Employee scheduling is more than just filling shifts. Itâs about balancing profitability with employee experience.
Labor laws govern schedules in some cities and states, which can pose compliance issues for large hourly teams.
Employee scheduling software can streamline shift assignments, but truly efficient systems can also factor in demand and compliance when managers fill shifts.
Creating and managing an employee schedule is a complex process that can take up hours out of a managerâs week.
Yet employee scheduling can have massive impacts on a business, especially for organizations with a large hourly workforce and significant labor costs.
Poor scheduling can lead to overstaffing, which inflates labor expenses, or understaffing, which strains employees and impacts productivity. An unpredictable schedule can also contribute to burnout and high turnover, forcing you to constantly recruit and train new members.
Many factors go into the scheduling process and creating the most effective schedule, including having the right expertise on your team, communicating with your frontline staff, and using the right employee scheduling software.
Hereâs exactly how to schedule employees effectively.
1. Understand the laws that govern schedules in your city or state
Scheduling employees effectively, at its most basic level, requires compliance with labor laws.
Over the past decade, different cities and states have passed their ownpredictable scheduling laws regulating shift work, starting with San Francisco in 2013. See if you are in a jurisdiction with predictive scheduling lawshere.
Depending on the specific law, employers may have to schedule employees up to two weeks in advance. Further, these laws may levy employer penalties for unexpected employee work schedule changes, regulate âclopeningâ shifts, and define schedule recordkeeping requirements for business owners.
These laws address the challenges many hourly workers face, including unpredictable, unstable, and insufficient hours. Certain staff scheduling practices, like on-call scheduling, make it difficult for employees to hold second jobs or plan for other responsibilities in advance.
However, employers may find it difficult to make last-minute scheduling decisions given the perceived lack of flexibility the laws impose on them.
The software notifies managers if theyâre about to break a law or rule when placing people in open shifts, scheduling staff beyond their maximum hours, assigning minor workers for hours they are not allowed to work, or under other conditions for which they would be at risk of non-compliance with the rules.
2. Use labor forecasting to create optimal schedules
Two main types of data go into these predictions. Thereâs data on external factors like the time of year, weather, or events happening nearby. Then, thereâs data on your specific businessâs conditions and operations, such as your historical sales data, booked appointments, busiest times, foot traffic, and employee availability.
While no prediction is 100 percent certain, the more accurate and relevant data you connect with labor forecasting, the more confident you can be in your forecasts and identifying scheduling needs, reducing your chances of overstaffing, understaffing, and incurring unnecessary overtime.
Workforce.comâs labor forecasting system factors in all the relevant data, both internal and external, to calculate staffing ratios that will equip managers to create the most productive schedule, ensuring that you have the optimal number of employees in every shift.
Imagine you run a retail business and intend to optimize your staff scheduling throughout the year. With labor forecasting, you can analyze past sales trends and customer traffic to predict busy and slow periods. For instance, if your data shows that holiday shopping spikes in November and December, you can plan ahead and hire seasonal and part-time employees to help with the increased demand. On the other hand, if January tends to be slow, you can scale back part-time hours to control labor costs and avoid overstaffing.
3. Match the right employees to the right shifts
Filling open shifts is complicated beyond just legal compliance and predicting business needs. Employees have different preferences and limitations, while managers aim to assign shifts fairly and efficiently. The challenge? Creating a schedule that works for both the business and its people.
Using a combination of scheduling algorithms and employee input for filling schedules can be a good strategy. This allows a business to benefit from advances in technology while also taking real-world human considerations into account.
So, how do you do that exactly?
First, letâs look at the facts. Before assigning shifts, ensure employees meet the necessary qualifications. Does a role require specific certifications? Is there a minimum age requirement? Workforce.com simplifies this by sending managers real-timenotifications, helping them assign shifts only to qualified team members.
Next, factor in employee preferences. Employees can submit feedback through Workforce.comâs shift rating and feedback, sharing insights on staffing levels, engagement, and management after each shift. By analyzing this feedback, managers can build schedules that align with business objectives and employee preferences.
Using these insights, you can also make less desirable shifts more appealing, especially if youâre operating 24/7. Late nights, early mornings, and weekend shifts can be more challenging to fill. To encourage coverage, consider offeringshift deferential pay for employees who would take on these odd hours.
4. Plan ahead for last-minute scheduling changes
Unexpected absences can happen, but they donât have to disrupt your operations. A reliable shift swapping or replacement system ensures you can quickly fill gaps caused by no-shows or last-minute call-outs.
Managers can use Workforce.com to reassign vacant shifts. Available and qualified employees can claim open shifts, either through a managerâs direct offer or a system-wide notification. Depending on your settings, employees can trade shifts and have those changes automatically apply to schedules or with manager approval for added control.
5. Apply automation to reduce admin work and avoid scheduling conflicts
Employee scheduling goes beyond assigning team members to shifts. It requires balancing different, and without a proper system in place, itâs easy for things to slip through the cracks.
Beyond operating hours and number of staff members, managers also need to to look at time-off requests, employee classifications, labor forecasts, and compliance requirements. Ensuring all of these factors align each work week is challenging, but Workforce.comâs scheduling app simplifies the process.
With Workforce.comâs scheduling tool, creating schedules will not be as time-consuming. It offers powerful functionality to speed up the process. For instance, recurring work schedules can be saved as schedule templates. Instead of creating schedules from scratch, you can simply copy, paste, and adjust the templates as needed, saving you time and minimizing errors.
6. Actively reassess and adapt
The common thread running through these steps is that nothing about employee scheduling is static.
Laws change, individual employees may become more or less productive over time, and the most efficient ones may leave if theyâre not getting sufficient hours or good shifts.
Continually use the resources and data you have to understand whatâs successful on your front line. The same old employee shift scheduling patterns might stop working over time. And your employeesâ needs and levels of engagement will change. Effective employee scheduling requires that youâre aware of these developments and adapt to them.
Going beyond employee scheduling
Employee scheduling is significant, but true workforce success goes far beyond just filling shifts. Managing an hourly team requires integration between scheduling, time and attendance tracking, hiring and retention, and payroll.
Thatâs where Workforce.com comes in. With Workforce.com, you donât just schedule shifts. You hire the right talent, track time accurately, schedule employees strategically, and ensure accurate, on-time payroll. Everything is housed in one unified system, giving you a single source of truth for workforce management and HR. Workforce.com has transformed employee scheduling, HR, and payroll worldwide. But donât take our word for itâsee it for yourself bybooking a demo today.
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 itâs not just how you manage inventory or come up with marketing strategies to attract shoppers. Itâs 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 arenât 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 spendâjust 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 â 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 informationâpersonal details, bank information, W-4s, and moreâall 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.
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.
When it comes to rest and lunch breaks, managers often assume that a few minutes here and there will be insignificant.
However, this is simply not the case. Over the past several years, weâve seen break-rule violations result in costly lawsuits.
In April 2022, an Oregon healthcare facility filed a lawsuit with the federal court system to overturn the stateâs detailed meal and rest break rules. The facility is attempting to avoid nearly $100 million in fines due to persistent violations of employee meal and rest break rights dating back to 2015.
Whatâs confusing is that if this healthcare facility was in a different state, say Arkansas, these violations and fines would not exist.
Federal guidance on the subject of lunch breaks is slim to none â but state laws concerning paid and unpaid breaks vary.
Itâs important to stay up-to-date on break rules in your state, especially heading into a new year. While rest break rules can be convoluted, they are actually quite easy to comply with these days with the right payroll software and scheduling system in place.
Federal break laws
No federal law requires companies to offer breaks during work hours for meals or any other purpose.
However, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, federal law says that if a company chooses to allow break periods, any break under 20 minutes should be paid, and any over 30 minutes can be unpaid and classified as “off-the-clock.”
So, in essence, the federal government leaves it up to the employer. Rest breaks (under 20 minutes) are paid, and meal breaks (over 30 minutes) are unpaid. If a state has no laws regarding breaks, these federal standards automatically apply.
State break laws
It is up to the states to choose their own lunch and rest break laws. Some states default to the federal policy, while others have their own set of specific regulations to follow.
All meal and rest break laws only apply to non-exempt employees. For exempt employees receiving over $23,000 annually, breaks are at the employer’s discretion.
