Staffing Management Archives - Page 8 of 35

June 16, 2020June 29, 2023

How to recalibrate work dynamics and embrace digital transformation in a post-pandemic workplace

Tsedal Neeley, Harvard Business School professor, award-winning author, and global management and leadership expert, recently caught up with us to share her insights and advice as the workforce continues to go through rapid transformation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. From digital transformation, team relaunch, to leading in times of radical change, she gives a picture of the future of work and essential advice for employees and leaders alike.

Workforce: What do you think are the most significant changes that were brought about by the pandemic to the workforce?

Neeley: The most significant changes that were brought about by COVID is the fact that between 88 percent to 90 percent of the workforces particularly knowledge workers, meaning people who work in offices, have migrated into remote work. A lot of people for the very first time in their professional lives have attempted to get work done virtually, collaborate virtually, be productive virtually, work with partners, customers, consumers, distributors, suppliers virtually in a context of a global pandemic.

The other thing that we’re seeing is the digital transformation for many organizations. When you go to remote work or what I call the virtualization of work, you have to have more robust enabling technologies to support it – communication tools, the tools for cybersecurity, repositories, content management systems. So we’re seeing some virtual and digital advancements that just really have accelerated because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Even now, if you think about the rush to get a vaccine for COVID-19. Some of the companies are using AI and machine learning. We’re seeing all of these things in action and I think that we are going to be forced to be much more intelligent. I also think that the companies that have had some form of digital capacity are going to do better during this economic times because they will have the predictive analysis to be able to understand how to use the right data, to have the right approaches, to make the right decisions, to come up with countering measures to support their strategic response.

WF: A lot of the working dynamics have changed. What are the ways that leaders can support their team during this time?

Neeley: It’s very important for leaders to ensure that they do what’s called a team launch. If you haven’t done a team launch by now, you should do a re-launch. Which means that you set your team off on a course.

A team launch is one of the success factors for any team. It breathes life to a team. It helps increase the performance of virtual teams by 30 percent. A team launch or relaunch is where you collectively determine the following:

Shared purpose – Be clear about what your shared goals, mission and vision are as a group.
Resources – Determine what your needs are, anywhere from budgets, information, and networks.
Members’ lived experience – Discuss individual strengths, constraints, and gaps. You need to understand task allocation and balance accordingly.

Today, many parents are homeschooling, and many are working in shifts. Days can be longer for them and their hours are not necessarily coinciding with the rest of the group.

Leaders need to understand who is in that situation and the constraints that go along with them. They must accommodate people who have those scenarios because the apparatus that people had built to support their children, to support them as families – the entire support structure has gone away in this global pandemic. You need to understand those constraints.

New norms: Establish or re-establish norms. How do you communicate and how often? What tools are you going to use to communicate?

People have been raising concerns about video conferencing fatigue, and it’s important for you to pick the right media for the right needs. As a group, you need to agree on what’s going to work for you in order to remain connected. Think about informal contact too like virtual lunches and virtual coffee breaks.

WF: What do you think the future of work will look like as businesses start operations again, especially those that have actual establishments?

Neeley: Opening up does not mean that we go back to our old system immediately, especially when we don’t have vaccines yet. So there are many questions around the use of space and technology.

For example, I recently spoke to a company that specializes in beverages and their business has never been better. They’ve started e-commerce first. Businesses need to think about whether it would make sense for them to begin a robust online delivery system in order to supplement their revenue, serve their customers, and remain very present.

Nonetheless, it’s important to keep in mind that when businesses are reopening and they are not using the full capacity of their staff – meaning some are at home still and some have gone into work. There actually creating two groups – those who are out risking exposure to COVID to start the business and those who remain safe at home. What can that create? That can create an us-versus-them culture. Leaders need to be very careful about those dynamics and make sure that no group feels privileged or excluded.

WF: We are talking about leaders being at the forefront of this. So for leaders, where do they get support because they are in a unique position of experiencing the effects of the pandemic and taking care of a team?

