Tag: employee scheduling

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The Total Economic Impact™ of Workforce.com

Forrester conducted a study to discover the cost savings and business benefits of Workforce.com. Results of the study show that a composite organization in the food and retail sector has seen labor savings, achieved efficiency gains for managers, and reduced compliance risk. 

Key Findings

A 450% ROI 

According to the study, Workforce.com has a 450% return on investment (ROI) and the following three-year, risk-adjusted present value (PV) qualified benefits. Some highlights include: 

Improved labor efficiency by 5% and Increased revenue per labor hour by 5.26% 

One of the organizations interviewed for the study shared that they improved labor efficiency by 11% just by focusing on optimizing labor hours per store. Over three years, the composite organization saved $5.3 in labor costs. 

Workforce.com makes it easier for managers to forecast demand and create optimized schedules based on past sales data, shift trends, hourly rates, and staff qualifications.

“It was easy to justify this investment because labor is one of the biggest costs to our business, so it’s not only critical, it’s just smart to have a system that gives us oversight and is designed to manage labor costs.” Country Manager, QSR

80% Less Time Spent on Scheduling

Managers are also saving 4.2 hours per week per store on scheduling and other related tasks, leading to $1.6 million in labor savings over three years.

By automating scheduling, Workforce.com reduces the time spent creating shifts, forecasting demand, and handling admin tasks like shift swaps, onboarding, and compliance tracking.

“Now we don’t need to rely on muscle memory and gut feelings. We only need to use the system to see the forecast to make sure that the efficiency assumptions are in place. That’s it. Everyone can make a schedule.” Vice President of Customers, QSR

$920K in Compliance Risk Reduction

Workforce.com’s compliance engine helps businesses stay on top of labor laws and ensures accurate pay, potentially avoiding $920,000 in fines, penalties, and legal costs.

$991K in Payroll and Accounting Savings

With more accurate timesheets, automated workflows, and better visibility, payroll and accounting teams spend less time on manual work and compliance checks—leading to nearly $1 million in savings.

Key challenges identified among organizations

Forrester’s study highlighted common challenges that pushed decision-makers to seek a more efficient workforce management platform. Here’s what they struggled with before making the switch: 

  • Keeping up with labor laws and agreements – With labor regulations constantly changing, businesses needed better oversight of payroll practices and compliance.
  • Lack of visibility across stores and managers – Without a centralized system, companies had little insight into store operations, making it harder to ensure compliance, track performance, and identify training needs.
  • Rising labor costs – Companies needed a smarter way to control labor expenses and optimize costs.

“We use Workforce.com because the most critical part of creating a schedule is projecting in detail what you think is going to happen every day, then using that information to tell us when people need to start. Labor in this country is very expensive, so 15 wasted minutes adds up to a lot of money.” Country Manager, QSR Organization

  • Shifting customer demands – Businesses needed a scheduling platform that could handle fluctuating demand across multiple channels. The COVID-19 pandemic made this even more urgent, forcing companies to adapt to changing customer behaviors, including balancing in-store and delivery operations.

Background

Forrester conducted this study on behalf of Workforce.com to evaluate its return on investment (ROI). Researchers interviewed decision-makers from organizations that had implemented Workforce.com. Their insights were combined into a single composite organization—a global food and retail company with 250 store locations, 5,300 employees (including one manager per store), and $312 million in annual revenue.

Before switching to Workforce.com, these businesses relied on a mix of legacy systems and platforms. However, many managers still fell back on manual processes for scheduling, managing shift swaps, and onboarding new hires. As a result, they struggled with:

  • Forecasting staffing needs
  • Controlling labor costs
  • Managing schedules efficiently
  • Staying compliant with labor laws and payroll regulations

Want to see the full breakdown of Forrester’s findings? Download the report here.

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7 HR Tactics for Handling the Retail Holiday Surge

Summary

  • Retail businesses are expected to add 520,000 seasonal jobs in the last quarter of 2024. While this number is slightly lower than last year’s, the race to hire seasonal workers remains tight.
  • Labor forecasting is vital for retailers to determine the ideal staffing levels they need in time for the holiday shopping peak season. On top of that, they must speed up hiring and onboarding for seasonal roles.
  • Workforce.com can help retailers stay ahead with smart labor forecasting, easy hiring and onboarding, and streamlined workforce management.

The holiday shopping season is fast approaching, and retail businesses must be ready for surging foot traffic and online sales. But it’s not just how you manage inventory or come up with marketing strategies to attract shoppers. It’s about having the right staffing strategies in place to provide the best customer experience whether in-store or online. And the onus is on HR and managers to recruit and onboard seasonal workers, manage unpredictable schedules, and avoid burnout during a very busy time of year. 

Typically, retail businesses hire seasonal workers such as sales assistants, warehouse staff, stockroom workers, delivery drivers, and customer service representatives to handle the surge in demand and ensure a smooth shopping experience.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 200.4 million people shopped from Thanksgiving, Black Friday through Cyber Monday in 2023. Both online and brick-and-mortar stores felt the rush, with 121.4 million people making in-store purchases and 134.2 million buyers online.

While spending may slightly cool down this year, retail businesses still need to prepare for higher demand than other quarters. And prices and offers aren’t the only areas where competition is fierce. Retail businesses should also step up to strengthen staffing and recruitment strategies.