Find your state below and click on it to see its break rules heading into 2025:
Minor Break: 14-15-year-old employees who work more than 5 continuous hours get a 30-minute break.
Alabama defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 16+. If an employer chooses to provide a break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Minor Break: Minors ages 14-17 who work 5+ consecutive hours get a 30-minute break.
Alaska defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 18 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Arizona defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Arkansas defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers of all ages. If an employer chooses to provide a break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than this do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
The state does have a special lactation break law. Employers must provide reasonable unpaid break time to employees who are lactating. These breaks must be taken in a private place close to their work area (not a bathroom stall).
Employees get a 30-minute paid meal break during a shift that is longer than five consecutive hours. If the employee is relieved of regular work duties and can leave the premises during their break, the break goes unpaid. But if these requirements are not met, the break must be paid at the regular rate of pay.
An employee may also waive their lunch break upon mutual consent with management if a workday will be completed in six hours or fewer.
If a work shift is longer than 10 hours, a second 30-minute rest break must be provided. If a total of 12 hours or fewer are worked in a day, this second meal break may be waived, but only if the first meal period was not waived. Employees who work longer than 15 hours get an additional third 30-minute break. If they work longer than 20 hours, they get a fourth 30-minute break.
If an employer fails to provide an employee a meal break during a shift, they owe the employee one extra hour of pay at the employeeâs regular rate.
Rest Break:
Employees get a 10-minute paid rest break every 4 hours. A 10-minute break is not required for work time totaling less than three and a half hours.
Employees working in extreme weather conditions must also be provided with a five-minute ârecovery periodâ in a protected environment in addition to their meal and rest break.
For every day an employee is forced to work through one or more of their rest breaks, their employer must pay them one additional hour of wages at the regular rate.
Meal Break: 30 minutes for employees who work 5+ hours. If the break is âduty-freeâ it goes unpaid. However, if a âduty-freeâ meal is not possible, the employee may take an âon-dutyâ meal, in which case the employee must be paid.
Rest Break: 10 minutes paid per 4 hours worked only for employees in the retail, food and beverage, commercial support, health, and medical industries.
Meal Break: Unpaid 30 minutes for employees 18+ who work at least 7.5 hours. Meal breaks must be given sometime after the first two hours of work and before the last two hours of work. Employers are exempt from this requirement only if:
Complying endangers public safety
The duties of the position can only be done by one employee
Fewer than five employees are working a shift in a particular location
Operations require employees to be available to respond to urgent conditions
There exists a collective bargaining agreement that provides otherwise
The employee is employed by a local school board to work directly with children
Rest Break: None
Minor Break: 30 minutes for employees under 18 for every 5 consecutive hours of work.
Minor Break: 30 minutes for employees under 18 who work more than 4 hours.
Florida defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 18 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Georgia defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Minor Break: 30 minutes for 14 and 15-year-old employees who work five consecutive hours
Hawaii defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 16 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Hawaii defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Minor Break: 1-2 breaks totaling 30 minutes for employees under 18 who work at least six consecutive hours.
Indiana defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 18+. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Minor Break: At least 30 minutes for employees under the age of 16 who work 5+ consecutive hours.
Iowa defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 16 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Kansas defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Meal Break: Reasonable unpaid break period (typically 20-30 minutes long) after the third and before the fifth hour of work for employees who work 5+ consecutive hours.
Rest Break: 10 minutes after every 4 hours of work.
Minor Break: At least 30 minutes unpaid for employees under 18 who work five consecutive hours
Louisiana defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 18 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Meal Break: None for the majority of employees. However, under the Healthy Retail Employee Act, retail organizations with 50+ staff operating for 20+ calendar weeks must give employees a 30-minute meal break if they work a shift that is longer than six hours.
Rest Break: Under the Healthy Retail Employee Act, certain retail employees are entitled to 15-minute breaks when they work shifts that last 4-6 hours. Employees who work for 8+ hours receive an additional 15-minute break for every additional four hours worked.
Minor Break: 30 minutes for employees under 18 for every five consecutive hours of work.
Minor Break: At least 30 minutes for employees under 18 if they work more than 5 consecutive hours.
Michigan defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 18 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Mississippi defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Missouri defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Montana defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Meal Break: At least 30 minutes for employees working 8+ continuous hours.
Rest Break: At least 10 minutes paid every 4 hours. This break is not typically required if an employeeâs total work time is less than three and a half hours.
Minor Break: At least 30 minutes for employees under 18 who work 5+ hours.
New Jersey defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 18 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
New Mexico defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Meal Break: 30 minutes for employees who work 6+ hours between 11 am and 2 pm. 45 minutes for employees midway through a 6+ hour shift that starts between 1 pm and 6 am. An additional 20 minutes between 5 pm and 7 pm for those working a shift starting before 11 am and continuing after 7 pm.
Different rules apply to factory workers. They get a 1-hour lunch period anywhere between 11 am and 2 pm for 6+ hour shifts or a 60-minute break midway through a shift of more than 6 hours that starts between 1 pm and 6 am.
Minor Break: At least 30 minutes for employees under 16 who work 5+ hour shifts.
North Carolina defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 16+. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Minor Break: At least 30 minutes unpaid for employees under 18 working five consecutive hours or more.
Ohio defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 18+. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Minor Break: At least 30 minutes for every 5 hours worked and 1 hour for every 8 hours worked for employees under 16.
Oklahoma defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 16 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Meal Break: At least 30 minutes, unpaid, uninterrupted, and relieved of all duties, must be provided per 6 hours worked. No meal break is required for shifts under 6 hours.
6-14 hours: 1 break
14-22 hours: 2 breaks
22-24 hours: 3 breaks
Rest Break: 10 minutes paid based on hours worked.
2-6 hours: 1 break
6-10 hours: 2 breaks
10-14 hours: 3 breaks
14-18 hours: 4 breaks
18-22 hours: 5 breaks
22-24 hours: 6 breaks
Minor Break: Workers under 18 receive the same meal breaks as adults; however, it is required that they get 15-minute rest breaks rather than 10-minute breaks.
Minor Break: 30 minutes per 5 hours for workers under 18 years of age.
Pennsylvania defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 18 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Meal Break: 20 minutes for employees who work 6 hours and 30 minutes for employees who work 8+ hours. The break may be unpaid if the employee is relieved of all duties.
South Carolina defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
South Dakota defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Texas defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Minor Break: At least 30 minutes for lunch no later than 5 hours into the workday for employees under 18. They must also be given a 10-minute rest break for every 4 hours worked and cannot work 3+ consecutive hours without a 10-minute break.
Utah defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 18 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Meal Break: Employees must have a âreasonable opportunityâ to eat and use the restroom. This opportunity must be paid if it is less than 20 minutes.
Rest Break: None
Minor Break: N/A
Vermont has a special lactation break law requiring employers to provide reasonable break time throughout the day to employees who are lactating. It is left to the employerâs discretion whether these breaks are paid or unpaid unless denoted by a collective bargaining agreement.
Minor Break: At least 30 minutes for employees under 16 who work 5+ consecutive hours.
Virginia defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 16 and over. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Meal Break: 30 minutes for every 5 consecutive hours worked, given not less than 2 hours nor more than 5 hours from the beginning of a shift (excludes agricultural employees). 30 additional minutes for employees who work at least 3 hours past the time they normally end their shift. Unpaid if the employee is completely free of duties.
Rest Break: At least 10 minutes for every 4 hours worked.
Minor Break: 14 and 15-year-old employees must have a 30-minute meal break before working 4 consecutive hours. A 30-minute meal break is required for employees ages 16 and 17 no less than 2 hours but no more than 5 hours from the beginning of their shift.
Minor Break: 30 minutes duty-free for employees under 18 working 6+ consecutive hours. 16 and 17-year-olds must have 8 hours of rest between shifts if scheduled after 8 pm.
Wisconsin defaults to federal law regarding breaks for workers aged 18+. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Wyoming defaults to federal law regarding breaks for all workers. If an employer chooses to provide a meal break, it must be paid only if it lasts less than 20 minutes. Breaks lasting longer than 30 minutes are classified as meal periods and do not need to be paid, as long as the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
The main difference between a meal and a rest break is often its length. The typical meal break is 20-30 minutes and must be taken around midday, while a rest break is usually anywhere between 10-15 minutes and occurs at regular intervals throughout a shift.
