Employee management is a full-time job. From training and scheduling to keeping employees motivated, managing a team requires a unique set of organizational skills.
You need to have the right scheduling tools to maintain a strong operation.
But not sure yet if you really need employee scheduling software? See if these six signs seem familiar.
1. Your customer service or patient care is slipping
Your employees accomplish so much in a given day. They’re filling orders, tending to patients, cleaning facilities, and smiling through it all. But you’ve probably noticed occasions where your customer service takes a dip. Maybe your employees don’t have the proper tools to actually do their best.
Teams hate dealing with dated, legacy technology. Without an intuitive solution, it can be tough to get employees to clock in on time or request time off in the system. Your staff shouldn’t have to deal with paper timesheets or old websites.
Here are a few ways you can improve your customer service or patient care.
Automate your timesheets. On top of actually doing their jobs, keeping track of timesheets can be one more headache. When you take out the manual step, you’ll free up time and capacity so your team won’t have to stress about it.
Make it mobile. Help your employees focus on what counts — customer satisfaction — and eliminate the distraction of dated processes. Use employee scheduling software that lets employees instantly clock in on a smart device and get back to the action.
Use one central communication platform. A streamlined communication app can let your team easily share updates, comment, collaborate, and reach out with questions. That means less confusion — and more time to focus on customers.
2. You schedule too many or too few staff
Shift workers can adapt to nearly any situation, but their schedules shouldn’t be all over the place. While it can be nearly impossible to schedule enough staff for an unexpected rush, most scheduling miscalculations are avoidable.
Try to gauge when business picks up or slows down by paying attention to local trends in your industry.
Consider ways to anticipate and schedule the perfect amount of people. Account for requested schedule changes and time off or sick call-ins with a smart scheduling tool that provides you with the big picture.
Here are a few ways to nail your staff scheduling.
Look at the numbers. Track the ebb and flow of expected demand versus labor costing week to week to ensure enough employees are scheduled.
Fill open shifts with staff who want the hours. When there too many or too few staff, instantly send notifications to quickly find employees who want to work or who would prefer to take off.
Create alerts for tight schedules. Ensure that your employees are working reasonable shifts and try to avoid the infamous “clopening”— to close one night, then open the next morning.
3. Your staff complain about inaccurate payroll
There really isn’t any excuse for staff missing paychecks. If there’s one thing to count on in an unpredictable industry, it’s getting paid at the same time every month. Even if the paycheck is late by one day, your employees can lose their means to make rent and support their families. Paying your employees correctly will go a long way to employee satisfaction and retention.
Payroll errors also lead to employees missing out on overtime pay or receiving pay for overtime they didn’t work, which can reflect poorly on your organizational abilities. Help your staff see the returns for their hard work — always make the scheduled payroll submission deadline.
Here are some easy fixes.
Streamline your systems. Integrate an employee scheduling system with your current payroll system.
Submit timesheets automatically. Eliminate the risk of human error by letting a program do the work for you and save yourself time.
Check in. Not sure if your system is working? Check in with your team to see what’s working and what’s not.
4. Your employees are burning out
Your staff have been showing up week after week, and now they’re visibly exhausted. Is it easy for them to request time off and recharge? Traditionally, employees would request time off via email or online form. Managers might have to log the request and adjust the schedule manually. At worst, the request gets lost and the employee continues to show up without proper support to take time off.
Protect your staff’s mental health with an employee scheduling system that allows them to take days off without the fuss of going through a manual process. Enable a culture where time off is transparent so employees can enjoy a healthy work-life balance. Don’t let people come in sick just because getting time off was a hassle.
You can ease burnout with these three tips.
Creates checks and balances. Your scheduling software should instantly send time-off requests to managers. This saves your team time and stress before their leave.
Operationalize your leave management. Use your software to regulate vacation requests and ensure that your business is always covered.
Cover shifts on short notice. Even if someone has an emergency, find someone to fill their shift with an easy drag and drop.
5. Your staff don’t have a clear view of their schedule
People love to plan ahead. If the schedule isn’t posted until Friday, employees have to wait all week before they make plans. Manual cork board-type schedules cause confusion because last-minute changes don’t go out to the team immediately.
To facilitate social distancing, help employees keep their schedules on their phones. Companies that don’t email schedules force employees to physically get their schedule from work. Employees can better juggle their priorities if they can access their schedules early and on-the-go.
Empower your staff. Find a scheduling software that includes a mobile app so that employees can access their schedule, request time off, or get their shift covered right in the app.
Go digital. By going paperless, you’ll save hours of time and be able to track your schedule changes more efficiently.
Review with your team. Review the process with your team so they always know when and where they can find the current schedule.
6. Your employees don’t have an easy way to communicate with their manager
Your employees need to tell you something. They received a glowing customer review, or complaint about missing menu items, or unexpected family emergency. How quickly can they get in touch with management?
Don’t let your employees feel like they are hitting a wall. To maintain smooth operations, employees should always be able to update you on customer feedback and their own job readiness. What if they won’t be able to work their next few scheduled shifts?
Engage your team. With a scheduling software platform, you can create a central hub for everyone to cross communicate. Share critical updates and ensure that important messages are captured.
Centralize your communications on one platform. Use one system to avoid the nightmare of too many texts and enable your teams to have their voices heard.
Set up 1:1s. Remember the foundational piece of communication — talking. Set up regular meetings with your team so they always have an opportunity to give feedback and ask questions.
Don’t make employee scheduling a chore
Scheduling your employees can be one of the most time-consuming parts of running a business — but it doesn’t have to be.
Uplevel your teams with the best tools that make their lives that much easier. If you relate to any or all of these telltale signs of inefficiency, Deputy can help. Sign up for a free trial and simplify your employee scheduling.