The race to attract seasonal workers

Although slightly lower than last year, market projections show that the retail industry is still expected to add 520,000 seasonal jobs in the last quarter of 2024, down from 564,200 seasonal jobs in 2023. That said, the competition for seasonal workers remains tight, and retailers must act fast to fill staffing gaps before the shopping rush hits.  Big retailers are not holding back. They rolled out aggressive tactics like nationwide hiring events and on-the-spot interviews. They know that while consumer spending may dip, shoppers will still spend—just more carefully. If you have a solid client base and strong customer loyalty, you need to be prepared for your demand to soar. Here are seven practical tips to help you prepare:

1. Identify your unique staffing needs.

Labor forecasting software integrates with your point-of-sale system, using its historical sales data to predict upcoming labor needs. You can also manually upload other kinds of demand data like appointments, foot traffic, and more – just use whatever makes the most sense for your business. A machine learning algorithm combines all of this data with economic trends, weather forecasts, and staff availability to let you know exactly how many workers you need for each shift; this makes your scheduling and hiring decisions much easier. Plus, it’ll help you determine whether you need more seasonal hires or if adding extra hours and overtime will do the trick.

2. Strengthen your hiring strategy.

As you gear up for the shopping season, a robust hiring system is vital to attracting top talent without getting buried in admin tasks. 

Job boards are great for spreading the word, but why stop there? An applicant tracking system (ATS) like Workforce.com lets you generate QR codes for your job openings, print them, and place them in your retail stores. Interested applicants simply scan the code and submit their application. 

To save time, you can set up pre-qualifying questions about availability, experience, and credentials. This way, only the best candidates move forward to interviews, and you only spend time with those who meet your criteria. 

Workforce.com’s ATS helps you track applications, spot roadblocks, and identify what’s causing delays. This will ensure that you lock in the workers you need for the season.

3. Fast-track onboarding and training for seasonal hires.

The thing with the shopping season is that you need to onboard seasonal workers fast. Unlike regular hires, you don’t have the luxury of 30-60-90 day milestones to fully integrate them. Seasonal workers need to be onboarded and be up and running right away. A good onboarding system will let you do just that. 

Start by streamlining the paperwork. Workforce.com captures all the necessary new hire information—personal details, bank information, W-4s, and more—all without the hassle of paperwork. Newly hired seasonal workers can log into the system and input their information directly, eliminating manual data entry. 

While seasonal employees might have fairly straightforward jobs, they still need training. Even experienced sales associates need orientation about popular items, store layout, and return policies.

Even if you’re running an e-commerce platform, seasonal workers still need to learn how to navigate the online store, order queues, waybill processing, inventory management, and checkout process.

To get seasonal workers up to speed, consider implementing a buddy system where you pair them with full-time employees so they can learn the ropes faster and be ready to perform their best.

4. Streamline how you delegate tasks.

Operations during the peak holiday season will only be as smooth as how you communicate tasks and expectations. When working with seasonal workers, you must assign responsibilities clearly and precisely.

Workforce.com’s task management system allows you to delegate responsibilities and send out to-do lists. Seasonal workers are instantly notified of their tasks, can check off completed items, and even provide proof of completion, all in real-time, through the Workforce.com app. It’s a simple way to ensure everything gets done right when needed.

5. Optimize schedules based on demand.

Understaffing can be a disaster, but overstaffing isn’t cost-effective either. To remain profitable, you need to schedule shifts based on demand. 

While you can’t predict demand perfectly, there are plenty of indicators to guide your scheduling decisions. Looking at historical data is a great start (as we covered earlier), but scheduling isn’t a “set it and forget it” task. You’ll need to keep optimizing as the season unfolds. 

When the season is in full swing, you must monitor your wage cost metrics and see where to optimize. How much foot traffic are you getting? Is there a weather forecast that can affect that? Do you need to add more workers? Cut back on hours? Or maybe just shuffle your workers to balance overstaffed and understaffed areas? 

At the same time, you can also tap your team for feedback. Workers are on the front lines and can give you valuable insights on what’s happening on the ground. Have them rate their shifts and share where improvements are needed and what’s working well. Their feedback can provide information to fine-tune your schedules and operations.

Workforce.com’s scheduling system allows you to do just that. You can compare scheduled wage costs with sales data in real-time, seeing where to optimize labor levels. It also has a shift rating system where your team can provide feedback about things like communication, management, and more.

6. Ensure complete oversight of your workforce.

The holiday rush can get hectic, and managers need a streamlined way to oversee their teams. With orders to fulfill, shipments to send out, and a store to run, it can take time to juggle staff scheduling, time tracking, and attendance issues. 

That’s where Workforce.com can step in and make things easier. The app lets managers see who’s clocked in and who’s running late. In case of no-shows or last-minute absences, you can automatically offer vacant shifts to available, qualified staff. Filling the gaps only takes a few clicks, whether via desktop or mobile app. Need to send a quick message to the team? The app has that covered, too. 

Workforce.com also notifies managers if an employee is about to go into overtime. Before they clock in the extra hours, you can decide whether it’s worth extending their hours or if their tasks can wait until the next day.

7. Know what labor laws apply to seasonal employees.

Hiring seasonal employees allows you to scale your team during busy periods. However, you must also be aware of any labor laws that apply to seasonal workers to ensure they are paid correctly and treated fairly, safeguarding you from legal issues.

According to the FLSA, non-exempt seasonal workers should receive minimum wage and overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours a week.

If hiring students or teens for seasonal work, you must also be mindful of child labor laws to ensure they’re only scheduled for the appropriate number of hours and times of day.

Also read: Child Labor Laws by State + Federal (2024)

What about taxes? Per IRS rules, the same tax withholding rules apply to seasonal employees as that of other employees. 

Plus, depending on specific criteria, seasonal employees may be entitled to benefits such as unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, healthcare, retirement benefits, and paid sick leave.

The holiday shopping season is a massive opportunity for retailers to boost sales, increase brand recognition, and gain new customers. To make the most of it, you need a solid plan and an efficient system to help you stay agile and organized. Workforce.com is the perfect system for this busy time of year, giving you the right tools to optimize your staffing levels as the season unfolds.

Discover how Workforce.com can help you stay ahead not just this holiday shopping season but all year round. Book a demo today.