As with lunch breaks, no federal labor law requires short breaks at work. Only 11 states have local laws requiring employers to offer rest periods during work hours, and these short breaks almost always come in addition to a meal break. For instance, Colorado requires a 30-minute meal break for 5+ hour shifts and a 10-minute break for every four hours of work.
Sometimes, however, itâs all just semantics.
Take Maine, for example. The Pine Tree State is the only one of these 11 states that does not have a âmeal breakâ per see, but it does have a rest break, requiring 30 minutes for work periods of over six hours. Technically, itâs not a meal break, just a rest break, but you and I both know itâs used for lunch.
Minors and break laws
State laws typically afford minors more break leniency than adult employees. While most state meal break rules for adults automatically cover minors, some states have specific standards for those under 18. Delaware, for example, gives adults a 30-minute break for seven and a half hours worked while giving those under 18 the same break time for only five hours worked.
Some states with no adult lunch or rest break rules have unique break laws for minors. For instance, Louisiana and Michigan require employers to give 30-minute breaks to employees under 18 for shifts longer than five consecutive hours. However, In Hawaii, this same rule applies only to 14 and 15-year-olds.
Managing rest and meal breaks
If your state has specific rest break requirements, it’s essential that management understands them and takes appropriate action to uphold them. Of course, this is sometimes easier said than done.
Without the right protocols and tools, tracking breaks can be challenging, especially in complicated states like California, Oregon, and New York. Luckily, there are many ways to automate the workload.
An online employee scheduling and time tracking platform like Workforce.com helps you manage break scheduling and missed break payments, reducing your risk of expensive missed break lawsuits. Here are a few specific ways the cloud-based system helps you plan lunch breaks and calculate compensation accurately:
Auto-schedule compliant breaks
Workforce.comâs scheduling allows managers to automatically apply compliant meal and rest breaks to employee schedules according to local state laws. Employees can easily view these breaks from their phones, knowing exactly when to work and rest.
Accurately pay missed break premiums
Using classification tags designed to handle California’s complex requirements, Workforce.com’s payroll system automatically flags when an employee misses a break and applies the correct premium pay to their timesheet. This ensures you’ll never underpay a staff member for a missed break again.
Track breaks in real-time
Via a time clock app, managers can see whoâs working, whoâs not, and whoâs on breakâall in one place and in real-time. This frontline visibility helps managers respond more quickly to lunch break non-compliance.
Utilize timesheet attestations
Managers can create conditional questions that appear whenever an employee clocks out of a shift. These questions may ask things like âDid you waive your break?â or âDid you take your break?â depending on the length of the shift. Answers will automatically add all necessary premiums and allowances to timesheets, ensuring employees are always paid accurately. These answers will also create a paper trail of agreed-upon waived breaks, protecting you from potential lawsuits.
Manage break rules across state lines
Workforce.com has robust team and location functionality, letting you set up multiple locations on the platform. Break rules at each location can be configured according to local state laws, ensuring chains stay organized no matter where they are in the country.
Support staff and protect your business with better breaks
There are two key things managers can do right now to ensure their business stays on the right side of the law. One is to understand and adhere to whatever legislation applies in your state. The other is to be clear about what breaks are allowed, encourage staff to use them, and ensure they are accurately recorded.
Doing all of this manually is a huge task and prone to human error. Instead, use employee scheduling softwareto automate how breaks are administered. Pair it with a specialized payroll system to quickly apply correct premium payments for missed breaks, and you’ll reduce your risk exposure tremendously.
Sound intriguing? Get in touch with us today, let’s talk about it.
But getting break times right doesn’t just reduce your risk exposure â it also makes for happier employees.
Shift workers deserve their breaks. Routinely taking time during a shift to eat, rest, and recharge always helps productivity and, most importantly, mental health.
Discover five more ways to boost employee mental health by tuning in to our free webinar below:
Calculating labor costs can be complicated, involving things like benefits, taxes, and overhead expenses.
While labor costs are a natural part of running a business, there are ways to cut down on them without sacrificing employee or customer experience.
Scheduling and labor forecasting software is vital for calculating labor costs accurately.Â
A crucial part of any companyâs profitability is calculating labor costs correctly. Whether youâre a small cafe, a chain of restaurants, or a global enterprise, you need to know how to calculate the cost of your labor and understand how it affects your bottom line.Â
Here are three essential things to consider when trying to figure out how much you’re actually spending on labor, how to remain profitable, and how to ensure your employees are getting paid accurately.Â
1. Labor costs go beyond wages.Â
Obviously, wages make up the majority of your labor costs; however, you need to remember that you are spending much more on employees than just wages.Â
For employee compensation alone, wages and salaries cost employers 69% of the total cost, while 31% accounts for benefits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). On top of that, there are other things to account for, such as taxes and overhead costs. Hereâs a quick rundown:
Salary – As mentioned, this takes up a considerable portion of your labor costs. This is the monetary value that you pay your employee for the work they perform.
Payroll taxes – Some of these are taxes withheld from the employees and are typically matched by employers by a certain percentage, including Social Security payroll tax and Medicare payroll tax.Â
Meanwhile, there are payroll taxes that are shouldered by employers alone, such as the federal unemployment tax (FUTA).
In addition, you should also account for payroll taxes imposed on a state and local level.
Benefits – Benefits such as paid time off, health insurance, and dental insurance also factor into your labor costs, particularly if the majority of your workforce is salaried.
Overhead costs – These are costs associated with running the business, such as building costs, utilities, property taxes, transportation, and administrative costs.Â
Clearly, calculating labor costs should be inclusive of both direct and indirect expenses. Direct expenses are for producing a product, such as the wages of people in charge of production or rendering your services. While indirect costs are supplementary to that, such as administrative staff wages and building and equipment costs.Â
Navigating the different factors affecting your labor cost is complicated and laborious, but itâs vital to understand all the costs and expenses that go into it. Doing so helps you determine profitability, spot areas where you can save, adjust your pricing, and determine business feasibility.Â
2. Yes, you can save on labor costs.Â
A lot goes into labor, and, of course, most of its cost is necessary. However, the good news is that labor is your most controllable expense; this means that the easiest way to reduce your overall operating costs is to optimize where and how you are spending on labor. Here are some of the things you can do to cut down on unnecessary labor costs:
Eliminate time theft
Time theft occurs when employees receive pay for time spent not working while technically on the clock. Buddy punching, inaccurate clock-ins, falsifying timesheets, unrecorded breaks, and attending to personal affairs while on the clock are some of the ways time theft is committed.Â
The thing about time theft is it can be difficult to notice since instances of it are typically small and irregular. But over time, these occurrences can balloon into significant dollars lost.Â
Solving time theft ensures everyone is working when and where they should be. To do this, you need an airtight time and attendance system complete with geofencing, photo-ID clock-ins, and pin numbers. All of these measures and more help ensure the right people are recording their time accurately and truthfully.Â
Accurate demand forecasting is the key to both saving on labor costs and improving your ability to meet customer needs. Knowing exactly where and when you expect high foot traffic or sales can prevent accidentally over or understaffing shifts. Being prepared also helps reduce instances of unnecessary overtime as youâre less likely to request staff to keep working after the end of their shift due to an unforeseen rush.Â
This all sounds well and good â but how does one actually forecast demand? What factors go into it?
Well, a lot of factors affect demand and required labor. To have an accurate forecast, you need to look at things like historical sales, booked appointments, economic trends, weather, foot traffic, and more. A robust labor forecasting system uses machine learning to account for all of these factors. With it, you can paint an accurate picture of your upcoming demand and schedule your staff accordingly. Â
Classify employees correctly
Managing labor costs starts with classifying employees correctly. Salary, benefits, tax rates, and eligibility for federal and state-based policies depend on their classifications.
Assigning the correct classification to employees is critical to paying them correctly and complying with labor laws. Therefore, you also avoid the risk of legislation and penalties due to non-compliance. Â
Sync scheduling and time tracking
Tracking where you are overspending on labor helps solve a majority of your labor cost issues. By syncing your scheduling and attendance systems, youâll be able to see variances on timesheets between scheduled time and actual time worked. At a glance, youâll be able to quickly see the shifts where you are spending more than expected.Â
Global pizza chain Dominoâs saw tremendous success using this technique, reducing labor costs by 11% across Europe, Oceania, and Asia.
