Employee Scheduling: What is it & Why is it Important?

Published: April 25, 2022
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Employee scheduling is important to manage your employees in a hybrid workplace. Want to learn more about employee scheduling and what makes it important? This blog explores talks about the basics of employee scheduling. 

The face of the workplace has changed rapidly in recent times. Employees are demanding greater work flexibility, and so companies are shifting to hybrid workplace setups to enable it. Besides, the rising labor costs and regulatory compliances are shifting the way companies are hiring as well.

Companies today are more willing to hire employees across geographical locations. And if that wasn’t enough, employers are increasingly hiring skilled contract workers and part-time workers to minimize labor costs.

Naturally, workflows and systems are bound to change. But if you are a facility manager, one of your most pressing concerns is keeping track of employee work schedules and coordinating remote and in-office schedules. Thankfully, employee scheduling makes this easier.

Recommended Reading: How much does it cost to setup a hybrid workplace? 

What Is Employee Scheduling? 

employee scheduling

Imagine this. You are a new hire at a company, and you have gotten a project. You haven’t been allotted a set schedule to complete it. So, completing a project could go one of two ways.

You either complete the project as soon as possible, without considering the work hours. Or you could take several days to complete the project at your own pace, except the deadline may pass when you finally submit your work.

In the former case, you risk overworking and inch closer to burnout. Besides, given your self-imposed time limit, you may not be able to turn in quality work.

Also Read: How does the lack of work boundary cause burnout? 

While in the latter scenario, company goals may be at stake if you fail to hand over crucial projects on time. It’s clear that scheduling is key. But what is it, and what does it include? Let’s take a look. 

Simply put, employee scheduling is the act of organizing, optimizing, and managing employee schedules so that projects and company goals are met on time. But this definition doesn’t fully cover the realm of scheduling. Here’s what employee scheduling includes in modern work culture.

  • Allocating work efficiently according to project timelines, labor cost, compliance rules, and other constraints
  • Managing requests and scheduling off days 
  • Optimizing schedules for employee productivity, and more.

What’s more, the extent of scheduling shifts as per the type of organization. In other words, while smaller organizations with limited projects may only need a single schedule, larger ones may need employee schedules to help coordinate projects between different teams.

Now that we know what employee scheduling is all about, let’s get into why companies ought to pay heed to it.

Additional Read: Employee Scheduling vs Resource Scheduling Software

Importance of Employee Scheduling in the Modern Workplace

Employee Scheduling Helps Efficient Operations

The secret to a successful business is a smooth, consistent, and clear workflow. And the responsibility of making one with work hours, deadlines, etc., often falls on facility managers like you. Thankfully, employee scheduling can help you with it.

Since employee scheduling involves keeping track of staffing requirements, making appointments, tracking deadlines, and delegating tasks, it helps you make a work schedule in line with company goals. This helps employees know their roles, work hours, and deadlines and helps them give their best to a project, thereby furthering company goals.

It Helps Manage Employee Attendance and Pay

resource scheduling software

To meet project goals and deadlines on time, employees must turn up consistently and work productively during their work hours. Additionally, managers should be able to track regular defaulters timely and deal with them. And if you didn’t know, none of this is possible without employee scheduling. 

Employee scheduling helps you allot employee shifts and helps track if they are being filled effectively. So, if certain employees are taking leaves frequently or coming in later than their shift times regularly, you can inform the management timely, and they can take the necessary action.

And that’s not all. If your company hires contract or part-time workers who go by an hourly pay, employee scheduling can help you calculate their salaries easily before payday too.

Employee Scheduling Makes Shift Management Efficient

If your company runs round the clock, it probably has a shift system in place. The last thing you want in this case is overbooking your employees with work or having employees report randomly in the office, disrupting work. Thankfully, effective employee scheduling can help you avoid them altogether.

With employee scheduling, allot shifts to workers based on their past shifts, work experience, and skills. This ensures your employees are on the same page and helps reduce conflict dramatically. In fact, clear schedule communication also creates a more fulfilling environment for shift workers. At least that’s what 53% of shift workers say.

It Helps Manage Overtime

Allotting overtime shifts may be unavoidable sometimes. But as a facility manager, you must ensure such allotments don’t go overboard.

Because such shifts negatively impact employee productivity (one study reported a 10% increase in overtime reduced employee productivity by 2.4%).

Besides, overtime employees need to be paid as per labor laws too. This makes keeping track of work hours and effective employee scheduling more important.

Employee Scheduling Helps Keep Tabs on Leaves

employee scheduling software

Employees will take leaves from time to time. However, as a facility manager, you must ensure work doesn’t suffer because of it. This means you have to rely on employee scheduling to approve leaves or change work schedules to work around them. Either way, you will set up systems to ensure fair leave approvals and full work allotments. And employee scheduling can help with it.

Bonus Read: Why Office Scheduling is the Essence of a Hybrid Workplace

Start Setting up Employee Scheduling Systems at Work Today!

If you don’t have an employee scheduling system, you must set one up to make employee schedule tracking and management easier. And if yours is a small company that works with minimal scheduling, even a spreadsheet could help you get the job done.

However, if yours is a larger organization that relies on extensive, well-outlined schedules, you might want to invest in software for employee scheduling. Why? Because these help you cut down the time spent scheduling and maximize shift coverage. 

If you are looking for an employee scheduling software for your hybrid workplace, WorkInSync’s all-in-one hybrid workplace solution is what you want to get. With facilities like hot-desking, meeting-room booking, commute management, and employee scheduling, this software can help solve all your hybrid workplace woes. 

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