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Shift Swap Form: free template + 5 need to knows (2023)

Oil painting of two astronauts high fiving

Summary

  • Request and record shift swaps with a printable, free template

  • Make your shift swapping process more efficient and compliant by considering labor costs, schedule validations, and a bidding process

  • Manage employee shift swaps more efficiently with shift swapping software

Without the right documentation and protocol, letting your staff swap shifts can get a little messy. That’s probably why you are here, right?

Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered with this free template with fillable fields:

Shift Swap Request Form Template

Go ahead and make a copy, save it, print it, fold it, roll it – hell, you can even turn it into a paper airplane if you feel so inclined.

But hey, while you’re here, you might want to check out a few ways to improve the shift-swapping process at your business.

Five considerations for shift swaps

Allowing employees to swap their shifts can be as simple as a text message followed by a minor edit to the schedule. But a process as simple as this can run into problems, especially when you have a staff count over, say five. So here are a few ways to make shift swaps not only more efficient but cost-effective and compliant as well.

1. Allow for a bidding process

Sometimes, 1-to-1 shift swaps aren’t practical or efficient. Especially with larger workforces, singling out one coworker for a swap request misses out on potentially better-fit replacements.

As an alternative, consider letting staff members submit general swap requests, which anyone on their team can offer to cover. Managers can review the submissions, see all the bids, and decide on the most sensible swap. Using a bidding process like this eliminates the need for staff to hunt down a single person to swap with, and it allows for better collaboration and communication across your workforce.

Bidding processes also allow you to offer open shifts to your staff in case of last-minute call-outs or no-shows.

Webinar: How to Reduce No Call, No Shows

2. Don’t overlook qualifications & clashes

Whether you use 1-to-1 swaps or a bidding process, there is always a chance the wrong employee swaps in for another. Without proper oversight, you could have an unqualified employee taking a shift that requires special certification; this could land you in some hot water. You could also let a trade go through that accidentally clashes with an employee’s preexisting shift, leaving you with a broken schedule.

Make sure all shift swaps go through a schedule validation process to avoid these issues. Managers need an easy and immediate way to see missing qualifications and shift clashes; otherwise, they will slip through the cracks eventually.

3. Stay compliant with labor laws

Staying with the theme of schedule validations, it’s essential to know if a shift swap will violate any labor laws that apply to your workforce. For instance, if a swap puts someone over their maximum hours for the week or gives them a dreaded “clopening” shift, your organization could risk legal repercussions. Ensure the validation process catches these hazards before the DOL comes knocking.

4. Shift costs aren’t created equal

Once all compliance validations are accounted for, you should consider your labor costs. Ideally, you want to prevent shift swaps from costing you more. For instance, if a trade causes one employee to edge into overtime because their requested new shift is longer than their current one, you’ll be paying overtime rates that previously were never scheduled. Not great.

It’s a good idea to include wage costs, hourly rates, and work-hour totals on shift swap requests. Managers should be able to tell at a glance whether or not approving a trade will incur higher labor costs. This is where a bidding process comes in handy; managers can approve even swaps that result in no change to expected wage costs for the pay period.

5. Utilize the supercomputers in your employees’ pockets

Accounting for all the things above might seem like a lot of work – and it is if you are using paper shift swap forms. While you’ll technically have documentation of your swaps, you’ll have no real idea if you are doing them efficiently or compliantly. Luckily for you, there is a high likelihood that each of your employees has a supercomputer in their pocket at all times. Use them.

These days, employee scheduling apps come with real-time shift swapping functionality that makes shift change forms obsolete. Incorporating the modern-day extension of the human body into a workflow like shift swapping only makes sense, especially in fast-paced environments like hospitality and nursing. Shift changes take less time and are easier to manage when you condense all the admin work into a single, easy-to-use app.

Ditch the template: let the software do the work

A paper shift switch form – even ours – will not cut it if you want to manage shift swaps correctly. With Workforce.com’s shift swapping software, you can automatically validate every trade request for qualifications, maximum hours, employee availability, shift clashes, and overtime.

Shift swap requests on the Workforce.com app

Once approved, everyone gets notified over the app, and the work schedule is automatically updated accordingly. Sounds nice, right?

Leave the templates behind and get started with smarter shift swapping by contacting us today.

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9/80 Work Schedule: Pros & Cons + Examples

Summary

  • The 9/80 work schedule: Staff work four 9-hour days, one 8-hour day, and get one 3-day weekend over a two-week period

  • 9/80 work schedules are good for gaining more days off, boosting employee morale, and saving on labor costs

  • Proper employee scheduling software is needed to handle the transition to a 9/80 work schedule

Could compressing your work schedule increase the productivity of your employees?

Transitioning to a 9/80 work schedule requires experimentation, planning, and a methodical approach to implementation. While some employees may be fine with working a 9/80 work schedule, some may not be comfortable working an extra hour a day. Administering a different work schedule also requires a few adjustments by the employer. Managers should follow a process when switching to a 9/80 work schedule and remain flexible at the same time.

What is the 9/80 work schedule?

A 9/80 work schedule covers a two-week period and is made up of eight 9-hour days, one 8-hour day, and one three-day weekend.

During the first week, employees work four 9-hour days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) and one 8-hour day (Friday), totaling 44 work hours. The first Friday is split between two 4-hour shifts, with the first 4-hours marking the end of week one and closing out the 40-hour workweek. The second 4-hour period spills over into the second week.

In the second week, they work another four 9-hour days followed by a day off on the second Friday, totaling 36 work hours for the week. Due to the additional 4-hours worked on the previous Friday, a three-day weekend is created every other week.

So, after everything, all workers fulfill 80 hours of work over a two-week period with this compressed work schedule.

Research shows that employees look for more flexibility around their work schedules post-pandemic; 54% of employees would consider quitting their jobs if employers did not afford some flexibility in where and when they work. The same survey revealed that 33% of respondents want a shorter workweek. And the 9/80 work schedule aims to provide these employees with the flexibility that they desire along with the shorter workweeks too.