Neeley: That is an excellent question. People need to ask that question more.

Every organization needs to have a very visible CEO who is communicating regularly so that leaders can lead. The leaders of leaders have to set the tone. They have to help them figure out how to lead through a crisis.

There are two things that are important for them to identify. They need to recognize that they are leading during times of crisis, which requires a certain type of leadership. They are also leading radical change, but many of them don’t think they are. When your entire workforce has shifted to work from home; when your client base is in this extraordinarily dynamic period; when your entire patterns of work have changed, you are going through a radical change during a time of uncertainty. You don’t know what the future will look like. People are anxious. People need new skills. People need new equipment. Entire organizations have turned upside down. It’s a radical change. And you’re leading it.

Organizations need to set the tone and they need to equip their leaders to be able to lead accordingly. That’s the first step.

Second, leaders should form groups or task forces to help align their messaging, to help align their movements and actions and to bring together the best ideas and best practices. This way, no leader is trying to figure it out all on their own especially since no one has gone through a global pandemic of this scale in our modern times, right? To create the best practices collectively within the organization, that’s a way to get your support system.

Finally, leaders always need to have a set of mentors or kind of their own board of advisors, not formally necessarily. But leaders should have three or four people who they can turn to to think through things. These are not ordinary times and during times of crisis, you need your mentors. They are people you trust or people you build trust with if you don’t have them yet. These people have some serious expertise in a certain area that you really want to thrive in and be unafraid to hear truth from. You need to reach out to make sure that you have those.

This is not a time to be a solo leader. Leaders need to understand how to lead change, lead during times of crisis, and innovate. There are so many things that they need to figure out very quickly and they can’t do that alone.

June 12, 2020June 29, 2023

Employee scheduling after the COVID-19 pandemic

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

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

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

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

Predictive scheduling laws across the United States

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

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

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

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

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

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

COVID-19 complications to employee scheduling

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

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

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

Also read: Shift scheduling strategies can be improved through technology

Communication with payroll providers

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

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

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

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

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

Communication with employees

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

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

Technology can also simplify the communication between employers and employees.

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

June 10, 2020April 11, 2023

How far in advance must a work schedule be posted?

Predictive scheduling laws have changed the way many businesses make their schedules. While there are many details in these rules — like record keeping requirements and providing compensation for schedule changes — what people most talk about is employers’ responsibility to provide employee schedules in advance.

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

The purpose of these laws is to give employees more predictability and stability, providing them a chance to plan ahead. If they know their work hours in advance, they will more likely be able to plan for a second job, child care or other responsibilities that must be planned in advance.

Still, these laws mean that businesses must stay compliant with new regulations, and for employers with multiple locations across the country, they may have different rules to comply with. Following is some of the basic information about each of these laws.

Also read: Employers grapple with laws about work schedules

How far in advance must a work schedule be posted?

The timing varies. Currently, there are several laws in cities across the United States. Four cities in California have predictive scheduling laws: San Francisco, Emeryville, San Jose and Berkeley. Other cities and municipalities include New York, Seattle, SeaTac and Philadelphia. Chicago joins these July 1, 2020.

Meanwhile, Oregon is the only state with such a law in effect, while New Hampshire and Vermont have more limited scheduling-related laws.

These laws have specific stipulations for which businesses must comply to the rules, and they also have many other details employers must be familiar with. However, looking at this from a more basic point of view, here is how much notice employers whom the laws apply to must give employees in each location:

San Francisco: 14 days notice; went into effect March 1, 2016.
Emeryville: 14 days notice; went into effect July 1, 2017.
San Jose: No advance notice component, but employers must offer additional hours to existing, qualified part-time employees before hiring more employees; went into effect March 13, 2017.
Berkeley: No advance notice component, but employees may request flexible or predictable working arrangements twice per year and after a major life event.
New York: 14 days notice; went into effect Nov. 26, 2017.
Seattle: 14 days notice; went into effect July 1, 2017.
SeaTac: No advance notice required, but employers must offer additional hours to existing, qualified part-time employees before hiring more employees covers only large hospitality employers and transportation employers.
Philadelphia: 10 days notice; went into effect April 1, 2020.
Chicago: 10 days notice; goes into effect July 1, 2020.
Oregon: 14 days notice; went into effect August 8, 2017.

