Running a business can be a tough job, with any and all business owners attesting to that fact. With so many responsibilities to attend to, business owners are always looking for ways to increase efficiency and find easier ways of doing things. This is where employee scheduling comes into play, offering a sustainable solution for those management teams that wield its power. Employee scheduling is one of the best ways for a small business to streamline the business and eliminate unnecessary headaches. In today’s article, we have a look at some of the benefits of employee scheduling so read on to find out what you can gain from this change!
1. Increased Levels of Efficiency and Productivity
Deputy is a scheduling software company that have been adding value and time back to busy operations, as the benefits of scheduling software, which can be found through Deputy, include increasing your efficiency and productivity levels. If it sounds too good to be true, you might actually be surprised to learn how this one tool can tighten and improve small businesses across all industries. Employee scheduling software is designed to greatly reduce the time it takes to coordinate your staff’s schedules. Scheduling, when done manually, is a tedious process that can take up to weeks of your time and requires a major investment of time from managers. That’s not to mention that it’s often a paper-based task which brings with it the risk of errors and rosters mysteriously going missing. By automating this process and using software to schedule, you are able to reduce the amount of manual labour dedicated to the process by a considerable amount. This, in turn, allows your managers to focus their time and effort on the other facets of business that bring in revenue for the company. Imagine what can be achieved when you reclaim those wasted hours and apply them to areas of the business that bring value and revenue.
2. Time Tracking
One of the major benefits that scheduling software can bring to your business is time tracking. Time tracking allows you to keep an eye on every hour and minute that your employees spend on each and every task they take on board. This allows you to accurately measure employee productivity by checking on how much time they take to complete various tasks, and when these tasks are started. Time tracking also offers you the ability to manage employee attendance issues and monitor how many hours your employees are clocking in. With a schedule in place, you will be able to easily notice if certain employees are often late or absent. Transparency like this takes all the guesswork out of the equation, and it might even highlight who those rising stars are in your workforce who might be ready for more responsibility. Being able to track hours will also help you account for overtime and easily allow you to ensure that employees are not overworking at any given time, putting you at risk of legislation breaches or higher rates of pay that you haven’t budgeted for.
3. Collaborative Scheduling
Collaborative scheduling allows your employees to set their availability and manage shift trades. Instead of your employees having to put in requests with managers, with the aid of scheduling software, they will be able to put in quick requests for any necessary shift changes. This allows HR teams and managers to quickly approve these changes, thus freeing up more time that can be spent on more revenue-generating tasks instead. Employees are also rewarded with a higher level of job satisfaction when they are able to mitigate scheduling conflicts with the aid of scheduling software. Your management should not be tied up in issues that can be easily resolved by the relevant stakeholder by a simple click or swipe. Shift changing mitigation consumes far too much time of a manager, so this will be a function that will add immediate value to you and your workforce.
4. Allow Employees To Access Schedules Remotely
Thanks to scheduling software, employees are now able to access their schedules via their smartphones or tablets 24/7. Imagine having your team engaged on a deeper, more accessible level. No more ringing in to find out shift times, or having your staff room filled with off-the-clock employees who are reading the new roster. If desired, employees even have the option of setting up text reminders or email notifications slightly before they are due to clock in for a shift to reduce the risk of a no-show or incorrect start time. These capabilities might actually be a selling point to potential candidates, knowing that they can access their roster remotely. These options are fantastic ways of reducing employee absenteeism or the misreading of shifts which may lead to scheduling conflicts. As a result of this, the business can function smoothly and without any hiccups along the way. Who doesn’t want that?
5. Sophisticated Staffing Information
Last but certainly not least, scheduling software equips business owners and managers with accurate and sophisticated staffing information. This isn’t just handy, it is also legally required. Many scheduling systems collaborate with other software such as HR and business data to provide you with sophisticated data with regards to your staffing needs. So rather than logging into a number of different platforms, you can seamlessly get the information you need in one easy-to-navigate place. This allows your business to avoid conflicts due to staffing issues and can give you information on whether your business is meeting labour percentage goals. How can you possibly plan for the year ahead if you don’t have these valuable insights and metrics on hand? Equipped with this valuable information, you will then be able to make more informed choices on how your company operates.
We hope that this article has given you insight into just a few of the many benefits that employee scheduling can bring to your small business. If used to its full potential, this scheduling software will not simply replace one function but will give you access to so many more value-adding tools and tricks.