The pros and cons of the 9/80 work schedule

Since the 9/80 work schedule comes with its fair share of both upsides and downsides, it is wise to consider all angles before implementing one across a workforce.

The pros of the 9/80 work schedule are:

Pro: Higher employee productivity & morale

Having an additional day off over a two-week period gives employees more time to dedicate to personal commitments and gives them time to recharge, making them more rejuvenated when they get back to work. Breaks allow employees time to rest, which makes them more productive on the remaining days when they are at work.

Microsoft’s division in Japan says it saw productivity grow by 40% after allowing employees to work for four days a week rather than five. While the company didn’t move to a 9/80 work schedule, its results are proof that four-day workweeks make employees more productive.

Pro: More flexibility, greater work-life balance

More time away from the office, in the form of 26 three-day weekends a year, reduces the instances of burnout. Employees get a guaranteed two extra days off in a month. More time for errands, hobbies, and personal commitments. According to a survey by Cornerstone, 87% of employees believed that three-day weekends are better for stress relief than long vacations.

Also, when employees are happy with their work environment due to flexible work schedules and shorter workweeks, they’re more likely to stay with the business for longer, which could reduce staff turnover costs.

Pro: Reduced costs for the business and employees

With employees working fewer days over a two-week period, businesses can lower their labor and overhead costs, since they would need to support employees over fewer days on-site.

When Microsoft Japan moved to a four-day workweek, the company reduced its electricity costs by 23%, simply because it only needed electricity for four days a week instead of five.

Fewer workdays also mean less commuting for employees, helping them save money on travel. If a company finances commuting costs, it saves the company money too.

The cons of the 9/80 work schedule are as follows:

Con: Longer workdays

It can be more tiring to work longer days, resulting in laziness and even burnout. Employees may only have time to eat and go to bed when they return home, which may reduce their morale and motivation to work.

Working anywhere from 30–40 hours per week, which is considered full-time, can hurt employee health and wellbeing. In fact, according to a study conducted by the Australian National University, work should be limited to a maximum of 39 hours per week.

Con: Scheduling problems

If an employee takes a sick day or vacation day on a 9-hour working day, he/she has lost 9 hours of pay, instead of the usual 8 hours under a normal schedule. It’s the same for public holidays that fall on 9-hour workdays. This might create scheduling problems since your scheduling system may be programmed to count sick days as eight-hour days.

There are also overtime complications in managing a 9/80 work schedule. If you track work hours on a weekly basis, rather than every two weeks, employees who work greater than 40 hours in a week may consistently hit overtime. Since employees can work up to 44 hours in the first week of a 9/80 schedule, some businesses could find themselves paying out increased hours of overtime every other week.

For businesses that require a continual presence (like a restaurant), it may be difficult to implement a 9/80 work schedule. They must organize their scheduling in a way to ensure staff is on duty to attend to customers every day of the week. With staff regularly taking three-day weekends, scheduling gaps inevitably appear, meaning managers will need to figure out simple shift replacement procedures.

Con: Other businesses and customers could be inactive during extra work hours

If your employees are working an extra hour a day, other businesses and employees could be inactive during those hours. So, if your employees work from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., your customers may be inactive between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., making it redundant for employees to work those hours. This, of course, is assuming you work in an industry where your customers’ working hours may fall outside of your working hours as a company.

How to implement the 9/80 work schedule

Adopt a step-by-step approach when moving to the 9/80 work schedule. Evaluating if it’s right for your business, communicating with leadership and employees, trialing the new schedule, and using scheduling software that enables you to make the switch are ways to make a successful transition.

Evaluate whether the 9/80 work schedule is right for your business

It’s a good idea to evaluate the perks and quirks of a 9/80 work schedule to determine whether or not it is right for your business.

Adopting the 9/80 schedule is typically easier when employees can work on the same weekdays and take the same day off every two weeks, so there can be a company-wide day off. 10. Also, a fixed day off for the whole company means the business can close fully for a day, which could result in cost savings in the form of reduced utility bills.

Examples of workforces where the 9/80 work schedule might be a good fit include software developers, business consultants, graphic designers, writers, and accountants. Their work is focused on deliverables, and they need not work on a certain day to meet customer needs. They could easily work the extra hour a day and remain focused on their deliverables.

On the other hand, industries like retail, hospitality, manufacturing, and logistics will find adjusting to this type of schedule very difficult, as they’ll have to manage a rotating schedule to ensure customers are always attended to. It requires significant effort and organization to implement different days off for each employee to maintain staffing levels throughout the week that match output. To do this, you may have to adjust which day of the week is your “flex” 8-hour day depending on customer demand or make that flex day different for distinct employee teams/groups/locations.

Not just that, for companies in these industries, it’s hard to schedule company-wide days off, which makes it tougher to implement the 9/80 workweek schedule. Employees may also be required to do physically demanding work, or have daily personal life obligations to attend to, making 9-hour workdays impossible.

Finally, businesses will need to assess whether or not their scheduling software and processes can handle the implementation of a 9/80 work schedule. Without the right tools and automation, adopting a 9/80 work schedule across an entire organization could prove quite tricky.

Get consensus from leadership and employees

Detailed consultation of your entire workforce is required to gather the thoughts and opinions of everyone involved. You need to pay heed to how, when, and where your employees work best and assess their shift preferences.

You need to figure out if staff are open to the 9/80 work schedule, if longer workdays might negatively impact their productivity, and what their preferred days off are during the two-week period.

You also need to train employees on the new schedule and educate them about its benefits.

Trial the new schedule with employee cohorts

A transition to a 9/80 work schedule need not happen suddenly. It can be done through experimentation and trialing the new schedule with team members. One cohort could be on the 9/80 schedule, while others could be on the traditional 9–5 schedule, and depending on how the 9/80 schedule makes employees perform, you can decide whether or not to switch to it for the entire company.