Complying with predictive scheduling laws

How far in advance must a work schedule be posted? These regulations provide clear numbers on the minimum employers must do, but that doesn’t mean they can’t go above and beyond that.

Employees are beginning to return to work after months of quarantine. The conversation around predictive scheduling will have to evolve because of the coronavirus, said Ari Hersher, partner at Seyfarth law firm. Employers can begin improving on the communication they have with employees.

“Employers should do what they can to communicate as far in advance about their anticipated schedule as possible,” he said, adding that the clients he works with that are subject to predictive scheduling laws give up to 21 days notice on schedules.

Managers can communicate scheduling in advance and explain the flexibility needs of the business at the same time, creating an open line of communication between employer and employee.

“Employers can say, ‘We’ll give you 30 days notice, but please understand that our scheduling needs are volatile,’ ” he said. “People should [try to] understand each others’ needs and be mindful of them.”

David Kopsch, principal consultant at Mercer, agreed that giving more notice will benefit employers right now. The return-to-work environment is stressful. Employers must create employee work schedules without knowing what sort of customer demand to expect, and some employees may be fearful to return to work in a customer-facing job.

Organizations can provide schedules to employees up to four weeks in advance, Kopsch said. From there, they can call and confirm with employees three weeks in advance, make whatever changes are necessary and officially post the schedule two weeks ahead of time, which would allow employers to comply with any of the predictable schedule laws.

“We are seeing much more communication coming from employers, and what [employers] are sharing with us is employees like it,” Kopsch said. “They like this high level of communication. They like the engagement and the concern and empathy that employers are demonstrating,”

June 9, 2020June 7, 2022

Absence management is increasingly vital for managers to understand

shift scheduling, technology, custom fields

Absence management — the program and policies in place that control absences due to injury and illnesses — is a vital part of workforce management. Employees miss work for a variety of reasons, and managers must make sure they are on top of employee absences and keeping the business running.

That being said, there are certain aspects of absence management that tend to elude managers. Simon Camaj, absence and disability practice leader at Mercer, said that understanding intermittent disability claims is an area in which many managers lack understanding.

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

This is problematic for both managers and employees. Employees may have a valid claim and a condition that allows them to take time off intermittently to tend to their condition. But a manager is running a business, and they must understand that their employee can legitimately take that time off and still be able to manage their business in that employee’s absence.

Intermittent versus continuous claims

A continuous claim happens in a situation where an employee needs short-term disability leave for a finite amount of time. They may, for example, not be at work for six weeks straight, giving the employer the opportunity to plan around their absence and prepare for their return. This is relatively straightforward, Camaj said.

What often complicates disability leave for employers, though, is when an employee is physically present at work but eligible for intermittent leave. As the UC Santa Cruz human resources team explains, an intermittent leave may allow an employee to take time off in separate periods of time due to a single illness or injury, rather than one continuous period of time. Leave may include periods from an hour at a time, a day at a time or multiple days in a row, the HR guidance added.

Communication between employees and managers is the biggest challenge here, Camaj said. Leave policies may not be clear on the role of the manager and employee regarding intermittent leave.

Also read: Employers grapple with laws about work schedules

The relationship between management and company leadership
Company decision makers should be clear on what the organization’s time off and employee leave strategy is and how it fits into what the organization is trying to accomplish.

“If you’re going to offer something to employees, they will naturally consider using it,” Camaj said. “And you have to balance that with certain business goals and priorities.”

