How to effectively schedule employees

In order to schedule employees in a way that is effective you need to take a few things into consideration.

The first thing to consider is the local laws and regulations that will dictate how long employees can work and what types of breaks you must provide. You need to make sure that when you schedule employees you comply with government standards so that you avoid getting in trouble.

Secondly, you want to schedule employees according to their availability. Before creating a schedule, make sure you know exactly when your employees can work, especially if they need particular days off. This will make sure that employees are easily able to make their shifts and you will not need to constantly alter the schedule once it’s created.

You also want to take into account the flow of work and when your business is the busiest. For example, if your company has ebbs and flows in terms of how much business they have, you need to make sure your schedule reflects this.

If you schedule employees in a way that does not take workload into consideration, then you risk having too many people on a shift that is not busy or vice versa. This can cause issues with employees either being too busy or not busy enough and either way you end up with unhappy employees.

When scheduling employees it is also important to do so in a format that is easy for all employees to see and can be easily modified. Employees need to know when they are working so they can schedule their lives outside of work. Also, you never know when people might call in sick, so paying attention to how easily the schedule can be modified is important.

All in all, the most important thing to think about when scheduling employees is balancing the needs of your staff with the needs of the business. Before making a schedule final, try to make sure that both the employees and the business will be able to work smoothly.

By taking these criteria into consideration when scheduling employees, you will be able to create a schedule that works for everyone.

Why is effectively scheduling employees important?

The following are the reasons why effectively scheduling employees is important:

• High Productivity: scheduling employees effectively means they can work efficiently making your productivity levels rise. When employees are working a schedule that fits into their lives, they have more energy for work and will be efficient and doing their jobs.
• Happy employees: having a good schedule makes employees happy as they are able to create a balance between work and life. Also, knowing your schedule gives employees the reassurance that things in the business are well organized and they have less stress.
• Keeping up with the demands of business: the number of customers your business has can ebb and flow at certain times of the year or during differing economic states. It is important to schedule employees according to these changes so that you always have a sufficient number of staff working each shift.
• Balance the books: for each schedule, you should have a good idea of how much you are spending on the payroll. When the scheduling of your employees is efficient, you can keep control of how much you are spending on your employees and how to do this in a balanced way.

By having effective scheduling practices you will see the above improvements in your business and it will be obvious as to why scheduling is so important.

Types of schedules

When scheduling employees you can use different types of schedules to completely fill the hours of business. The following are common types of schedules for employees.

• Full-time: this is a standard schedule where times are laid out on a regular weekly basis, normally equaling 40 hours per week. For example, the most common of full-time schedules would be 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday.
• Part-time: this is a standard schedule where times are laid out on a regular weekly basis, normally equaling between 15-20 hours per week. An example of this would be working three days a week, working six hours per shift.
• Flex scheduling: this is used often for shift work where an employee would work the same number of hours a week but the number of shifts or when the shifts were might change. An example of this would be when you work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday one week and then work weekends the next.
• Rotating shifts: this is when you have set shifts that the employees rotate through. An example of this is often seen in healthcare when workers switch between daytime and nighttime shifts.
• Split shifts: this is when you split your shift into two parts. For example, you might need to work in the morning for a few hours, take a break and then come back to work for another shift. This can happen in places like restaurants that may only be busy during certain times of the day.
• Compressed work week: this is when your schedule is compressed into only four days a week rather than the usual five. This allows your staff to have three days off per week and can help them stay focused by giving them more rest between weeks.
• Hybrid shifts: this is when your schedule is partially in person and partially done from home. This type of shift means that you only have half your staff in the office at one time and allows your staff to work from home half the time. 

Related: 11 Tips To Effectively Manage Remote Employees (with FAQs)

Depending on the type of business, you may have certain types of schedules you can use or a combination of schedules depending on the position. Making sure it is clear what type of schedule you are using for each employee can make the creation of a schedule a lot easier.

Now that we’ve gone through the different types of schedules we can focus on the steps needed to schedule employees.

4 Steps to scheduling employees

There are four steps to scheduling employees:

1. Establish the Needs of Employees

When establishing the needs of your employees you want to start by having a discussion with each person about when they’re available. This means that if you have people who work only part-time hours, you will not be scheduling them when they are needed elsewhere.

Also, you will be able to see which employees can work the same shifts, meaning you’ll have a good idea of what people will be working together. By doing this you can see which team of workers are well suited to work together and which are not. This can have an effect on your productivity levels so you want to pay attention to which workers are working when.

This also takes into account things such as time off or scheduled holidays. If staff have certain holidays you need to be aware of, making sure you know these needs is important before creating the schedule.

If you are unaware of these types of dates, you will find yourself constantly needing to change the schedule which can be confusing to staff and a waste of your time.

2. Establish Needs of Business

As stated earlier, you need to balance the needs of your business and your employees when creating a schedule. To establish what the staff needs of your business you should see if there are times when your business is busier than others. If there is, then you’ll need more staff for these times.

Also, make sure you know which positions need to be working together so that you schedule these people at the same time. This will help with productivity levels so that projects can get done on time.

Another aspect you need to think about is your overall operating budget. Your budget will help you determine things like how many full-time vs. part-time employees you can have on during the week. Before finalizing your schedule you should always double-check your budget to make sure payroll is not too high.

3. Decide On Scheduling Method

There are a lot of ways in which you can work on and then display the schedule. For example, you might want to use a spreadsheet so that you can easily see the names of the employees as well as what shifts they will be working.

Others choose to have a calendar that they can share electronically with their employees. This could be helpful if schedules change so that the employees can keep track of who works when.

There are also a lot of software that you can use to help you with organizing schedules for employees. These programs can make sure that everything in your schedule makes sense and that you’re not overscheduling any staff.

4. Have Clear Rules

Make sure that you have clear rules about how the schedule can change so that all employees know how to request time off when needed. This will also establish how employees are to report illness so that if you need someone to cover a shift, you can do this before the start of the day.

Schedules need to be adaptable, but employees should respect the time it takes to create and implement the schedule. By having strict rules about this, you will not be stuck short-staffed or spend extra time making constant changes to the schedule.

By implementing the above steps you will be able to create an effective schedule for employees that is efficient and effective.

Related: Working Hours in Canada