This process will teach you a lot about employee preferences and if you’re able to maintain the productivity of your employees by switching to the new work schedule.

You may also try different versions of the 9/80 schedule. For instance, making Monday the 8-hour flex day for half the employee base, while the other half have Friday.

Channel resources to make the shift to a 9/80 work schedule

Use scheduling software along with a payroll service that enables the transition. There are plenty of challenges in managing a 9/80 work schedule. You’ll need to switch to a two-week period for payroll, split the first Friday into two four-hour shifts, and keep track of sick leave, PTO, or vacation based on whether it was taken on an eight-hour day or a nine-hour day.

You’ll also need to create a 9/80 work schedule template for continual use week in and week out. This schedule should be easily accessible for both managers and employees on all devices, and management should be able to assign, approve, and edit shifts depending on frontline needs.

Moving employees to the new schedule also requires having an adequate number of staff to provide shift coverage on all working days, so no customers go unserved.

Remain flexible while implementing the new schedule

Each department may implement a compressed workweek differently. For example, the customer service department may need to work longer hours on most days, but the accounting department may not need to work long hours, especially during the off-peak season. So, it’s important to remain flexible while adapting to the 9/80 work schedule, bearing in mind that customer needs are paramount and that schedules should reflect customer and business needs.

Master the 9/80 work schedule with Workforce.com

To get the most out of a 9/80 work schedule, employee scheduling, time tracking, and labor compliance all need to be in sync. Additionally, accurate information needs to flow seamlessly into payroll.

Proper workforce management software does all this for you.

Build, publish, and edit 9/80 work schedules with Workforce.com. Use it to track overtime, labor costs, and weekly work hours, and approve ready-for-payroll timesheets in minutes.

Switching to a 9/80 work schedule may seem daunting at first, but it doesn’t need to be in practice. Learn more about how to accomplish your vision by contacting us today, or by starting a free trial.

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Simple shift replacement: A home run for the Lake Elsinore Storm

Summary

  • Last-minute schedule changes are difficult to manage without the right technology

  • Modern workforce management solutions make shift replacements easy

  • Minor league baseball team the Lake Elsinore Storm use Workforce.com’s shift replacement tool constantly

Uh oh, looks like Last Minute Linus can’t make it to his prep cook shift tonight. To make matters worse, it is a Friday – the busiest night of the week. Someone needs to cover his shift. So begins the feverish process of cold calling and texting dozens of employees to find a shift replacement. Sounds familiar, right?

If so, that’s a problem. There is simply no reason to overcomplicate replacing employee shifts. However, many in the hospitality industry are doing just this.

Businesses struggling with schedule changes

According to a study from earlier this year, 69% of schedules are made on paper or word processors. Because of this, navigating scheduling logistics is taking far too long. About 29% of employers say approving schedule changes and shift swaps takes the most time in the scheduling process. When dealing with shift replacements, 75% of managers claim to only call, text, or email employees to communicate. 

Combing through your phone and email contact lists like this takes valuable time, as does manually updating schedules with every last-minute change. 

Fortunately, there is an easier way to orchestrate all of this. 

Easy shift swapping

Workforce.com facilitates easy shift replacements all in one place for every employee and manager to see. No more texting seven different people to figure out who can cover who. Right from their phone, an employee can signal a need for a shift swap; this sends a notification to all their team members. These team members can then view information about the available shift and decide for themselves if they will claim it or not. Once a swap happens, all a manager needs to do is review and approve it with one click. Boom. It’s that easy.

Also Read: Shift swap software empowers managers and employees to take charge of scheduling

Utilizing efficient shift replacement technology benefits both employers and employees. According to a whitepaper published by Workforce.com, shift replacement tools empower managers to reduce overtime and lower under/overstaffing. For employees, the technology provides a better work/life balance as well as the ability to build camaraderie through more effective communication.

Time savings in Minor League Baseball

Many businesses know firsthand the positive impact shift replacement software has on their scheduling efficiency. Recently, we reached out to the Lake Elsinore Storm, a minor league baseball affiliate of the San Diego Padres, to hear about their experience using Workforce.com. 


“One of my favorite features is the shift replacement feature where I can see who’s not available for a shift and who is available to pick it up and don’t have to worry about reaching out to people,” says Katie, an HR generalist for the team. The Storm has a heavy emphasis on hospitality, employing a staff of over for a variety of roles encompassing restaurant service, ticketing, concessions, and groundskeeping. 

Before implementing the software, Katie found that personally overseeing shift replacements was eating up a lot of her time. This has since changed with the switch to Workforce.com: “I don’t have to worry about reaching out to people last minute, getting on the phone, sending emails. I know that it just shows up on someone’s phone and they can pick it up.”

Right there lies the real beauty of Workforce.com’s shift replacement feature; it empowers employees with the ability to take part in the scheduling process. Through this empowerment, unnecessary work is offloaded from the manager directly to the employee, saving time and money while maximizing convenience.

For Lake Elsinore Storm, the time savings brought about by key features such as shift replacement were well recognized across upper management. “It’s almost like we have another assistant or another employee working with us that is really intelligent and smart and knows what it’s doing … it’s really a time-saver,” states Christine Kavic, the Storm’s CFO.

The Storm have many different employee teams set up on Workforce.com, each serving different areas of hospitality. From the taproom staff to stadium maintenance crew, all teams work in unison to make game days go smoothly. Because of this variety, Lake Elsinore Storm management understands more than most what it takes to efficiently schedule a workforce in the hospitality industry. A result of this is high customer satisfaction through exceptional service to the public – something the team prioritizes. 

“Without Workforce.com, we could not do what we do best, and that is entertain the community,” says Kavic. 

Experience it for yourself

Replacing shifts shouldn’t be a hassle; in fact, it should be the easiest part of scheduling. Since Workforce.com’s shift replacement tool has been a big hit (sorry, I had to do it) in baseball stadium management, maybe it’s time you try it for free to see how it works. You won’t believe how simple it is.