It must be made clear in the policy and communicated to both employees and managers what their role is in this absence management procedure, he said. Who does an employee call when they need to take their intermittent leave? What are they personally responsible for? Meanwhile, managers must know what rights employees have to take intermittent time off and what their strategy is to modify the schedule in case that happens.

Whichever absence management administrator or vendor a company uses has a role here and a responsibility to communicate important information to employees and managers, Camaj said. How does the administrator communicate with the employee who has the legal right to take a certain type of leave? How do they engage with the managers in charge of these employees?

A paradigm shift

There’s been a paradigm shift recently where there’s more awareness from employers of the importance of leave management and of employees being able to balance their work and personal lives and health, Camaj said. Evidence of this change includes the expansion of paid parental leave and caregiver leave laws across cities and states.

”This is employers looking at employees and saying, ‘They’re at different stages of their lives and we have to meet people where they’re at.’” he said. “The paradigm shift is employers are seeing leave of absences as employee health events, and if you do a better job at managing leave as a health event, you have stronger productivity, and it helps everybody. It’s not just a leave program you have to have, It’s a strategy.”

Also read: Time off policies promote convenience while enhancing engagement

This trend will continue, he said, as employee leave grows increasingly more complex with new local or state laws concerning paid time off and paid leave. The issues employers have managing employee absences are not going away. Still, Camaj said he’s seeing more employers step up to the plate.

”We have a greater focus where employers are looking at their leave policies; managers and employees are trying to understand what they have; and vendors are finally at a point where they’re trying to simplify and support leave administration in general with technology,” he said. “As an industry we’re making progress, but this is only going to continue becoming a bigger focus.”

June 7, 2020April 11, 2023

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

shift scheduling for hourly restaurant workers, shift swap

Employers must have been taking notes from athletic coaches when they started naming shift schedules. The 2-3-2, the DuPont, four on four off, and going EOWEO all sound like a defensive strategy or a trick play. (For the record, EOWEO stands for Every Other Weekend Off, not a signal to Tom Brady to throw the football to Rob Gronkowski.)

Whatever the terminology, shift schedules remain the lifeblood of an hourly workforce. Whether it’s 12-hour shift schedule types or a traditional 24 hours on and 48 hours off scheduling system for firefighters, shift swapping also is a key tool for employees and managers to maintain both consistency in staffing levels and a vibrant, engaged talent pool.

Accommodating a shift swap

Shift swapping lets an employee request to work one of their shifts and in exchange, work one of that colleague’s scheduled shifts.

Establish a written policy that provides clear guidance to staff while simultaneously ensuring the organization’s needs are met. Make sure the policy is clear and easy to understand. Don’t overcomplicate it; the simpler the better. Implementing an easy-to-use shift swapping software simplifies the process, which can otherwise bog down into an arduous, overly complicated back-and-forth among employees that wastes everyone’s time.

Benefits for employers

A manual, paper-based shift swapping policy that relies on employees scrambling to cover for each other is a risk at best and a chronic, chaotic scheduling disaster waiting to happen. Managers play an integral role in closely monitoring shift swapping. Their oversight assures that every shift will be fully covered.

Through innovative workforce management technology, managers can approve shift swaps with complete oversight of costs and compliance. The technology empowers managers to:

Control staffing levels — eliminating understaffing and overstaffing.
Monitor so staff members swap shifts with colleagues who have similar skills and experience.
Lower the potential for no-show employees.
Reduce overtime.
Create a deadline for shift swaps.
Distribute unwanted shifts fairly and evenly among all employees.
Customize to control cost, employee availability, qualifications and fatigue management.

Benefits for employees

Employees have lives away from work, and there are times when they need to get a shift covered. Family issues, a sudden illness or a day away for mental health, if the shift is claimed, the employee will be free to take the day off. If not, the employee remains responsible for the shift. Shift swapping software allows employees to:

Post the shift for all fellow employees to see.
Control their own schedules.
Get a shift covered quickly and easily.
Create a more complete work/life balance.
Build camaraderie and teamwork through communication.
Earn additional money by picking up extra shifts.