Employee engagement has a significant impact on the cost of your labor. According to Gallup, disengaged employees cost the world $7.8 trillion lost in productivity. Thatâs 11% of the global GDP. Aside from low productivity, poor employee engagement can also result in high turnover â this means increased recruitment, onboarding, and training costs.Â
While employee engagement programs usually come at a cost, that doesnât mean you must break the bank for these initiatives. At the end of the day, itâs all about employees finding value in the work they do. Tailor programs that foster growth, flexibility, and good communication. Prioritizing these things doesnât always mean hosting lavish events and activities; whatâs more valuable is integrating regular feedback loops into daily workflows.Â
3. Technology is vital to calculating labor costs, butâŚ
You need to find a software system that suits your business; otherwise, it will just cause confusion, additional admin work, and potentially higher costs. When you use an inadequate system, you risk forfeiting a healthy ROI due to constant reworking and prolonged training expenses.Â
When looking for an HCM platform to help you with labor cost calculations, here are a few functionalities youâll need to consider:
Labor forecastingÂ
Go for a platform that has a robust labor forecasting capability. With solid labor forecasting, you can accurately schedule your employees according to demand. This, alone, can curb your labor expenses as youâre not at risk of over or understaffing, and you can keep overtime and differentials to a minimum.
Many platforms claim to have some form of labor forecasting, but not all are comprehensive enough. Look at how the platform forecasts and which factors it takes into account when creating demand predictions. Is it only creating predictions based on historical sales data? If so, there is a good chance it lacks flexibility and only looks at surface-level data.
Accurate time and attendance tracking
Time and attendance tracking is vital to paying people correctly, preventing time theft, and optimizing labor costs.
Make sure you go for a system that enables employees to clock in and out easily, whether on-site or out in the field. Another vital area is the speed by which these clock-ins are recorded on timesheets. A platform that can do it in real time would be ideal.
Determine how the system spots and flags potential issues with time and attendance. The last thing you want is to scour through timesheets manually to spot irregularities.Â
Timesheet to payroll processing is another crucial element. What are the safeguards the platform has in place to ensure accurate computations? How easy is it to transfer approved timesheets to payroll? Whatâs the level of admin work needed, if any?Â
Strong payroll system
Payroll systems have a basic but extremely important task: withhold necessary deductions, pay employees on time, and pay employees accurately. This might seem straightforward, but this whole process can be tedious when different employee classifications, benefits, and pay rates come into play. It can become even more difficult if scheduling and timesheet data have already been corrupted upstream due to poor time and attendance management.Â
Labor compliance
To avoid costly DOL fines and class action lawsuits, you need to prioritize compliance with both federal and state wage and hour laws. Like forecasting, many HCM platforms claim to have some form of labor compliance feature. But not all are robust enough to keep pace with federal and state-based regulations.Â
An ideal HCM system ensures compliance at every step of the employee lifecycle. This means it should be able to flag potential risks during employee scheduling, timesheet export, and payroll calculations. Furthermore, it should be consistent with any developments or changes in federal and state-based rules.
Employee engagement tools
How the platform handles employee engagement is another vital feature you should be looking for. Most HCM software help with sending out and processing employee engagement surveys. While thatâs important, it also pays to have a feature that allows for more immediate feedback and employee recognition. It also pays to understand how they process the information gathered from these surveys and feedback loops so that youâll know whether it would be beneficial in your decision-making process.Â
Control your labor costs with Workforce.com
While it might seem like a daunting task to find a platform that covers all these areas, there is actually a fairly simple solution.Â
Workforce.com is an HCM platform tailor-made for calculating labor costs for shift-based businesses. Within its ecosystem are tools for time and attendance tracking, demand-based employee scheduling, labor forecasting, labor compliance, employee engagement, HRIS, and payroll.Â
Find out more about how Workforce.com can help you calculate labor costs by booking a call today.Â
Most hourly staff businesses have struggled with labor shortages since the pandemic. Government restrictions, initial mass layoffs, and a shift in consumer preferences have all been touted as the underlying cause of the pandemic-induced staffing shortage.
Except the pandemic wasnât the main cause, the staffing shortage was already underway.
Prior to the pandemic, unemployment was already at record lows at 3.5%.
The actual cause is Americaâs changing demographics. Its aging workforce has caused a collapse in the US labor force participation rate, dropping from 67% at the turn of the millennium to 63.3% in February 2020. A 2019 study by the Brookings Institution estimated that the labor force participation rate would decrease to 58% by 2050 due to the aging workforce. However, because of the pandemic, weâre already four years ahead of schedule. The pandemic simply accelerated the staffing shortage timeline.
While the severity of staffing shortages will rise and fall with the business cycle, it will continue to worsen. Every business will have to pick how they adjust to the shortage:
Pay higher salaries to attract staff from a shrinking talent pool
Reduce the operations and revenue of your business
Schedule smarter and become more efficient with your staffing levels
If youâre not actively pursuing (3), youâre accepting the first two by proxy. It might not occur in the next three months, but it will happen. The inertia of our aging workforce is half a century in the making.
The path to avoiding higher wages and reduced operations requires you to fine-tune the way you run your workforce.Â
How to staff more efficientlyÂ
Use precise labor forecasts
Choosing staffing levels based on manager intuition has been the default for most companies. This approach may prevent egregious over and understaffing, but it misses the small shift details that add up. Staffing based on a âbusy lunch rush and a quiet afternoonâ isnât specific enough and will create many instances of overstaffing, even if itâs only 15 minutes of someone’s shift.Â
Across a whole team, these 15 minutes per worker can result in your needing multiple extra staff over a day. To thrive, you must know your demand indicators, create staffing ratio to demand units, and then ensure all your managers are building schedules according to this demand.Â
Adjust staffing levels during shifts
Another outdated concept is the belief that a schedule is finished once itâs published; this assumes that nothing changes once a schedule is created and staff are working their shift. The problem is that call-outs, no-shows, and random downturns in demand are almost inevitable. Your managers must be prepared to anticipate and react to these challenges during shifts, adjusting labor accordingly.Â
Enable your managers to make the right decisions
You canât leave staffing levels to chance. Your managers need the right tools to support them so they can optimize their schedules to customer demand. Beyond this, you need to have complete visibility into when, where, and how managers are actively adjusting their labor – this is the only way to know for certain that you are staffing efficiently.
Many businesses wonât do this. They will continue on their current path of paying higher labor costs to attract a shrinking talent pool, as well as reducing their operations and losing customers because they donât have enough staff.Â
You need to make the choice not to be left behind.
Task management breaks down projects into smaller, more manageable duties.
Shift-based workforces can use task management to ensure daily work gets done efficiently and on time.Â
Utilizing a checklist app makes tasks more manageable for shift workers.
Task management is the process of breaking down your operations or projects into smaller, more manageable tasks. It goes down to the granular level to identify every action item needed to run a productive shift or complete a project successfully.
In principle, youâre probably doing task management daily. An example would be going to work. Going to work involves smaller activities such as dressing up, making coffee, and commuting to the workplace. Task management functions in the same way.Â
In organizations, task management helps managers and teams prioritize tasks, track progress, boost productivity, and ensure that things get done on time. However, while task management is closely tied to project management, they are different. Project management takes a 30,000 ft look at a project as a whole, whereas task management zooms in and deals with delegating and tracking specific jobs.Â
Task management for shift-based businesses
Typically, task management is associated with white-collar organizations that run simultaneous projects, such as advertising agencies or software development companies. Such organizations usually work on long-running projects or implementations, using task management to assign and track action items.Â
However, task management is also vital for hourly employees in industries like retail and hospitality. For these shift-based operations, task management defines what recurring tasks need to get done during every shift; this increases team productivity and accountability.
To successfully manage tasks, here are factors you need to consider carefully:
Time – When assigning tasks, ensure they align correctly with your schedule. For instance, stocking up on table essentials such as sugar packets and condiments is usually done before the restaurant opens and not in the middle of the day.
Resources – Take inventory of the things needed to accomplish a particular task. Consider tangibles such as supplies and tools and intangibles such as certifications or specific skills.
Dependencies – Are there any prerequisites to performing specific tasks? For instance, nurse handoffs are crucial from one shift to the next as they transfer vital and specific patient care information. Another example of dependency would be manager or supervisor sign-offs.