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Decentralized scheduling in nursing helps care for health care professionals

nursing; health care professionals

COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of treating health care workers well. A population of employees that was already at high risk of burnout, the pandemic has added even more pressure on certain medical professionals who must endure higher workloads, abide by stricter reporting and safety routines, and witness the carnage of a pandemic. 

Nurses are one group of these medical workers. Even before COVID-19, burnout among nursing staff was a concern, with one 2017 study finding that nearly 50 percent of nurse respondents saying they have considered leaving the field for reasons such as feeling overworked, being swamped with paperwork and not feeling satisfied with their job. 

Best practices to keep nursing staff engaged include deciding the right shift length for your workforce, hiring the right number of full-time versus part-time employees and determining if centralized or decentralized scheduling in nursing works for your organization.

Also read: Shift scheduling strategies can be improved through technology

Centralized versus decentralized scheduling in nursing 

With a centralized model, the organizations manage staffing and scheduling through one central office, while with a decentralized model, these decisions are made as an individual hospital or unit. 

The decision between centralized and decentralized scheduling in nursing is partly based on geography and if the hospital system exists in one city versus many time zones, said Matt Stevenson, partner and leader of Mercer’s Workforce Strategy and Analytics practice. A centralized model can work for a location or several locations in one city. It allows two locations from the same hospital system to use the same centralized staffing pool, and nurses can potentially move from one location to another instead of getting sent home if they’re scheduled for an overstaffed shift. 

There are also efficiencies in terms of how payroll. Financials and training are handled the same way across locations, he added.

However, this may not work if an employee has to drive long distances to get from one location to another, he said. That’s why a decentralized model may work better for a hospital system that is multistate, rural or widely spread out. 

In addition, from the cultural perspectives, many hospitals don’t prefer a centralized model because they’d have less control and they’d be at the mercy of a centralized system for staffing needs, Stevenson said. If they don’t get extra staff that way, they’re out of luck. A decentralized model provides more independence.

nursing; health care professionals

Forecasting patient census 

There are different types of hospitals that may have different scheduling concerns, but one challenge they share is that they can’t predict how many patients come through the door in a given day or how sick they’ll be, Stevenson said. While hospitals can depend on some big-picture trends, they aren’t always reliable, which causes a lot of stress internally. 

If nurses are understaffed, that may mean that nurses are overwhelmed and overworked. If nurses are overstaffed, that may mean having to send people home without working or getting paid.

Systems are getting more sophisticated about forecasting patient census — how many patients are expected to come in during a given time period, Stevenson said. And those hospitals and health systems that do it better will help the morale of nurses and other health care workers, he added. 

Scheduling and managing full-time versus part-time nurses

Nursing organizations fall onto different parts of the continuum of mostly full-time employees versus mostly part-time employees, and having more of either can be advantageous for different companies, Stevenson said. 

Full-time nurses generally stay at an organization longer, but hospitals must pay them more and give them a full-time schedule. Using more part-time nurses means more flexibility in the schedule but can also mean more turnover. 

Also read: How to avoid overstaffing through wage tracker software

The challenge here is that each supports competing priorities — one financial and one operational, Stevenson said.    

“Finding the sweet spot of the right mix between full time and part time is really tough, and we find it different for every hospital,” he said. “Those organizations that can figure out the sweet spot will win every time.”

For hospitals trying to figure this out, the first aspect to consider is what the labor market looks like in the area. Are there more full-time or part-time options available?

Second, it depends on how the hospital is set up and how many recruiters and trainers there are on staff. With more part-time employees, there will need to be enough people to find, interview, hire, and train talent. A hospital may not be able to change the full-time to part-time ratio if the staff infrastructure of the organization does not support that new mix.  

Finally, it depends on how a hospital sets up its nurses’ shifts. Are they mostly six hour, eight hour, or 12-hour shifts? If a nurse works many shorter shifts, they tend to be part-time. 

How to set up nursing shifts 

The length of shifts depends on factors such as the type of care nurses are providing and the age of the workforce, Stevenson said. In general, younger workers are more open to 12-hour shifts. Also, employees start to get burned out at hour 12, so caring for high-acuity patients with challenging medical conditions and unpredictable needs may not be the best option for them. 

On the other extreme, four or six hour shifts present more opportunities for infectious disease to spread, he said. If a patient has something infectious, the fewer number of nurses who care for them in a given day, the less likely that will spread their infection to more people. 

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Retail workforce management practices that make employees stay longer

warehouse workers, hourly employees

Retail workforce management can be difficult for managers in a high turnover industry. Keeping hourly employees interested and engaged in the job can be an ongoing struggle.

But retaining hourly retail employees a little longer can make all the difference in the success of a retailer. And certain workforce management practices can go a long way in making these meaningful improvements.

Also read: Give managers the time they need to sharpen up their all-around skills

Realize the customer isn’t always right, and act on that

Customer-facing jobs, especially retail, are difficult for employees when they’re expected to act like the customer is always right, said Robert Teachout, legal editor at HR compliance resource XpertHR. What can make a difference here is how managers act. One of the cardinal rules of management is, “Always have your employee’s back,” he added.

The key is to forget everything you ever heard about “The customer is always right,” he said. Customers can be stressed, wrong, rude or, at worst, inappropriate and abusive, and employees appreciate when their manager stands up for them.

“Managers need to step up —  and in some cases are legally  required to step up —  if someone is being abusive to an employee. Like if the employee is a minority or LGBTQ and they’re being harassed, that is harassment and discrimination. it is illegal and the employer has a liability if they don’t stop it,” Teachout said.

“The customer is entitled to the best service you can provide within the policies and practices of your establishment. They’re not entitled to yell at your clerks, not entitled to abuse a coupon program [and] not entitled to throw stuff on the floor and make a scene,” he said. “When that happens, take the employee out [of the situation] and you step in.”