With the freedom that employees will enjoy through shift swapping technology, managers still control the approval process and hold the power to override a shift swap in case a specific exchange is seen as unworkable or create unnecessary costs.

Shift swap software allows managers to prevent employees from constantly posting their shifts and become a stand-in for requesting time off.

Additionally, no one benefits from the employee who continually volunteers to work day after day after day, double shifts and late night-early morning shifts. Managers can track that employee and curb shifts and hours, since there is the potential for burnout as well as safety concerns for fellow employees.

Finally, misunderstandings over a missed shift are a thing of the past. Shift swapping technology puts the responsibility to fill the shift squarely on employees. Managers OK the swap, leaving them with more spare time to do things other than babysit the schedule.

Organizations need a reliable employee scheduling plan while employees want job flexibility that adapts to life outside of work. With Workforce.com’s shift-swapping software, a carefully planned shift swapping policy manages employee costs, accommodates employer and employee needs and ensures that both get the schedule they want.

June 2, 2020June 29, 2023

Employers grapple with laws about work schedules

Chicago’s fair workweek law goes into effect on July 1, 2020.

Chicago joins the ranks of other cities like San Francisco, Emeryville, San Jose, Berkeley, New York City, Seattle, SeaTac and Philadelphia that have predictive scheduling laws. Oregon, meanwhile, is the only state with one of these laws in effect, while New Hampshire and Vermont have more limited scheduling-related laws.

The past few years has seen a wave of predictive scheduling laws, making it a hot topic in industries like retail and hospitality, said Ari Hersher, partner at Seyfarth law firm. Hersher described predictive scheduling as “the next big thing” — much like a wave of paid sick leave laws that began surging in the late 2010s and created a patchwork of local and state laws across the United States. COVID-19 has only increased this trend of paid sick leave laws.

Also read: Shift scheduling strategies can be improved through technology

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a few notable impacts on fair workweek laws in 2020, he added. Industries like retail, food service and hospitality that have been greatly impacted by the pandemic are also the industries primarily impacted by predictive scheduling laws. While COVID-19 has not stopped cities and states from enacting the laws currently in place, it’s uncertain if new laws will continue with the same momentum as they did pre-pandemic.

“It remains to be seen what will happen post-COVID. I think there will be an interesting push and pull,” Hersher said. “There will be a strong desire to not overly restrict these businesses like retail that have been so devastated by the coronavirus, but also [give] all these employees — who may have kids out of school or need to work multiple jobs in order to manage — the scheduling stability and notice that they can manage their lives.”

COVID-19 aside, these laws already exist in several municipalities. Hersher went over these laws about work schedules and how employers can work with them.

Also read: How to reduce compliance risk

The meat of these laws

Laws vary by city or state, but they generally include four common provisions, according to the National Retail Federation. These provisions are:

Advanced posting of schedules.
Employer penalties for unexpected schedule changes.
Record-keeping requirements for employers.
Prohibitions on requiring employees to find replacements for scheduled shifts if they are unable to work.

Predictive scheduling laws are meant to address common concerns hourly employees have, including unpredictable, unstable and often insufficient work hours. As a 2018 Economic Policy Institute article explained, “Employers in some industries have increasingly adopted scheduling practices that leave workers in desperate need of additional work yet hampered in their ability to actually seek supplemental work elsewhere or find a new job altogether.”

Certain scheduling practices that some employers adopt “shift more of the risk and costs of doing business from firms onto their employees,” the article continued. For example, they may require employees to maintain “open availability” for all hours the store is open, giving them basically no input in the days or times they work.

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

Impact on employers

These laws put a strain on employers, for whom most scheduling changes aren’t intended, Hersher said. Employees may call in a few days or hours before their shift starts, leaving employers little time to find a replacement. They need flexibility to create good schedules.