The goal of task management for hourly teams is to ensure productive shifts. The best way to do this is through a checklist system categorized by team and location. Take a look at this example:
Opening duties for restaurant FOH:
Set up tables and chairs
Sanitize surfaces and windows
Empty trash bins
Clean bathrooms
Arrange table napkins and other table placements
Restock tabletop essentials or condiment area with sugar packets, ketchup, salt, etc.
Stock bar with glassware and drinks
While the tasks seem part of a routine, they can easily fall through the cracks. Having specific to-do lists helps your team stay organized and focused on the tasks they must accomplish during the day.Â
Why should you prioritize task management?
Want the short answer? Because it ensures things get done. At the end of the day, every organization wants an efficient and productive workforce – proper task management is one of the most effective ways to achieve this.Â
Some dismiss task management because their daily operations remain fairly consistent. However, for some businesses, even a slight misstep can cause significant operational problems or even health and safety concerns. Task management shields your team from this kind of risk.
Here are some of the major reasons why task management is a must for hourly teams:
Increased productivity
Task management drives focus within teams, laying out precisely what needs to get done on a daily basis. Things like task checklists and due times ensure employees stay on top of their duties.
Autonomy and accountability
Task management gives your employees autonomy over their tasks. Because they know what they need to accomplish, they can manage their time better and focus on doing their tasks well even when managers are not around.Â
Effective task management also signifies trust, and employees appreciate that. By handing off daily checklists to employees, they know it is up to them to complete these tasks on time and up to standard – and because it creates a paper trail, failure to finish tasks can easily be addressed.Â
Better workflow
Teams work better when there are clear directions. Operations run smoothly when each employee knows their tasks on a granular level. Donât mistake this for micromanaging. Itâs about setting specific tasks and expectations for your team.Â
Instructing your team to go ahead and have a productive shift is easy. But how do they do that exactly? This is where task management comes in. Think of task management as mapping out the necessary steps for achieving a successful shift.Â
More visibility
Tracking shift responsibilities with software-based task management gives managers a glimpse into frontline operations. With checklists and due times assigned across an organization, managers can easily confirm that important work is getting done, whoâs completing the work, and what time.
Improved prioritization
Task management enables you to allocate your resources better and prioritize tasks accordingly. Because everything is laid out, itâs easy to identify which tasks are more urgent than others. As a result, you can focus on what matters without overwhelming your employees.
Good customer service
Higher efficiency naturally leads to better customer service. When tasks are managed effectively, customers notice – itâs easy to sense if your operations are chaotic or your employees seem lost. Forgetting simple duties like restocking a particular shelf, cleaning a bathroom, or updating a menu can lead to poor customer experience. Task management keeps you from repeatedly making these kinds of mistakes.Â
Best practices for task management
Task management seems like a straightforward process where you create a list of tasks for your employees per team, shift, and location. However, it may involve many moving parts, especially if youâre managing a midsize to enterprise-level hourly workforce.Â
Here are some best practices to help task management work for you:
Use a task management software
Post-its and whiteboards are not cut for efficient task management. Itâs best to utilize software designed to organize tasks, provide real-time task status alerts, and give you data and analytics on how your team is accomplishing tasks. Â
Task management software keeps track of every task in each shift and notifies managers upon task completion. It also promotes transparency as everyone sees the same sets of tasks and has visibility on action items ticked off the list.
Track progress
More than completing things on time, a considerable part of task management is tracking completion. Itâs important to see when tasks get done in real-time in order to stay on top of daily operations. Moreover, tracking completion helps you see where and when work is taking too long, whatâs causing the delay, and how to address the inefficiency.
Evaluate your task management strategy
Just like performance management, task management should be an ongoing process. Day-to-day tasks can be repetitive but can change over time, especially when organizational shifts and market changes occur.Â
For instance, demand will likely influence your teamâs tasks. So consider when it will likely peak and ensure that your to-do lists are adequate to meet that uptick in demand.Â
Meanwhile, revisiting your task management strategy allows you to pivot quickly in case of unprecedented market changes that will cause a significant shift in your operations. For instance, the disruption of COVID-19 caused in most workforces.Â
Tie it in with the rest of your workforce management
Task management shouldnât be a siloed process. It would be best to integrate it with other areas of workforce management, such as employee scheduling.
Over time, task management will give you a wealth of data that can aid in optimizing schedules, tracking skills, and making critical workforce decisions. Â
Task management is no easy feat, but a reliable software system can simplify it. Workforce.comâs task management is the ideal solution for hourly workers. You can use it to create checklists lists for various teams and track real-time completion rates.
Task management features are even better when synced with employee scheduling, time and attendance, and human resources. Employees can clock in, check their schedules, complete tasks, and get paid through a single app.
To learn more about Workforce.comâs task management platform and how it ties in with other solutions, book a call today.Â
If all the unemployed people in the United States of America were to find a job right now, there would still be over 4 million jobs left to fill. â More
Labor force participation is 1% lower than pre-pandemic levels or about 2.9 million fewer workers. â More
Lower-paid industries â like wholesale and retail â have been most affected by the labor shortage crisis. â More
You can use a workforce management solution to make your organization more agile in times of worker shortages. It can be used for things like labor forecasting, scheduling, employee engagement, and cross-training. â More
Last year, an impressive 3.8 million new jobs were added to the American market as businesses started to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, labor force participation remains below pre-pandemic levels. There are nearly 3.4 million fewer American workers now than in February 2020 in an epoch that has been dubbed The Great Resignation.Â
According to the latest information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the total number of nonfarm payroll employment increased last month by 263,000. The unemployment rate also decreased to 3.5% as 5.8 million workers were registered as being out of the labor market in September.Â
When companies better understand the current statistics surrounding the labor market, they can adapt to stay afloat during the labor shortage. With workforce management tools like smarter scheduling and labor forecasting, companies can find smarter ways of working around short-staffing situations.
Hereâs what the latest stats tell us about the labor shortage crisis
Thereâs a higher number of job openings than there are people in the job market
Even if all unemployed people in the United States were to find a job today, there would still be over 4 million jobs to fill. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce highlighted that there are currently 10 million unfilled jobs but only 5.8 million people unemployed.Â
Labor force participation is lower than pre-pandemic levels
Currently, labor participation in the United States is at 62.3%, which is 1% lower than it was in February 2020. Labor force participation refers to anyone who is currently working or actively looking for work. The 1% decrease in participation rate amounts to 2.9 million fewer workers contributing to the US economy.Â
More women are staying home to take care of dependents.
Thereâs a lack of âgood jobs.â
There are remaining safety concerns linked with COVID-19.
Salaries are considered to be too low.Â
People are focusing on acquiring new skills or education before re-entering the job market.
People have more money saved since the pandemic and can afford to stay out of work a bit longer.
The pandemic drove a lot of people into early retirement â over 3 million older workers as of October 2021.
More people have started their own businesses. In 2021, a record high5.4 million new businesses were opened.Â
The labor shortage has affected different industries differently
Lower-paid industries have historically been most affected by the labor shortage crisis. The most affected industries are wholesale and retail trade, durable goods and manufacturing, and leisure and hospitality.Â
The leisure and hospitality sector added 83,000 jobs. Employment rose in food services and drinking places by 60,000. The sector is still experiencing a labor supply below pre-pandemic levels by 1.1 million or 6.7%.
The healthcare industry welcomed 60,000 new workers last month, finally returning to its pre-pandemic level last seen in February 2020.
Professional and business services are experiencing an upward trend in hiring rates. The sector currently has an average job growth of 72,000 per month this year.
Other industries experiencing upward trends include manufacturing (22,000), construction (19,000), and wholesale trade (11,000).
How to stay ahead during a labor shortage
There are many ways to utilize workforce and scheduling software to make your operations run smoothly during a labor shortage.Â
1. Utilize labor forecasting
Labor forecasting helps you estimate consumer demand, allowing you to schedule shifts to match it. With demand-based scheduling, you avoid under or overstaffing. Your employees are also less likely to burn out and, ultimately, quit.Â
Luckily there is an easy way for businesses to schedule like this.Â
Labor forecasting software allows you to look at historical sales, foot traffic, weather, and economic trends to better determine the amount of labor youâll need to schedule to meet upcoming demand. This leads to smarter scheduling, such as utilizing your most experienced employees during busier periods for increased efficiency.Â
2. Stay ahead of your scheduling
Scheduling your shifts in advance allows you to be more agile and adaptable. It gives your employees enough time to review and make any changes needed without causing any major, last-minute disruptions. In turn, they have a better work-life balance and can fully focus on the job when theyâre on the clock.
