7 Steps in Scheduling Employees Effectively
Scheduling employees is an integral function of an HR management team and a crucial part of the HR planning process. Although it sounds like plotting an employee schedule is easy as counting one, two, three, it’s actually quite the opposite. Plotting employee schedules can have major effects on the operations of the company, especially when it comes to the productivity rate. So to improve your skill in managing the schedules of your employees, we will show you some steps in scheduling employees effectively.
7 Steps in Scheduling Employees Effectively
Assess Needs
Every day, the needs of the business must be fulfilled for a successful operation. That’s why employers should review various candidate hiring tips to select the best employees during recruitment and conduct training and development programs for them. Employees are the engines and gears of a company, and their schedules can greatly affect the business’ needs. For example, a particular section of the workforce is required to work at a certain shift for specific reasons. If you schedule them on another shift, the business operations will suffer immensely. So don’t just assign them a schedule randomly, make sure to assess the needs of the business first.
Define Scheduling Rules
“Rules…without them we live with the animals,” says the character Winston from the John Wick: Chapter 2 movie. To prevent disorganization and to keep things in line, every business procedure should adhere to the rules. And the process of plotting employee schedules is of no exception. Bear in mind that strict guidelines must be followed, especially those from the Department of Labor. Therefore, make sure to define these rules and familiarize them. As the employer, sanctions might come to you if you don’t follow the scheduling rules.
Know Your Employees
It is essential to know your employees personally. This way, you can schedule each of them on their most preferred shift, given that they have their respective personal lives. According to a work schedule survey by TSheets, 40.7% of their respondents are satisfied with their shift schedules, while 34.8% are very satisfied. That’s mainly because their shifts allow for a better work-life balance. Ultimately, workers that are satisfied with their schedules can be beneficial for the employee engagement rate of your company.
Make Schedule Based on Skills and Availability
Each employee has their own level of competency and experience. Also, some of them have other priorities outside the workplace. With those said, it’s important to consider their skills and availability in plotting employee schedules. Skilled employees must not be put together in one shift. There should be a good number of them in each shift to ensure a successful operation. In doing so, it’ll be easier to conduct employee performance management. When it comes to availability, if possible, simply schedule employees in a shift where there will be no conflicts with their other priorities. Before doing this, though, you must first assess whether those said priorities are valid and reasonable.
Communicate and Assign to Employees
Excellent communication is a must for every employee management process. It keeps everybody on the same page and brings things in order. So when you’ve finished plotting an employee schedule, disseminate it to your workers immediately so that they’ll be aware of it ahead of time. If they have concerns with the schedule, you will have sufficient time to make some changes for as long as they don’t affect the business’ needs.
Make the Schedule Easily Accessible
Employees must not have an excuse for not knowing about the shift schedule. As the employer, it’s your job to ensure that by making the employee schedule easily accessible. To do this, you can send the schedule to the employees via email or print hard copies of it, then post them in every bulletin board in the workplace. This way, the employees will have every means to double-check when they should time in and time out.
Use Scheduling Software for Business Challenge
Accomplishing tasks are a lot easier these days because of technology, which certainly includes plotting employee schedules. Software programs that are designed for various HR processes are available. Some of them even have features that can automatically create employee schedules. If your company has the financial resources, consider using them to plot employee schedules more effectively.
Tips to Schedule Employees
Merely knowing the steps in scheduling employees can get the job done if you execute them well. However, applying some of these tips along the way can also help. Here are five tips to schedule employees.
Know Your Business
If you understand the nature and necessities of your company, scheduling employees will be a lot easier. The company has specific operations round the clock. Each of them requires a certain section of the workforce. So if you know the business, you will have a clear picture of what shift certain employees should report for work.
Be Flexible with Changes
Flexibility should be one of your traits due to the inevitable changes in the workplace. These changes could affect the current process of how you schedule your employees. Therefore, be prepared, and don’t let these changes intimidate you. Note that these changes and challenges will do good for your company in the long run. For this matter, changes in your HR metrics and calculators should also follow.
Provide Open Communication
As mentioned earlier, excellent communication is a must. Through open communication, you and your employees can discuss and collaborate further regarding their shift schedules. Plus, it can also improve your employee relations practices in the workplace. Open communication can easily be done today, no matter the size of your company—thanks to emails, HR software, and HR digital tools.
Acknowledge Employee Efforts
You can acknowledge the excellence of some employees by assigning them to a shift of their preference. By doing so, their morale to work could increase, which will further improve their performance.
Evaluate Regularly
Conducting a regular performance review of the workers can provide you with significant insights when scheduling employees. How so? A performance review will help you in categorizing the excellent employees from those that are otherwise. By then, you can easily balance the workforce of each shift. Each shift must have several skilled employees, as mentioned before.
“Time is gold,” it certainly is in the world of professionals. The amount of time that each employee spends working is an asset to your company. So make sure to make the most of them manage their time well. Schedule your employees properly and reasonably, and business success will soon follow.
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