Also read: Predictive Scheduling Laws — What Are They, Where Do They Exist and Employers’ Reaction

The financial penalties for breaking predictive scheduling laws are substantial for employers, he added.

In addition, some employers may have to comply with multiple predictive scheduling laws, depending on what states or cities they operate in. Complying with this patchwork of laws is complicated and requires different workplace policies for different locations.

The Society for Human Resource Management suggests that employers should audit their locations. “A centralized staffing model can quickly become outdated, or even worse, a liability. Location-specific policy changes may need to be made, and managers may require retraining on how to handle staffing shortages.”

Also read: 3 Steps to Navigating Effective Wage and Hour Compliance

Potential solutions

Using predictive analytics to create schedules weeks in advance is one solution to avoid overstaffing and understaffing, Hersher said. Certain technology solutions may help, too, if they can help employers take different regions’ predictive scheduling laws into account as they create schedules.

Communication is also key. Some newer predictive scheduling laws include the “suggested interactive process,” he said. This is optional but encourages employers to have a dialogue with new employees. Usually, when someone begins an hourly job, their manager tells them what their days and hours will be. With the interactive process, the new employee can have their say in the conversation. “I have another job or other responsibilities these days and times, but what about this schedule instead?”

The employer has the ultimate decision over the employee’s schedule, Hersher said, but having that conversation can help employees feel respected and heard.

Laws about work schedules during the COVID-19 pandemic

Fair workweek laws are still in place and being enforced in the midst of COVID-19, Hersher said. For example, in San Francisco the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement is continuing to pursue complaints, file investigations and move forward with these laws like before. On a city-to-city basis, there are realistically different enforcement levels, he said, but it’s important to remember that municipalities or agencies don’t need to pause their enforcement work in light of store closures.

“Retail is already facing a lot of challenges. And whether the government wants to put a lot more financial burden on their existence is something they’ll really have to consider,” Hersher said. “It’s a delicate balance to come up with a law that doesn’t force shops to close but is also protective to employees.”

Hersher believes the conversation around predictive scheduling will have to evolve because of coronavirus.

While predictive analytics generally can help businesses with employee scheduling, it will be much more difficult to predict scheduling needs for the next year and half or so because of the pandemic, he said. Historical data from previous years may not be applicable in post-pandemic times, and businesses don’t know to what degree people will return to restaurants and stores.

He suggested that employers do what they can to create schedules far in advance and focus on honest conversations with employees.

Employers can also communicate to all their employees and explicitly ask who would want additional hours if they become available and what other days and times they could work. Taking a proactive measure like this can help both sides in helping employees get more hours and helping employers get the people they need.

June 2, 2020March 29, 2021

The most common scheduling problems for employers and how to address them

Hourly employees have common scheduling problems, which helped spur a series of fair workweek laws now in effect in the state of Oregon and in many cities across the United States. The impact of these laws on businesses should not be ignored, though.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also added another layer to the scheduling complexity environment. Industries like retail, food service and hospitality that have been greatly impacted by the pandemic are also the industries primarily affected by predictive scheduling laws.

Depending on state or local laws, businesses all face scheduling challenges. Here are some of the most common scheduling problems and how to address them.

Also read: Shift scheduling strategies can be improved through technology

The most common scheduling problems for employers

1. Overstaffing and understaffing

The clear problem for businesses with overstaffing is that they’re unnecessarily increasing their labor cost with no return on investment, said Ari Hersher, partner at law firm Seyfarth. And labor costs are already one of the biggest costs for businesses, along with real estate.

Meanwhile, if a shift is understaffed, the business is not efficiently meeting demand. Its employees may be overworked and need to work extra hours, and the business may have to pay these workers unplanned overtime, Hersher said. Meanwhile, in jurisdictions with predictive scheduling laws, an employer may need to pay additional wage to staff that are added last minute, he added.