Employee scheduling software centralizes scheduling and provides standardized methods for shift swaps and replacements, increasing administrative efficiency and staff agility. It also helps you manage time off requests in a way that ensures you have enough employees to cover demand.Â
Workforce.comâs scheduling software also incorporates breaks into work schedules. This way, you make sure your staff is taking the breaks they need to remain engaged and productive. Breaks are also automatically included to remain legally compliant with federal and state laws. Â
Happy and engaged employees are less likely to leave. Use communication and feedback tools to boost engagement, retention rates, and healthy production levels.Â
Communication tools allow for quicker and more transparent updates and make it easier to share important company announcements. This way, employees feel valued, and it helps to bridge the gap between them and management.Â
Feedback is an essential part of making your employees feel more appreciated. You can use shift feedback tools to cover various aspects of shift performance. Shift feedback tools work both ways â employees receive valuable feedback from management, but they are also able to provide feedback on things like staffing-level issues.Â
Cross-training ensures that your employees can deal better with short-staffing challenges. Your staff can handle a wider range of tasks and are therefore more adaptable. By encouraging your staff to mentor and train each other, you also create more cohesion across the company.Â
To start, create a list of all your team members and the skills they currently have. From there, build a cross-training program that incentivizes staff members to learn from each other and progress as individuals.Â
Employees who are cross-trained can fill in for each other during times of short-staffing and emergencies.Â
See how Workforce.com can help you adapt to labor shortages
Workforce.com can better equip your organization to deal with the ongoing country-wide labor shortages. Features like labor forecasting, smart employee scheduling, and shift feedback tools will not only help you handle short-staffing situations but will also improve your operations long term.
To learn more about how Workforce.com can help you stay ahead during labor shortages, schedule a call or start a free trial today.Â
Labor is a significant expenditure for any business – at times being the largest. Typically it constitutes about 35% of gross sales; however, in some industries, it can be much greater.
Knowing how to keep labor costs from chewing up more of your revenue than necessary is a tricky game. So, how do you win this game?
It all comes down to predictable labor allocation. Knowing where and when to schedule staff helps you spend smarter, keeping you on budget. But more than this, it lowers employee turnover costs.
Data from a recent study suggests businesses with highly unpredictable hours that provide schedules less than ten days in advance suffer the most from employee turnover. Retaining workers is more important than ever in today’s economy, and many are turning to labor forecasting to help.
Indeed, labor forecasting has arrived – and it is here to stay for hourly workforces. But what exactly is it?
What is labor forecasting?
In short, labor forecasting is a process that helps businesses determine where, when, how many, and what kind of employees are needed to meet projected customer demand.
Okay, so that is a basic definition. But what does labor forecasting really involve? Perhaps an easier way to understand labor forecasting is to break it down into a simple equation.
The labor forecasting equation
Donât worry; this math is about as easy as it gets. Labor forecasting can be broken down into the following equation:
Without a proper demand forecast, a business is simply left with a labor model blind to the external habits of the market. This is not a complete labor forecast.
Without a labor model, a business merely has a mess of forecasted demand data with no real plan to quickly and efficiently deploy staff to meet that demand. Again, this is not a complete labor forecast.Â
To properly forecast labor, a business first needs to predict future demand, and then it needs to build out a model to distribute employees and shifts according to that demand.
Now that we have established a broad understanding of labor forecasting, letâs take a closer look at its individual parts.Â
Demand Forecasting
The more widely known of the two labor forecasting components is called demand forecasting. It helps organizations project things like sales and foot traffic for upcoming weeks, giving them a better understanding of their staff and scheduling requirements.Â
Here are a few different demand forecasting methods:Â
Qualitative Forecasting
The most basic of demand forecasts, qualitative forecasting, is for when a business doesn’t have enough historical sales data to use as a reference. It primarily involves conducting market research on industry trends, seasonality, and targeted customers to generate extremely broad predictions in demand.
Average of Past Dates
One of the most common forms of demand forecasting, the average of past dates method, creates basic demand predictions in the hospitality, food and beverage, and retail industries. Its accuracy is quite limited, however, as it only uses sales data from your POS system, omitting many variables that come into play when forecasting customer demand.Â
It works by averaging historical sales data across a specified date range, using these averages as rough predictions for demand going forward.Â
For instance, a user might choose to average out their sales from last yearâs Black Friday weekend to use as a forecast for this yearâs upcoming Black Friday. Or, they can simply take sales averages from the past three weeks and project them forward on a continual basis.Â
AI forecasting works by feeding customer data (sales, foot traffic, orders), external data (weather, holidays, events, etc.), and demand patterns (seasonality, trends, weekdays) into a machine learning algorithm. This algorithm then learns the relationships between all the different data sources to create demand predictions up to four weeks out.Â
This technology makes it possible to incorporate a wide range of demand-influencing factors in your forecasts – something more basic demand forecasting software cannot do.
Labor ModelingÂ
Once you have your demand forecast, itâs time to put together an effective labor model. Doing this gives you insight into your current labor supply and the supply of labor youâll need going forward. It also helps you determine the best way to distribute staff across your business.Â
Simple internal modeling
This form of modeling simply looks at your staff availability and business operating hours. Its purpose is to keep just enough staff on hand to operate the business during operating hours, nothing more.
Since it heavily focuses on internal requirements and excludes external demand variables, simple internal modeling often results in problems with understaffing and overtime.Â
Delphi method
A step above internal modeling, the Delphi method anonymously surveys many different team leaders and decision-makers in different locations to get an aggregate understanding of an organizationâs labor needs.Â
While the Delphi method takes into account much more than just employee availability and operating hours, it is still quite inefficient due to its qualitative and anonymous nature.Â
Ratio-based
With this advanced model, AI creates ratios of required labor to meet forecasted demand down to specific teams, locations, and roles. These ratios guide scheduling managers away from potential over/understaffing issues and reduce overall labor costs.Â
For instance, for every 20 pizza delivery orders a business receives on a Thursday, this model might suggest a ratio of 3 delivery drivers and 2 cooks to properly meet that demand. These ratios take the guesswork out of labor models, helping managers plan their staffing around customer demand and not just internal requirements.Â
Benefits of effective labor forecasting
As labor forecasting becomes increasingly more intertwined with employee scheduling and workforce planning, businesses everywhere are beginning to reap the benefits of optimized forecasts.Â
Here are some of the ways proper labor forecasting directly improves your bottom line:
Lower labor costs: Matching staffing levels to accurate demand forecasts eliminates accidental overstaffing and cuts down on incurred overtime costs.
More purposeful hiring: Labor forecasting reveals gaps in your workforce, helping you hire employees with the right skills and availability to meet your labor model needs.Â
Higher customer satisfaction: When you consistently have proper staff coverage all day, every day, for every shift, customers notice. Knowing your upcoming demand and reacting appropriately ensures your customers are never met with poor service, long wait times, or annoying mistakes.Â
Less employee burnout: Just like your customers, staff will also benefit from labor forecasting. Predicting demand and knowing your labor ratios on a granular level prevents understaffed schedules, meaning employees will always have the support they need during busy shifts.
Implementing labor forecasts with Workforce.com
Understanding labor forecasting is one thing; effectively utilizing it is another.
The best way to implement a labor forecasting strategy is to use labor forecasting software. It automates the entire process for you, running predictive demand calculations and generating labor ratios in minutes.Â
This kind of technology is rapidly evolving the way businesses manage their labor – and Workforce.com is at the forefront of this evolution. Hereâs why:
40% more accurate forecasts
Workforce.comâs industry-leading AI uses historical sales, economic patterns, and external variables to generate intricate demand predictions that fuel your labor forecasts. This method is significantly more accurate than the typical labor forecasting platform which only uses historical sales averages.Â
Granular labor ratios
With Workforce.comâs labor forecasting, managers can see the number of staff per role needed to meet expected demand for every location, team, and shift – details that far surpass most other labor forecasts that just give general staff count recommendations.Â
Automatic scheduling
Managers can automatically create schedules in a single click based on their labor forecasts, eliminating hours of admin time previously spent manually plugging staff into weekly spreadsheets.Â
To find out more about how labor forecasting works, check out the webinar below featuring Jack Light, a Labor Economics PhD Candidate at the University of Chicago.