This is also where higher level management needs to have their back, he said. Managers feel safer standing up for the people they supervise when their own bosses are going to support their decision and protect them. 

Make even the smallest change in turnover rates

The retail industry sees a 60.5 percent turnover rate, but it doesn’t need to stay that high. Even a small improvement in turnover will produce large dividends for a store and much larger competitive benefits compared to other retailers, Teachout said. 

The reality in retail is that these hourly positions are many people’s first jobs, and the expectation shouldn’t be that these employees will stay around forever. But that doesn’t mean managers can mistreat them and act like they don’t want these workers to stay longer, Teachout said. 

With seasonal positions, this can be especially helpful. “If you know you have 10 spots to fill every year, would you rather have to hire 10 different people or know that you’ve got two or three people that like working with you, want to come back and have already been trained? That right there is a huge advantage,” Teachout said.

Hourly retail jobs often have low pay, little opportunity for advancement and few if any benefits, and stocking shelves isn’t a personally fulfilling job for many people, he said. But if a manager knows this and considers how they can make the workplace a better place for employees, they may see better engagement and therefore better retention. 

Also read: Knock out the practice of buddy punching for good

Fostering employee engagement in retail workforce management 

Employees are more engaged when they can take ownership of their work, Teachout said. Managers can help here by allowing employees to do tasks that use their strengths. For example, an organized employee may excel in tasks like restocking shelves, and an extroverted employee may excel working at the customer service desk. 

Similarly, hourly workers are more engaged when they feel supported by their coworkers and feel a sense of teamwork. From the moment a manager onboards a new hire, they should introduce and emphasize the concept that “you’re part of a team,” Teachout said. They can explain tardiness or absenteeism policies not in a way that focuses on business impact but in a way that focuses on the impact it has on coworkers. 

He also said that managers can help employee engagement by building individual connections with employees. This doesn’t mean they have to form a friendship, but they should know each employee’s goals, priorities and strengths. This could be a part of a formal, scheduled review, but even more important is the casual conversations, Teachout said. Questions could be as simple as “How’s school going?” 

Create consistent schedules 

Inconsistent schedules are one of the major complaints of retail workers, and more stability in this area helps people balance the rest of their life and responsibilities while still getting enough hours, Teachout said. One of the main reasons recent predictive scheduling laws were passed was to reduce the impact of last-minute scheduling changes, he added. 

Managers should make sure they’re being fair while scheduling their retail employees, he said. Make sure everyone has the same opportunities to work the best shifts and the same obligations to work the less desirable shifts or do the less desirable tasks. This ultimately comes down to respect, Teachout said. Employees will feel more respected if they’re treated the same as their coworkers. 

Also read: Make managers more successful with the tools to retain and engage their employees

While retail workforce management practices like this may not stop or slow all turnover, they can help create meaningful business outcomes. 

“Even keeping someone working another two or three months longer than they would have typically, and at that point they’re already trained, that’s all gravy,” Teachout said. “Even making a small improvement in your turnover rate will provide a bottom line benefit.”

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Common scheduling problems: Addressing staff turnover and improving retention

warehouse workers, hourly employees

Employee turnover is a big issue for many employers who hire hourly workers and can help contribute to common scheduling problems like understaffing or last minute schedule changes. And the industries with the highest average turnover are the ones that generally have more hourly workers: 

According to the 2018 Mercer U.S. Turnover Survey, which looked at 163 U.S. organizations, the three highest turnover industries are: retail & wholesale (60.5 percent average turnover), other manufacturing (26.7 percent) and consumer goods (21.5 percent). Meanwhile, those with the lowest turnover include life sciences (14.5 percent), insurance (15.5 percent) and banking/financial services (16 percent).

For businesses, turnover means spending more time and money on the recruiting, hiring and training process. And it also means that making schedules may get complicated when the staff list is constantly changing and when surprise absences come up after someone has quit.

But company leaders and managers are not powerless here. Here are some ways they can address high staff turnover and avoid some of those pesky, common scheduling problems that make managers’ jobs just a little more complicated.

Understand why employees leave

One reason for turnover is when an employee perceives inequitable treatment in the workplace, according to the Academy of Management, which published the paper “Inequity and Its Relationship To Turnover Among Hourly Workers” in 2017. 

The paper explored this relationship within the major production shops of the Boeing company and found that at best inequitable treatment leads employees to not be their most productive selves. At worst, they will leave the job. There are a few ways organizations can address this, the paper added, such as by improving working conditions if necessary and by paying attention to how supervisors treat workers and responding appropriately. 

The adage “employees leave managers, not companies” is a subject of debate among the HR community, but research does support it, said Robert Teachout, legal editor at consultancy XpertHR. The studies above are just a couple that show the potential negative effects of bad management practices.

Bad management practices include not being supportive of employees and being too harsh on employees for making certain mistakes. It boils down to a general lack of respect, Teachout said. Employees want the same basic things, he added: to be treated with respect and fairness, to do something that matters at their job and to get the opportunity to learn, grow, develop and be promoted. 

Teachout used the example of the type of manager that remembers all the mistakes an employee makes but never recognizes the good things they’ve done. When an employee is reviewed unfairly like this, that may contribute to them wanting to leave the job. 

Also read: Absence management is increasingly vital for managers to understand

Provide training for managers

From the manager’s point of view, many of them have been promoted because they were good at their job. But they don’t get training on certain people management skills upon getting that promotion, Teachout said. It’s up to the higher-ups at a company to prepare managers with the needed communication skills like how to engage with employees or how to have difficult conversations with them. 

This type of training is more important for front-line managers than for more mid-level managers, Teachout added. Front-line managers have a direct relationship with staff and have the opportunity to make or break employees’ experiences working for the company. 