2. TIme

Creating a schedule takes time, and managers already have busy jobs. Using technology solutions could help, yet the Sierra Cedar “2018-2019 HR Systems Survey” found that only 42 percent of organizations use labor scheduling applications.

Also read: 3 Steps to Navigating Effective Wage and Hour Compliance

3. The need for flexibility

Managers need flexibility to create schedules, Hersher said. Employees may quit, call in sick or simply not show up, and then managers must figure out how to quickly find a replacement.

Employers in jurisdictions with predictive scheduling laws may have further responsibilities, he said. Some of these laws have employers document that someone called out of their shift, offer proof that they called and store the information for three years in case of audits. For managers who supervise a large number of employees, the number of call outs they get in a week may be substantial.

Sometimes there are tech solutions, he said, but the patchwork landscape of predictive scheduling can complicate that. Employers with locations in cities or states with different laws need a way to take all laws that impact them into account.

Also read: Predictive Scheduling Laws — What Are They, Where Do They Exist and Employers’ Reaction

4. Compliance

According to XpertHR’s survey “Top HR Compliance Challenges for 2020,” 10.1 percent of employers surveyed said that pay and scheduling issues is their top compliance concern, topped only by benefits (16.2 percent) and recruiting/hiring (28.3 percent).

The most common scheduling problems for employees

1. Overstaffing and understaffing:

Understaffing has an obvious impact on employees, leaving them overworked and with low morale, Hersher said. And industries like retail and food service with many hourly workers already see high turnover.

Meanwhile, given the right context, overstaffing also may impact workers negatively. They may get sent home, therefore not getting paid for hours they expected to work. Employees who earn commission for sales or tips for service may also find this situation bad, Hersher added. If there are only six customers and seven servers or sales associates, they wouldn’t expect to earn a fair wage for their time.

2. Predictability and cost of living:

Many hourly employees work in cities with high costs of living, and they could be working multiple jobs, Hersher said. A lot of these may be part-time jobs. For these workers, advance notice in what their schedules will be has a lot of value.

As the Economic Policy Institute explained it in a 2018 article, “Volatile hours not only mean volatile incomes, but add to the strain working families face as they try to plan ahead for child care or juggle schedules in order to take classes, hold down a second job, or pursue other career opportunities.”

The power of analytics

Predictive analytics could help many of these issues, Hersher said. Retail has experienced an explosion of data studying people’s buying habits, how long they stay in a store and how much they purchase, which should allow employers to staff more efficiently.

This could benefit employers and employees in a few ways. With predictive data, employers could still create schedules in advance, which means predictability for employees. And if employers are able to create more accurate schedules, their risk of either understaffing or overstaffing decreases, which could help deter some of the negative impacts that understaffing and overstaffing may have on both employers and employees.

“The more you can spot trends, the better you can anticipate needs and the more you can reduce changes,” he said.

May 28, 2020June 29, 2023

Is your business ready for the COVID-19 golden age of union organizing?

“Among the many lessons we will learn from the COVID-19 pandemic is its demonstration of the importance of union membership for essential workers.

“Of all the injustices exposed by the pandemic, the risks faced by non-union workers have become the most apparent. Non-union workers are being asked to risk their safety with little or no protections of their own.”

— Gary Perinar (executive secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters), The importance of unions is more obvious than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chicago Sun-Times, Apr. 30, 2020

One of the unexpected byproducts of the COVID-19 pandemic is a corresponding rise in union organizing.

This crisis has magnified attention on key labor union agenda items and talking points such as worker safety and higher pay. Unions have been pressing these issues not only for current members but also more importantly for potential members.

The Teamsters is backing Amazon warehouse workers.
The UFCW is helping organize Instacart shoppers.
The SEIU is funding fast-food activists and Uber/Lyft drivers.