With 56% of small businesses planning to spend more on employee compensation this year, itâs essential to get a handle on your business operations and workforce expenses.Â
Without an attendance tracking system, you wonât have the oversight you need to ensure youâre staying within budget, remaining compliant, and keeping accurate records.
Tracking time and attendance is a basic and crucial workplace function, but it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start or determine your best option. Weâve put together a brief overview of some options, as well as the best way to track employee attendance.
Unreliable ways to track attendance
Using a punch cardÂ
Punch cards are an old-school way of tracking time and attendance, where employees stick a card into a reader and clock in and clock out times are marked on their card.Â
With punch cards, you can run into the issue of buddy punching. Buddy punching is the practice of clocking in for a coworker, and itâs been found to cost employers about $373 million annually.  Â
Another problem with the punch card system is your inability to monitor or view updates online; you canât check on your teams or different store locations remotely. Instead, managers are left in the dark about employee attendance, whoâs about to reach overtime, and how employee wages are impacting the bottom line.Â
Using key cardsÂ
The upside of using key or badge cards is speeding up the clock in and out process. Cards are swiped quickly, so employee lines are limited.Â
But badges are easily forgotten or misplaced, resulting in needing to clock in manually or using a temporary badge. Clocking in manually and managing temporary badges defeats the efficiency of having a key card system.Â
Tracking employee attendance in Excel
A free solution to track employee time is with a timesheet. If you keep it digital, you can use a template in Excel that easily calculates everything for you. If you go the hardcopy route, you can print physical timesheets for employees to use.Â
But how do you monitor your employeesâ time or get an overview of schedules? How do you ensure no one is hitting overtime?Â
A major risk with tracking employee attendance manually is the lack of control and oversight in your day-to-day business. Not to mention the room you leave for time theft or losing track of accurate records.Â
Manual time tracking systems donât allow managers to accurately oversee overtime or streamline their payroll processes. Processing payroll becomes incredibly time consuming and inefficient; managers must manually tally attendance data, leaving room for costly errors.Â
Time and attendance software is a one-stop-shop for your attendance and scheduling needs. In one system:
Employees can clock in and out with a time clock app, including GPS and photo verification
You can see everyoneâs schedules and and real-time attendance in one place onlineÂ
You can quickly approve timesheets, shift swaps, and time-off requestsÂ
Using time and attendance software allows you to streamline your processes and record time with the best possible accuracy, so you keep your business running in accordance with local and state laws while maximizing profits.Â
If you are a manager overseeing hourly employees in retail, hospitality, restaurant, or another shift worker space, here are six benefits to using software to track employee attendance:Â
1. Prevent buddy punchingÂ
Gone are the days of time theft being easy to swing.Â
Avoid the risk of buddy punching with electronic photo verification. This solution involves unique passcodes and photo verification for each clock in and clock out, so managers can see the right person clocked in for the right shift.Â
2. Monitor unauthorized breaks and clock-out timesÂ
Taking unscheduled breaks or working beyond the allotted time is a costly practice that impacts more than profits; it poorly affects team members.
When an employee takes a longer or unscheduled break, the rest of their team has to pick up the slack, take their breaks later, or worse: miss out on a break altogether to ensure appropriate coverage.Â
Using time and attendance software allows you to manage costs and protect your teamâs morale by making sure employees are clocking in and out when scheduled.Â
3. Ensure location accuracy with GPSÂ Â
Another form of time theft is when employees are not where they say they are when theyâre clocked in.
An example is when you have employees on the road or at a remote work site. With GPS tracking, youâre able to see that theyâre in the right location when they clock in and out.Â
Workforce.com is broken down by location and teams so each manager can view their team and ensure everyone is where they are scheduled to be.Â
4. Avoid unnecessary overtime costs Â
At the start of 2020, 1.3 million American workers were made eligible for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). To protect yourself from financial penalties, you need to make sure youâre following regulations and work schedule laws.Â
Workforce.com can send you or your managers alerts when an employee is approaching overtime so you can avoid unnecessarily paying those extra costs.
How can your team provide exemplary customer service when someoneâs always coming in late or skipping shifts all together?Â
Absenteeism not only impacts the customer experience, it affects your bottom line. For each hourly employee, unexpected absences cost roughly $3,600 a year. Absences are a part of business, but they can be monitored and prevented.Â
Managing the attendance of employees across locations can be a challenge. No manager wants to be left in the dark or find out there is a staffing issue after the fact.Â
Seeing employee attendance in real-time gives you a sense of ease. Rather than worrying about how things are going, you can take a quick peek on your mobile app and rest assured your teams are performing across locations.Â
The key to success as a manager is being proactive. Are there any employees who habitually come to work late? Clock out early? Take longer breaks? Stay on top of employee performance and habits in real-time.Â
With Workforce.com, managers can easily keep track of attendance on the go. You get to see whoâs in, whoâs on break, and whoâs scheduled to come inâall in one place. Â
 6. Understand employee productivity and demand
With the ebb and flow of customer demand, itâs important to make sure staffing matches the tides.Â
The problem is, most retailers arenât sure how to determine the optimal amount of staffing. You may be tempted to follow your instinct and base schedules on when you expect busy periods. But why leave so much up to chance?
Scheduling shouldnât be a guessing game, but it turns into one without a system in place. When you approach staffing systematically, you can add as much as 20% in revenue, according to Harvard Business Review.Â
Make sound decisions based on real-time data with time and attendance software. Workforce.com provides a productivity ratio per employee, so managers know how many sales each employee can handle in specified time slots. Managers can see at a glance the recommended staff count by the day and hour, without the guesswork.
Workforce.comâs Live Wage Tracker shows when you are under or overstaffed based on demand.Â
Practicing effective attendance managementÂ
Time and attendance software takes the headache out of tracking your hourly employees. Workforce.com has automatic systems in place to help you streamline your processes, save time, and protect your bottom line. Book your demo today.
Time theft is what happens when an employer unknowingly pays an employee for time they didn’t work while on the clock.Â
Examples of time theft include falsifying time cards, buddy punching, unauthorized or extended breaks, excessive social media use, and personal activities on company time. â More
You can deal with time theft by implementing HR policies and utilizing automated time and attendance software. â More
If you discovered that one of your employees was stealing money or equipment from the company, youâd likely reprimand or even terminate them. What you may not realize is that another type of theft is likely happening right under your nose â time theft.Â
Software Advice surveyed shift workers and found that 43% of hourly workers admitted to over-reporting the number of hours they actually worked during their workday. This type of employee theft can result in big losses for your organization. If every employee over-reported just 30 minutes of work every day, this could result in thousands of dollars lost to time theft every month.   Â
To tackle the issue of time theft, you must first understand how your employees could be stealing time in the first place. You should implement a time and attendance policy that clearly states the organizationâs stance on time theft, the expectations of the staff, and the repercussions for breaking these policies.
Beyond this, you should consider where your manual time tracking processes are most vulnerable to abuse and seek ways to increase automation across your workforce.Â
Employee time theft occurs when an employer unknowingly pays an employee for time they didn’t work while on the clock.Â
Itâs primarily applicable to hourly employees more so than exempt employees. If left unchecked, employee time theft costs can eat away at your monthly wage cost budget very quickly.Â
One of the more egregious cases of employee time theft involved a US Postal Service employee in Washington, D.C., who received $31,000 in wages for jury service that the employee claimed lasted 144 days. The theft investigation revealed that the employee had actually been discharged from jury duty but forged court papers to persuade his employer to pay him for what turned out to be a very long vacation.
Your time theft problem might not be as bold as the US Postal Serviceâs. Smaller, everyday occurrences of time theft are more difficult to spot but still negatively affect your organizationâs bottom line and employee productivity.Â
1. Falsifying time cards
The falsification of a time card occurs when an employee provides inaccurate data about their working hours or causes others to provide misleading information. This typically occurs with manual timekeeping systems or tracking employee hours with a time clock.
For example, say an employee only works 30 hours in a week but claims 40 hours of work time on their timesheet. Or deceitfully claims to have worked an entire shift, such as at the end of 2022, when a Polk County firefighter was arrested for falsifying his time cards. He had received a total of $1,265.04 for three 24-hour shifts he did not work. Â
Solution âuse automated time tracking software.
