What if you could leverage real-time data—from employee information and labor demand to forecasting and historical analytics—that is both centralized and easily accessible? And what if that data can be used at the point of scheduling to aid in making more strategic decisions on things like overtime allocation and absence management?
With the right workforce scheduling tool, you can have access to these time (and cost) saving analytics.
This will not only streamline your scheduling process, but it will also help you get ahead of problems before they happen. Here’s how.
1. Staff Properly with Real-Time Labor Information
Deadline-driven environments like public safety, transportation, and manufacturing rely on staffing the right amount of people to complete an assignment or hit production goals.
But how many times have you scheduled too many employees to work a shift—creating unnecessary paychecks? On the flip side, how many times have you had to bill more overtime hours than anticipated because too few people were onsite to get the job done—putting the facility over budget?
With access to real-time employee and labor demand data, you can ensure that you are only staffed to match what you need. Managers can forecast future staffing requirements and generate reports based on trends (peak and off-peak times, for example) and adjust shifts accordingly to meet those unique production needs.
2. Encourage Employees to Fix Scheduling Gaps
The majority (55%) of hourly workers surveyed by Software Advice stated that they would use a mobile scheduling app if it were offered by their employer. When asked which scheduling features they would prioritize, 39% picked the ability to trade shifts while picking up shifts (38%) trailed close behind.
Your shift employees want to be a part of their scheduling process, so why not let them?
It will certainly take some aspects off the manager and scheduler’s plate so they can focus on forecasting and other initiatives that drive the business forward.
With mobile workforce capabilities, your employees have the power to check schedules, request leaves, and volunteer for shifts. Mobile capabilities benefit organizations two-fold, improving both process efficiencies and employee satisfaction.
You can digitize the job bidding process to fill long-term vacancies—think maternity leave, illness, or a post that HR can’t seem to fill externally. Employees pick different options for what their ideal base schedules (job function, hours, etc.) would look like. In turn, you’ll get a centralized audit log of what each employee is interested in. This helps HR make better job replacement decisions when the time comes—and helps keep the operation running smoothly because only qualified people will have the opportunity to bid for that vacancy.
Another way employees can be proactive in the scheduling process is through shift swapping. Through a mobile app, the requestor can simply put their undesired shift up for grabs. The jobs is only shown to other qualified, available employees based on your pre-set rules—it’s like a job board that only the most relevant people can see. Employees will see the swap whether they have their own undesired shift or not, and those that want it can request to finalize the swap with the requestor. The system can either automatically approve the swap and have it reflected on the schedule or, if you prefer a bit more oversight, a notification can be sent to you for approval (which you can give at the click of a button).
Your employees can take care of filling long-term and short-term vacancies for you. And they’ve already expressed an interest in having the freedom to do so!
3. Automate Vacancy Filling and Stop Fighting Fires
Absences happen. When an employee is unexpectedly sick or simply a no-show, you need to find someone to replace them, and quick. But how annoying is it dialing phone number after phone number hoping someone will pick up? And is everyone really going to read your mass email or text message on their day off?
Rather than leaving voicemails, why not automate the process? With automated scheduling, you can automatically call or text your contacts on a pre-configured call out list, sequentially or all at once, to solve scheduling vacancies. All you need to do is click a few buttons to initiate the automated reach-out.
The Indeavor Solution
Want to stop fighting fires and start setting your organization up for more success instead? Indeavor can help you achieve all of the above.
Click here to request a demo.
Indeavor is our workforce management SaaS solution which offers clients an end-to-end, cloud-based employee scheduling, time & attendance, and absence management system. Indeavor integrates with your human capital management and enterprise resource planning systems to create a robust platform that provides you with real-time employee data.
