When it comes to shift planning, it is always a key challenge for the front-line managers in the service industries, including F&B, retail, and hospitality. It is inevitable for the managers to spend dozens of hours on planning a comprehensive schedule that works for all the employees. Even if you spend hours on employee scheduling, ignoring some small details will also lead to a serious disaster. So, we have four tips to help you schedule staff in a much easier and better way.
1. Satisfy the needs of employees
No matter how good your schedule is, the employees may still not be able to work on their assigned shifts due to different reasons. Facilitating work-life balance for the employees is also an important aspect for building up a healthy work environment. Therefore, with the approval from the supervisor, allowing the employees to swap shifts could enable them to work more flexibly. In addition to building team spirit by helping each other, it also reduces the opportunity of no-call or no-show absence. So as a front-line manager, you don’t have to worry about the short-handed chaos!
2. Announce the next schedule ASAP
When the next month’s roster is prepared, front-line supervisors should notify the employees of the shift schedule in advance. It ensures that the employees have sufficient time to swap shifts with other colleagues if needed. More important is that you have to make sure EVERY employee receives the new schedule after the adjustment, and they clearly understand their own shift arrangement. Misunderstanding is prone to occur in poor communication, which causes the employees fail to work in accordance with the new shift schedule.
3. Arrange appropriate time for rest
Not just considering the number of labors in the store, but front-line managers also have to pay more attention to their employees’ rest time. Double shift, which represents that the rest period between the first and second shift is shorter than normal, should be avoided. Since the front-line staff will feel groggy when adequate rest is lacked, the workload of other colleagues will be increased in light of the poor work performance, so that the productivity will be reduced. Such work attitude further builds a poor service experience and therefore results in customer dissatisfaction. And definitely, this is the situation that we don’t want it to happen.
4. Use cloud-based shift planning software
So obviously, such tips can make your scheduling work becomes better. But you may annoy with the extra steps that you have to follow, for example, adjustment, printing, and re-distribution. PinShift, a workforce management system, helps you to tackle all of these inconveniences. Front-line managers are allowed to manage the roster on this online platform, with a simple click of the “Publish” button, your employees could instantly receive the latest version via the Pinshift Employee App. PinShift will also remind your staff of the shifts in the next few days. So, they won’t be confused with the old version roster/ last month’s roster!
PinShift also provides the A.I. automatic roster scheduling feature, and it will automatically generate a schedule based on the rest day, leave amount, staff requirement, and the previous shifts. With the assistance by this scheduling software, employee scheduling is neither a complicated nor a time-consuming task. PinShift also contains function of checking in/out via the mobile app, and the total working hours will be generated by comparing the planned roster and timeclock record. As a manager, you could review the attendance record and dig out the exceptional cases, like late, early leave, and absence! Try it out now with 30 days free trial!