Many companies have a schedule for their employees, the way the schedule works can vary. Some employee work schedules are set in stone and others are flexible based on the type of business. For example, a restaurants schedule is likely to change week to week, as opposed to an office job where the hours are always 9-5.
My first job was in the food industry, my schedule was never the same. The way the manager distributed the schedule to everyone was by posting it on a bulletin board and it was our own responsibility to write it down, memorize it, or call in and find out from a Coworker.I would write down my schedule on a sticky note and post it on my mirror at home.
Is this an efficient way for employee shift scheduling?
Let' face it, the world is changing and technology has offered us many tools to enhance our day to day activities. We aren’t arriving to work by horse and buggy, we are most likely driving in our cars. Writing down a schedule or printing out a schedule to hang on a bulletin board seems pretty archaic today. Imagine how easy it would be to distribute your employees schedule by the click of a button. This is something that can happen with a web-based employee scheduling tool. Instead of handwriting out shifts and scribbling them off, why not input them on the computer where it is neat and tidy for everyone to read.
OnTheClock employee scheduling tool
At OnTheClock we offer a tool that can be used to create schedules for your employees. If your schedule is dynamic, which means it is likely to be changing, the standard schedule tool will work perfectly for you. This tool allows you to generate multiple shifts that can later be added to the schedule when you are ready to design one. Once the shifts are saved, you are ready to go. You can simply click in the blank field by the employees' name and a box will appear asking you to indicate what shift you want to add and also what color you want this shift to be. So you have now ditched the pen and paper, and have established a schedule that is complete. What do you do with it? Well, you could print it off and post it on your bulletin board, but that doesn’t really jive with your companies attempt to go paperless.
Publish your employees' work schedule
Avoid the print off by publishing your schedule to the employees. Through the system, we are able to send out a link via email that employees are able to click on and see what their schedule looks like for this week or next. You have the option to decide whether employees can view everyone's schedule or just their own. A benefit to having the schedule published out for all employees to view is if your industry allows for employees to swap shifts. They know their coworker's schedule and can easily let you know they want to switch. Then you can go in and update the schedule and publish the new changes. The great thing about using this feature to publish out the work schedules is that now your employees have this schedule at all times. They simply log in to the time clock and click schedule and it is available.This eliminates the need for them scrambling to figure out their shifts or writing it down wrong.
Copying shifts to the schedule
What if your schedule repeats itself next week for an employee? Instead of redoing everything just for it to be the same, with an employee scheduling software you are able to simply copy over shifts to an employee for next week. This can be done within minutes and save the time it would of taken to keep creating new schedules.
Why you need scheduling software
If we have not convinced you yet, let's go over a few reasons why a tool for scheduling is a good decision for your company.
- It is efficient: All the employees will have access to their schedule at any time not just when they are at work.
- It saves time: An online scheduling solution offers various ways to cut corners, from copying over schedules or even just publishing them out by a click of a button.
- It is easy to edit: Scheduling shifts on a program makes it easy to adjust an error, and it keep it neat.
Scheduling employees is a time-consuming process because you need to know how many people to staff at any given time. A scheduling tool can help you stay organized, and relieve some stress. Keep this in mind when you are choosing your scheduling software. Not only will you save time, you will save your company money as well. Overscheduling or under scheduling staff can really have an effect on workflow for employees. You can check out OnTheClocks scheduling tool and test it we offer a 30 day free trial.