Across industries, technology can revolutionize the often challenging process of shift-based employee scheduling. Effective scheduling software offers an array of benefits that save employers a great deal of time and effort while simultaneously empowering employees to have more control over their work lives. Let’s examine some of the chief advantages in detail.

Tracking Needs

A software solution means that you no longer have to keep track of your organization’s scheduling needs manually. Instead, you can create a digital template that specifies the number of employees needed for all shifts by time, place, and role; any certifications workers must hold for certain shifts; and, in fields like health care, any legally mandated staffing requirements.

Particularly useful is a visual scheduling platform that allows you to see your full slate of shifts laid out in a clear graphical format.

Software also helps you stay on top of your personnel: the current pool of employees you have to draw from, their various positions and qualifications, and contingent workers you may have on standby.

Assigning Shifts

Technology significantly streamlines the labor-intensive process of assigning shifts.

With software, you can simply input specifications for each shift, including location, type of employee(s) needed, and required credentials. Your workers’ details will be in the system as well: their availability, travel limitations, work preferences, and certifications. The scheduling platform automates the rest of the process, identifying eligible employees based on the given shift parameters. The manager can then assign the shift in question, or an eligible employee can go ahead and take it on their own.

Communication

Mobile communication is perhaps the most important benefit that technology provides.

Giving your staff access to a mobile scheduling app on their smartphones ensures that posted schedules are always immediately accessible by all workers. It also makes communication between employees and managers substantially faster and easier.

Employees can send real-time text messages to managers quickly and conveniently via mobile, informing them of changes to their availability and conveying any other important issues or concerns.

Flexibility

In the world of shift-based work, changes on short notice will inevitably arise, but technology enables you to avoid unnecessary panic and deal with them swiftly and efficiently.

With mobile communication, employees rather than managers can take the initiative in addressing last-minute situations — by swapping shifts directly with each other.

If a team member is suddenly unable to cover a shift, they can send an instant message letting their co-workers know, and an employee who’s available and qualified can volunteer to fill it. Once the trade is approved by a manager, the problem is solved, without costly delay or undue headache.

Analysis

Last but not least, technology makes it possible to measure and analyze trends from recent scheduling periods without having to manually pore over paperwork and timesheets. You can review what your shift needs and personnel resources have been over time and where you might have run into trouble.

As you enter a new scheduling period, the lessons you’ve learned from your analysis will help you plan strategically for the future.

Employee scheduling is a complex procedure that presents many obstacles, but the right software removes these roadblocks so that your organization can thrive.

Attendance on Demand offers leading workforce management solutions for your organization. Learn more and schedule a demo today at attendanceondemand.com.