Must-Know Tips to Make Your Life as a Scheduling Manager Easier

Are you in charge of creating your company’s schedules every week?

If so, then you’re probably familiar with the challenges of accommodating everybody’s needs.

Your employees are all juggling their own schedules. Some work part-time jobs while others have families to take care of. You may even have some employees who are still going to school.

At the same time, your company needs to follow its own schedule. That way, it can carry out business and improve your company’s productivity.

Luckily, there are ways you can create the perfect schedule every week without fail. In this article, we’ll explore how to make a schedule that meets the needs of your business and employees. We’ll also explore some ways to make your life easier as scheduling manager.

Let’s get started!

Know Your Company’s Scheduling Needs

The foundation of a good schedule ensures that every shift is appropriately covered. This requires knowing the ins and outs of your company’s schedule and daily needs.

Which positions are necessary for every shift? Does your company need to accomplish certain tasks every day? Which tasks are only necessary certain days of the week?

For example, you may only need a couple employees on in the mornings. But you may need more to come in before peak hours. On other days, you may need the entire staff present to carry out all duties.

You should also stay on top of upcoming events. Not only should you let your employees know about them ahead of time. You should plan months in advance and figure out how much staff you’ll need on board for them.

Know Your Employees

There’s more to scheduling than covering every shift.

The success of your business depends on having a balance of skills present every shift. For example, if you run a restaurant, you don’t want to schedule three dishwashers if you could use an extra cook.

To help, create a daily list of positions you’ll need to fill every morning and evening shift. These lists can vary day-to-day, so keep them organized. Make sure to check sales records to keep track of your busiest shifts.

The farther out in advance you send out schedules, the better. This way, everybody can plan ahead of time and notify you changes they may need.

Keep Every Employee Happy

You don’t want to double-schedule an employee for the same shift. Nor do you want to over-schedule someone, especially if they’re supposed to be part-time.

Doing so will not only keep labor costs and overtime costs down. You’ll make sure that everybody has equal opportunity to make enough money each week.

Create a file for every employee. List out their qualifications, skills, and their outside commitments. You should also make note of their personality type.

Make a schedule that’s successful by combining the right personalities each shift. Having too many outgoing personalities at once could overwhelm more introverted workers. At the same time, having an outgoing person to lead each shift is important.

Honor Time-Off Requests

Wondering how to make a schedule and build a good rapport with your employees at the same time? Honoring their time-off requests is a great start.

Workers appreciate when their employers not only honor their schedules outside of work. They also appreciate it when their employees are flexible and allow for time off.

It’s important to show your employees that you value a work-life balance. Part of doing that is allowing your employees to take vacation time and personal days off.

Be Consistent with Time-Off Requests

Allowing your employees to take time off is one thing. But allowing your employees to abuse time-off requests is another.

You should set up a system when it comes to time-off requests. For example, you may only allow your employees to take off X amount of days per month.

Do you have certain employees who are constantly trying to switch shifts? Does it seem like they only want to work shifts that allow them to make more money?

If so, don’t let them abuse the rules to requesting time off. You want to make sure that everyone is able to take time off and make the same amount of money.

Have People On-Call

Set a rule for requesting time off. You may require your employees to request time off at least 2-3 weeks in advance. But this depends on how far in advance you send out the schedules.

Be understanding of when your workers need to call in due to illness or an emergency. This will also help you build a good rapport with your team.

You may need to schedule people on as on-call on busy days. This way, if someone calls in sick, you can cover their shift.

Use an Online Scheduling & Payroll System

There’s nothing wrong with using a paper schedule and posting it on a bulletin board. It’s the classic way of how to make a schedule. But in the day and age of technology, there are easier ways to keep track of everybody’s schedule.

For starters, online schedules allow employees to fill out their own availability. They can request certain dates off or block out time frames each day based on their own schedule. You can also keep track of everybody’s schedules using a color coding system.

Not all online scheduling tools have the same features. Some send out schedules via email or SMS. Others allow you to send task reminders while tracking everybody’s clocked-in work time.

Looking for an online scheduling tool that contains all these features? You can read more about Time Clock Wizard and how its instant payroll reporting system works. That way, you can do your scheduling and payroll all in one easy-to-use system.

Make Your Life Easier as Scheduling Manager

Creating the perfect work schedule is never easy. As the scheduling manager, you not only need to meet the needs of your company. You also have to make sure that you’re accommodating to the needs and schedules of your employees.

By following these tips, you can create flexible and well-planned schedules. All while making your life easier and free of stress!

But there’s more to keeping your employees happy than creating the perfect schedule. For more business tips and ideas, check out our blog today!