Paper timesheets are the simplest way for employees to steal time, and physical time clocks allow for multiple excuses: âSo-and-so lost their time card, so I loaned them mine,â or âI lost my swipe card.â With time clock software, you can prevent fraudulent time theft and early clock-ins and prompt employees to clock back in via mobile apps when their breaks are over.
A mobile tracker app also empowers managers to follow employees in real-time from anywhere and continue tracking when an employee clocks in. Workforce.comâs mobile time clock app helps you manage employeesâ time and administer digital timesheets, payroll, budgeting, and labor compliance reporting.Â
You also can track remote employeesâ locations via their GPS clock-in. These tools work everywhere and show you their exact location at a glance. You can restrict their clocking in or out at your job site or see where an employee who always has an excuse for being late is actually spending their time.
2. Buddy punching
Another form of time theft is when an employee clocks in or out for a coworker. This is often referred to as buddy punching. Companies that operate using rudimentary procedures around clocking in are at higher risk of having their employees cheat the system in such a way. Â
Solution â automate clock-in and clock-out procedures.
Time and attendance software like Workforce.com makes buddy punching virtually impossible. Employees automatically punch in and out through their smartphones using photo identification and passcodes – this ensures that the right person has clocked in for the right shift.Â
3. Unauthorized or extended breaks
Employees deserve their break time â breaks are required by law in some states. But there is room for abuse. Employees could easily extend their lunch break time by a few minutes on a regular basis. Excessive cigarette breaks are also often flagged as a cause for concern. In light of the time used up on smoke breaks, one UK-based company even awarded its non-smoking employees four extra days of time off.
Solution â build a healthy break culture that is effectively managed through scheduling and tracking solutions.
Taking lunch breaks from time to time is important for employee engagement and productivity. So, regulating your teamâs break activities shouldnât be done in a way that puts them off from taking theirs altogether. Create a healthy break culture within your team by doing things like:Â
Encouraging staff to actually take their breaks
Having management take breaks themselves and lead by example
Providing pleasant spaces for your employees to take their breaks in
Offering catered lunches
Furthermore, Workforce.comâs scheduling solution automatically allocates rest breaks that are compliant with state law. This information is also readily available for employees through their employee app.Â
This way, your employees get the rest they need without taking longer breaks that ultimately constitute time theft.Â
4. Excessive social media usage
Social media use on the clock is inevitable. When it happens consistently, it can be considered a type of time theft. One study by Desktime found that of the time employees spend on non-work-related websites, nearly 50% of that time is on social media.Â
From the time spent on work-unrelated websites, social media takes up 49.1%.Â
Solution â incorporate clear guidelines about social media use into your company policy.
Employees using social media and checking their phones while at work is inevitable, to some extent, and attempting to cut it out altogether will likely cause resentment. Instead, develop clear policies on acceptable social media use in the work environment. Your policy could include information on:
The distinction between social media use for work purposes (if applicable) and for personal use
Times and places for personal social media use; for example, employees can only use it during their break times and not in the work area
Policies around posting photos or videos on company property and/or wearing company uniforms
5. Personal activities on company time
You may experience employees who have no problem carrying out personal tasks while on the clock. This could include taking personal calls, online shopping, running errands, or even running their side business. Excessive socializing between coworkers could also be considered time theft.
Solution â create a great sense of ownership and accountability amongst your team.Â
There are a number of ways employees can avoid working and take personal time during their work shifts. Turning your workplace into a police state is one way to handle the problem, but it would negatively impact your teamâs morale.Â
Alternatively, you should strive to create a work environment that prioritizes and harnesses employee satisfaction. When employees care, their loyalty and productivity increase. Implement a system of employee rewards and recognition. Grant time off â or add in an extra shift â for shift workers who excel in their roles. Creating a culture of honesty, transparency, and trust helps prevent time theft.
It is important to communicate with your team to understand what needs to be done to help boost employee morale.Â
As Tom Smith, co-founder of Partners in Leadership and three-time New York Times bestselling author, once said, âAn attitude of accountability lies at the core of any effort to improve quality, satisfy customers, empower people, build teams, create new products, maximize effectiveness, and get results.âÂ
Dealing with employees who have committed time theft
Dealing with employees who have been caught buddy punching, taking longer breaks than allowed, or committing any other type of time theft can be tricky. Your first instinct might be to refuse to pay that employee for the time they have stolen, but this can prove to be more costly down the line.Â
If you refuse to pay for the hours worked because you think they were falsely reported, you could be drawn into a costly wage-and-hour lawsuit for back pay.
And, if you respond to the lawsuit with a claim of employee time theft, it could be considered retaliation against the employee. Be sure you have a reasonable basis for filing the claim to avoid retaliation.
You are much more susceptible to wage-and-hour and overtime lawsuits with lax time and attendance policies or unsophisticated timekeeping practices. Business owners are turning to automated time-tracking solutions to monitor employee hours.
Create time and attendance policies
It is important to establish clear and specific time and attendance policies and ensure that they are communicated well to your staff. If your team isnât aware of what is expected from them when it comes to attendance and time theft, how can they abide by your rules?
Ensure your team knows why you are implementing the policies and what is expected of them.
The first thing to do is consult with your employment law attorney regarding local, state, and federal time-theft regulations. An employer can work with you to develop clear, consistent policies regarding clocking in and out procedures, break periods, and cell phone and social media use while clocked-in. Itâs crucial that employees fully understand their work-related responsibilities and know what they should be doing when there are lulls in the workday.
Immediately incorporate these policies into your employee handbook. All hourly and salaried employees must review and sign a document stating they have read and understand the policies in the handbook. Also, post reminder signs in high-traffic areas and send alerts through mobile apps so employees can see them.Â
Follow through on procedures and disciplinary actions
You donât want to punish employees. Itâs costly and emotionally draining for all involved, and it can suck the morale out of a workplace. But you need preventative measures in place should you discover evidence of time theft.Â
Develop and communicate in your handbook the disciplinary procedures to deal with time theft. This may include a program in which you initially issue a verbal warning followed by a written warning or establishing a performance improvement plan thatâs ultimately followed by suspension and concluding in termination.Â
If it reaches that point, Findlaw.com states that if an employee is suspected of stealing time, itâs up to you to conduct a fair, accurate investigation. Someone other than the person who discovered the theft of time should investigate it, strict confidentiality must be maintained, and you should enlist expert help from a CPA, an attorney, or other relevant professionals.
Compliance with wage-and-hour laws is a headache and difficult to track. Constantly turning to a labor law attorney gets expensive quickly. The laws, regulations, and ordinances can be overwhelming, and a wrongful termination suit is costly. Workforce.comâs compliance platform ensures simplified and automated compliance with federal, state, and local labor regulations.
Stay on top of time theft with Workforce.com
Time theft doesnât have to be a cost of doing business. Itâs challenging to deal with time theft and recoup losses, but Workforce.com has the systems and processes that empower you to prevent time-theft losses from ever occurring again.
Here are a few practical ways Workforce.com helps you crack down on time theft:
Geofencing
Geofencing technology allows you to limit the radius in which employees can use their mobile time clock to punch in for work. This means they always have to be physically present at work to clock in, preventing them from clocking in at home while running late.
Photo identified clock-ins
With Workforce.com’s time clock, staff take a quick selfie every time they clock in for a shift. These photos accompany every timesheet, helping managers confirm employees are who they say they are when clocking in. Photo identification like this prevents buddy punching, a common form of time theft.
Time clock passcodes
If you opt to use a single tablet as a time clock for all staff members, Workforce.com assigns everyone unique passcodes. Employees use these passcodes to securely clock in and out of work without anyone else doing it for them.
Meal and rest break clock outs
You can automatically apply lunch breaks to every shift you create in Workforce.com. If an employee has a break scheduled, they must physically clock-out and then clock back in once their break is complete. This break time is then recorded on their time sheet. Having a specific break button like this ensures an employee never takes unauthorized extended breaks.
Real-time solutions like Workforce.comâs time and attendance system prevent time theft and streamline the payroll process. Automated solutions also provide your managers with a worry-free system so they can focus on running a business and not hovering over a time clock. But don’t take our word for it. Check out the free webinar below, where Forrester Research dissects the ROI businesses can expect from time and attendance platforms:Â
Build your culture, track employee hours, and crack down on time thieves with Workforce.comâs time and attendance software. Start a free trial today.
