There is no doubt that the modern workplace is constantly evolving. Workplace trends are changing, and with the rise of remote work and an ever-growing number of employees working from different locations, it’s very important to have an effective and reliable workforce scheduling system in place. Zluri’s top tips for user provisioning in this area include the use of scheduling software to automate the workflow, make employee management easier, improve customer service, and ensure compliance with government regulations.
A scheduling app is a tool that allows managing the days and times of employees. Employees have the flexibility of choosing the time that works best for them. A scheduling app also serves the purpose of assigning tasks for employees to work on. A centralized application that shows all employee’s schedules. So, if you have to arrange board meetings, you can do so without the hassle of back-and-forth emails.
There are many different arguments in favor of using advanced workforce scheduling technology, so let’s dive into the key benefits.
It helps improve productivity
One of the top benefits of using a scheduling application for employees is that it can help increase overall productivity by making sure the right number of people are working at the right times each day. This can free up time for other employees to work on more important projects, which can ultimately help to increase profits and improve the business’s bottom line.
A scheduling software helps in bringing automation into your workflow by selecting employees with appropriate skills for a particular task.
To assign tasks, some tools make use of artificial intelligence to decide which task would be best suited to a particular employee given previous data. Before deciding, the AI automatically checks for the following variables:
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- Overtime limits: Time tracking is done through the tool so whenever an employee exceeds the weekly hour limit, the compensation and employer taxes are automatically calculated. Tasks are assigned to employees keeping in mind the weekly hour limit for both full-time and part-time employees.
- Business budget: The total income is estimated before creating a budget. For a coffee shop business, the total sales data would be done by forecasting the total number of coffee and other beverages sold in a given time frame. By inputting data for all income channels, the scheduling software will help you plan which employees to utilize keeping the business budget in mind.
- Ability: The data from past experiences of employees is taken into consideration before deciding which employee will be able to perform a task well.
- Skills: The skills set of employees is also taken into consideration before deciding if the difficult level can be handled by the employee.
Using variables to decide which employee will be able to perform a task efficiently helps in improving productivity in the short-run. For tasks that don’t have enough resources, companies can conduct training for employees to make sure they are ready.
A work schedule can be created
The workforce scheduling application allows employers and employees to create to-do lists and to make a work schedule. This helps team members to stay focused on tasks by assigning priorities and deadlines. Many workforce scheduling applications come with a free trial, so companies can test their effectiveness before opting for a paid subscription.
Workforce scheduling applications also have the option of time-tracking. This way team leads can estimate the required number of hours for each task and resources that need to be deployed for a certain project.
Smart management of resources is the ultimate goal for companies – especially those that operate remotely. Since there is minimal supervision in remote work, having some sort of a check and balance helps in gauging where employees are spending most of their work hours.
It makes employee management easier
Using an advanced workforce scheduling system can make it a lot easier for managers to manage workers and monitor performance, especially for remote teams.
In order to maintain a fine balance in getting the work done and not doing micromanagement, it is highly vital to stay organized in all departments, especially in workforce scheduling.
Read: 14 Useful SaaS Software for Remote Businesses
With the increase in customer communication channels, traditional techniques have become quite primordial. Tracking employees through a tool is simple and less labor-intensive. It gives importance to employees by storing their preferences: the days in which employees prefer to be absent, holidays preferences and staff work-time preferences.
In addition, workforce scheduling applications also allow payroll reports automation.
It improves customer service
Some workplaces, such as retail outlets, restaurants and grocery stores, require employees to have a customer-facing role. The presence of employees is directly related to better customer service.
For instance, during a rush hour, if there’s under-staffing customers will likely have a bad experience. Similarly, the few employees who are working in that shift will be exhausted, so it will affect the way they treat customers.
The aim is to keep employees satisfied. Happier employees means better customer service, which in turn means more business for the company.
It ensures compliance
A workforce scheduling application helps in notifying if any laws and regulations set by the government have been crossed. Sometimes, companies might not be aware when laws are breached accidently.
For example: an international student who’s only allowed to work 20 hours per week should not be exceeding those hours, otherwise the company might be penalized.
A scheduling software will ensure that the hours do not exceed the limit. In addition, the software also takes care of taxes, labor standards, training, union issues, family and sick leave requirements and even mandatory breaks.
It saves money
Using an advanced workforce scheduling system can help businesses save money by reducing the amount of money spent on overtime wages and benefits. Without a tracking system, dishonest employees can punch in an extra number of hours and gain unfair compensation for overtime.
A workforce scheduling ensures the number of hours are fair.
It also eliminates the need to pay managers or supervisors to monitor the schedules and make sure that workers are in the right place at the right time. This also has the added advantage of eliminating micromanagement. Employees are more comfortable using a tool than being bossed around by managers constantly.
Employees have the opportunity to work according to their schedule which yields effective results and boosts employee satisfaction.
It improves collaboration among employees
Timely communication with employees is the key to having an efficient team. Workforce scheduling software have the following features to achieve improved collaboration:
- Reaching out to team members is fast and simple.
- You can know who read your message(s).
- It’s hard to miss a message with in-app notifications.
- Team leaders have the option of granting permissions to employees to chat with other employees or only having the option of reaching out to managers.
For example, you want X employee to be available for an all-important shift on a particular day. With in-app messaging, ensure that employees acknowledge your request and any concerns that arise can be sorted promptly.
Final verdict: should you get a workforce scheduling software?
This article discussed the benefits of workforce scheduling, especially for large companies and organizations operating remotely. The digital method of workforce scheduling has become quite a popular and seamless method to optimize and maximize team members and business work.
Here’s a quick summary of how workforce scheduling is helpful:
- It identifies the number of employees working on each shift.
- It provides templates for workforce scheduling.
- It enhances employee productivity.
- The applications have a simple interface and dashboard that helps in focusing on tasks via to-do lists.
- The right number of employees are assigned to tasks.
- There is very little under-staffing which means employees are not overworked.
- Similarly, there’s little over-staffing which means employees are not under-utilized.
- Companies are able to set a labor budget and stick to it.
Previously, spreadsheets and pen-and-paper methods were the go-to methods of organizing work schedules. Nowadays, with the patience levels of employees running thin, sticking to traditional methods is not the wisest decision. Adopt automation that helps in providing a faster way to track and organize tasks.
In short, with the help of the workforce scheduling application, the human resource department of companies becomes efficient as employee utilization is optimized. In addition, employee satisfaction increases as their rights are not violated.
Author Bio:
Osama Zahid is a technology content strategist who is passionate about content marketing and all things SEO. He has helped various companies rank their content on the first page of search engines. In his free time, Osama loves to play football and travel.