Steps to Schedules Made Easier

Creating schedules as a manager takes time. When you factor in the new post-COVID-19 business environment, hectic is the only word that comes to mind. Imagine dealing with innumerable sick leave requests, in-person and remote workers, vacation requests, and many others. It can be a total nightmare finding a plan for staff that works for everyone.

Schedules Made Easier

There are several simple ways to construct personnel schedules that are free of confusion, headaches, and stress. Here is a simple 5 step guide to making a schedule for employees:

5 Steps to Making Schedules Easier as a Manager

1. Ensure That Everyone Is on the Same Page.

Are you still stuck in Excel spreadsheets when scheduling? It's definitely time to upgrade your personnel scheduling process! Hardcoded schedules are not only complicated if you need to make changes after they've been sent, but they can also cause a lack of clarity around expectations if staff refer to older versions.

That said, the first step in creating a schedule for employees is to get everyone on the same updated system. One such vital system is Time Tracker. Overall, it's a simpler approach for you to build dynamic, accurate, and useable employee schedules for everyone, everywhere. Employees can:

• See their schedule from any device

• Receive notifications as soon as any modifications are made to their schedules.

• See who’s available if they need a shift change

• Sync their work schedules with their personal calendars.

2. Automate as Much as Possible

There's no need to recreate the wheel every time you need to establish personnel schedules, whether it's daily, weekly, or monthly. An updated system like Track Time 24 saves you time by allowing you to do the following:

• Make templates for specific weeks, months, or holidays and store them (summer vacation, spring break, etc.)

• Copy previous schedules

• To quickly assign and adjust shifts using drag-and-drop editing.

• Easily distinguish between different job categories through color-coding.

• Access and edit schedules remotely using your mobile phone.

3. Safeguard Against Overtime

When it comes to establishing how to schedule staff properly, overtime is always a worry. The simplest approach to make sure your payroll costs don't run over budget? — Keep track of where each employee is at all times. By having a global view of overtime, you can make schedules that are fair and balanced months in advance.

In this sense, you can use Tracktime 24 to:

• See each employee's total shift hours when creating schedules.

• Evaluate each team's daily, weekly, and monthly hours as they arrive, even in calendar view.

• Set up guidelines so you'll be notified when an employee works overtime.

• Make sure you don't over-schedule an employee who frequently works overtime by using past data.

4. Integrate Requests for Time Off.

When it comes to PTO, sick days, and vacations, figuring out how to construct a schedule for employees always encounters a bump. Employing a system that makes it simple and error-free for employees to request and track time off would save time and reduce errors.

You can use Time Tracker to:

• Create time-off codes (vacation, sick, etc.)

• Block particular dates from your calendar.

• Decline or approve an off-time request in just a few clicks

5. Use Your Imagination, Get Creative

Unfortunately, when it comes to employee scheduling, a time-tracking system can only get you so far. There will always be considerations to be taken when it comes to creating staff schedules, especially when individuals are working remotely, just coming in on specific days, and so on.

In that case, use these inventive ideas for creating an employee schedule:

• If employees don't need to be on-site all of the time, try staggering in-person shifts for jobs that require it.

• Maintain or schedule one-on-one meetings with your staff so you can stay updated about their scheduling, productivity, and other needs.

• Take advantage of downtime if an employee's project is delayed or stalled but you want to keep them on the payroll. Assign online training or encourage them to pursue remote certification possibilities, and track their progress with Time Tracker.

• If ongoing education isn't an option, consider relocating employees to departments or roles that require immediate assistance.

• If you do decide to set up a remote workforce, make sure that everyone strives for schedule consistency. Request that they use Time Tracker to alert you if they are unable to work on a regularly scheduled day so you can keep track of where everyone is at any given time.

Successful Scheduling

With hundreds of shift patterns to choose from and numerous sifts to organize, such as fixed, rotating, and on-call shifts, building a schedule that's perfect for your company can be a tremendous problem. Even if you set a timetable, you can't ensure that it will stay optimal because you'll have to deal with last-minute shift changes and requests for time off. With these 5 key pointers, however, you can build a strong foundation for a successful schedule!