The data collected by an online shift scheduler provides a clear view of your team’s performance and highlights potential troubling behaviour of individual employees. For example, it can identify frequent absences or last-minute shift cancellations, alerting you to an absenteeism pattern early on. Alternatively, it can help spot tendencies of workaholism that lead to burnout by offering insights into overtime trends.
When the tool is also utilised as a communication platform, it may provide you with a clear overview of the on-site atmosphere and enable you to assess individual contributions and opportunities for better team alignment. Overall, while not every metric offered by shift scheduling software is numeric, they all deliver very actionable insights from which your business will benefit.
Every business should strive to become data-driven, as the era when business decisions could be made on a hunch is long gone. To fully embrace this transformation, it is important to understand that data comes in various formats, not just numeric metrics. Due to the data overload we encounter every day, we sometimes struggle to capture and process truly important fragments. That is when process automation comes to our aid.
While an online shift scheduler may not seem like a data-capturing and utilising solution, it is. Furthermore, it works with non-numeric information, which is often harder for humans to identify trends in, making it challenging to apply. Additionally, it serves as an excellent solution for enhancing employee satisfaction by granting them more control and flexibility over their workload and time management. Not only will happy employees perform better, but they are also more likely to remain loyal to an employer who cares about their wellbeing.
Eager to begin gathering data and enhancing your workers’ experience? Consider giving Timesheet Portal a try.