“[They] can do more damage. That’s where toxic workplaces get created a lot of the time. The frontline managers don’t know what they’re doing, and you give them a checklist and therefore they don’t act like human beings,” Teachout said.

Lack of hours and flexibility

According to a 2017 FSG and Hart Research Associates survey, 83 percent of employees said if they had more control over their work schedules, they’d be more likely to stay at their current job. 

Also, 61 percent of those surveyed said they’ve struggled at work because they have a hard time making enough money to pay for basics like rent and food. More hours are especially helpful to these people. “Offering existing workers additional hours, rather than hiring new workers, may be one way to save on costs and improve employee satisfaction,” the survey conductors wrote in an article for Harvard Business Review.

There are several strategies to respond to these employee concerns, the article stated. For one, companies can better train managers to support their teams and build a better team/workplace culture. Secondly, employers can offer hourly employees more opportunities for job growth within the company. Third, as lack of flexibility is one of the most common scheduling problems, organizations can be more open to offering predictable schedules to employees.

Also read: Shift scheduling strategies can be improved through technology

 Reconsider existing workplace policies 

While employees do often leave bad managers, bad policies make it even easier for employees to quit, Teachout said. These other factors could include low pay, a lack of benefits or the lack of the opportunity for advancement. 

For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the fact that many essential, hourly workers do not get paid sick leave or certain other benefits, Teachout said.

“One would think [that] out of self-interest alone, the restaurant and retail industries would look and say, even if we’re not required to provide paid sick leave, let’s provide paid sick leave. Because it only takes one person with an infectious disease coming in — because otherwise they don’t get paid — to shut down your business for months,” he said. “So isn’t it more cost-efficient to give them paid sick leave and say, ‘If you’re sick, stay home?’”

More than just putting policies in place, organizations must also train managers on how to apply these policies to the workplace equitably and fairly, he said. For example, a grocery store manager may allow through some flexible work policy for a woman to come into work and leave work a little early so that she can pick up her kid from childcare. If the manager does not allow the same for a father, that could be viewed as discrimination. Managers must make sure they are not violating the law when they’re dealing with company policies.  

“You want to create a workplace that people want to work at,” Teachout said. “If people feel this is a place they want to work at, they feel loyalty. They get a sense of teamwork, a huge piece of the puzzle that gets missed all the time. When people work as part of a team, they feel more loyalty and are more engaged than people working individually. ”

 

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Employee scheduling after the COVID-19 pandemic

remote work, mask

Employee scheduling was getting a facelift even before COVID-19, and in the aftermath of the pandemic, employers have even more to think about when it comes to scheduling employees.  

The 2010s brought a number of state or local predictive scheduling laws into effect, giving employees much needed stability but complicating the scheduling process for managers. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the lack of sick or paid leave for many hourly workers and the struggles employers go through when employees can’t come to work fo COVID-19-related reasons.

David Kopsch, principal consultant at Mercer, explained the major employee scheduling issues employers are encountering and ways to address those challenges.

Also read: Leave management should be as simple as submit, approve and hit the beach

software, compliancePredictive scheduling laws across the United States

In a nutshell, these predictive scheduling laws require employers to notify employees in advance of what their schedules will be. Some cities require as low as 72 hours notice while others require as high as two weeks. 

The goal is to reduce uncertainty in employees’ schedules so that they can plan for responsibilities like child care, school or other jobs.   

Also read: How far in advance must a work schedule be posted?

The most frequently discussed part of these laws is the advance notice on schedule, Kopsch said, but they also contain many other provisions, like recordkeeping requirements and providing compensation for schedule changes.

Something else significant in these laws are rules that let employees have a certain amount of time off between the end of the last shift and the beginning of the next one, Kopsch said. For example, if an employee closes shop around 10 p.m., the same employee is not opening the site at 6 a.m. There are safety reasons for this, but these rules also exist to ensure that employees get enough sleep or rest between shifts. 

While making the lives of employees easier, these laws have also added another layer of complexity for managers who must create schedules. 

COVID-19 complications to employee scheduling

With the pandemic, hourly employees are facing a variety of situations in which they may not be able to come into work. They may be sick or suspect that they may have the coronavirus. They may face child care lapses due to school closures or other circumstances. 

This can hurt employees’ wages and has the potential to impact their eligibility for bonuses, overtime or benefits, Kopsch said. Employers also face extra pressure when employees don’t come into work. 

Some employers may need to adjust their staffing models due to COVID-19, Kopsch said. As businesses start reopening, one reality is that they may have to spend more time in the mornings cleaning and sanitizing the location. Perhaps the business will have to be open less hours during the day and run on a reduced schedule, which also has the impact of a reduced workforce or giving employees less hours.    

Also read: Shift scheduling strategies can be improved through technology

Communication with payroll providers 

Managers must ensure they are communicating with their payroll provider through this all. 

“In these times of reduced schedules, there’s more interaction with payroll providers and technology to update the systems and adjust for the changes in how the workforce is working and coming to work,” Kopsch said. 

For example, he noted a tactic some retailers are using in which they’re paying hourly workers slightly higher wages or offering some type of bonus to motivate and retain employees. 

“If you introduce a new pay element, that’s one more item that you have to ensure [that you’re being] compliant. And that goes back to working with a payroll provider,” he said.

Also read: Shift schedule templates are a basic food group to workforce management

Communication with employees

Managers can also take on certain best practices to keep employees engaged and in the loop. Clearly communicating open and closing times is important. Also, make sure to be clear when employees should arrive for their shift. There may be extra precautions to take before their shift starts, like sanitizing or training. 

Reopening a business after the pandemic is complicated, and clear communication can help simplify it.

Technology can also simplify the communication between employers and employees. 

“We’re seeing technology as something being reviewed more and more by employers as a way to support employees as well as a way to communicate with them and help them understand what is available in terms of what schedules are available and getting and receiving communication.,” Kopsch said.