Stress-Free Staff Scheduling
As a manager or business owner, you might find that it’s not the big tasks that cause you the most stress. You might enjoy launching new projects or making significant changes to your business. You might even enjoy working with your team and members of the public. It’s usually behind the scenes tasks, the small day to day things that need doing and need doing well, but that doesn’t always make a significant impact, the things that take up a lot of our time, without getting massive results or making a noticeable difference that leaves us pulling our hair out. The tasks that perhaps we’d rather not do, but know that we need to, the admin that’s been building up, and preparing staff schedules that really drive us crazy.
Staff schedules would be much easier if we just told our staff that they all had to work set hours and days of the week, with no room for change or flexible working. You could just copy and paste your rotas week to week. But, this wouldn’t give you a positive and productive workforce that is loyal, hard-working and happy. It would increase staff turnover, decrease morale, and generally be bad for business.
While it’s clear that offer flexibility with our scheduling is crucial to the success of our business, there’s no denying that it can make your life more stressful. Trying to keep everyone happy and give them what they want, while doing the right thing for your business can be tough. But, there is plenty that you can do to make scheduling stress-free.
Use Technology
Gone are the days of writing down rotas by hand. You don’t even need to rely on an Excel spreadsheet anymore. Use Deputy shift planning software, and it will be easy for your staff to make requests for different shifts and leave. You’ll get plenty of notice, and you’ll be able to easily see who wants what, and who you’ve got available for each shift. You’ll be able to organize your schedules, and quickly make changes when you need to. This can be especially effective if you’ve got a massive team or employees with particular needs.
Look for Patterns
Unfortunately, some employees will take advantage of your flexibility. Look for patterns of people being late or taking the same days off sick. Make your staff clock in and out, to make it easier to spot trends, such as the same person being late every Monday or always calling in sick on Fridays. Speak to them about this, and try to find the reasons. It might be easier to arrange different shifts in the future.
Know Your Business
Your business needs might not always be the same. You might need more staff on Friday afternoons than you do Monday mornings. You might need more hours during the summer and less in the colder months. Knowing your business well and understanding its needs will make scheduling much easier.
Give Notice
If you publish schedules the week before, you can expect upset. Give your staff members a little more notice of their shifts, and ask for the same notice for requests, and things will run more smoothly.
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