Indeed, according to Richard Berman, the founder of the Center for Union Facts, this union activity is part of a much larger trend:

This is the first time since the early 1980s where I sense significant interest by employees in “collective action” and “3rd party representation”.
Gallup polling in 2019 shows the 18-34 demographic has a 69% approval of unions. In 2017, 76% of those joining unions were younger than 35.
Employees who feel they will be exposed to co-workers or customers who have the virus are communicating on Facebook and other platforms about their jointly held concerns. Union organizers have access to these conversations and are making themselves available to help.
Most current HR professionals have no history in dealing with a partial workforce rebellion. This will most likely happen in individual companies or it could be a wider industry movement in a city or region.

That last point might be the one most important to your business. “Most current HR professionals have no history in dealing with a partial workforce rebellion.” What should your business be doing right now to best prepare itself in the event a union starts talking to your employees? The best defense is a good offense. I recommend that employers adopt the T.E.A.M. approach to union avoidance:

Train supervisors.
Educate employees.
Affirm the open door.
Modernize policies.

1. Train supervisors. If a union is organizing, supervisors are likely to be the first people to know. They will also be the people who rank-and-file employees will come to with questions or concerns. Thus, supervisors need to know how to report, monitor and legally respond to union activity.
2. Educate employees. Employees should not be told that the company is anti-union, but why it is anti-union – competitive wages and benefits; a strong commitment to worker safety and health; positive communication between management and employees; a history of peaceful employee/management relations; management’s openness to listen to employees and handle their concerns without an intermediary; and an unwillingness to permit a third-party to tell the company and employees how to do their jobs. Of course, if this is just lip service, you might as well not say it at all.
3. Affirm the open door. Management should routinely round its employees up to learn what is happening within the rank-and-file and what they are thinking about. Management should walk the floor on a daily basis. It should also hold regular meetings with employees, whether in small sessions with HR or large town hall-style meetings. And management’s door should always be open to listen to employees’ concerns, offer feedback and adopt positive change when feasible and practical.
4. Modernize policies. In an ideal world, employee handbooks and other corporate policies should be reviewed and updated annually. I’ve yet to come across a company that does so this frequently. Issues to consider and review? Do you have a written statement on unionization? An open-door policy? An issue resolution procedure? Peer review? An employee bulletin board? An electronic communications policy? Most importantly, do you have a no-solicitation policy? It is the single most important policy to help fight labor unions.

No avoidance program is foolproof. No matter what steps are taken and no matter the quality of employee relations, every company is at some risk for a union organizing campaign. Some, however, are more at risk than others.

All businesses should strive to be an employer of choice for employees and not an employer of opportunity for labor unions. The steps you take before that representation petition ever arrives will help define whether you remain a non-union employer.

May 28, 2020April 11, 2023

Permanent working from home works well if you have the right technology

coronavirus, remote work, COVID-19, remote workforce

Remote work is not a new concept. Telecommuting grew as an acceptable business practice as technology rapidly advanced through the late 20th century and into the early 2000s.

Perhaps more importantly, working outside an office gained credibility as employers realized remote work increases productivity, improves employee morale and saves money.

Debating remote work pros and cons

The debate over the value of remote work has remained largely the same even as a wider swath of employees spend time outside a traditional office environment. One lingering argument against it is that there are too many distractions and the lack of a quiet place to focus on the task at hand. Yet a 2017 FlexJobs study found that just 7 percent of workers say they are more productive in an office setting.

As employers deliberate a remote workforce, the rapid evolution of workforce management technology has enabled more people to work outside the office. Professions once considered as chained to punching in and out immediately become more productive by starting and ending their day on the job.

Influencing expectations through technology

Innovative GPS-enabled technology now empowers remote employees to clock in and out simply by using their mobile device. Workforce.com’s GPS Clock-in features the longitude and latitude and provides employers with a real-time glance at each remote employee’s precise location.

With such dynamic, easy-to-use technology available, the challenge then becomes shifting organizational and managerial expectations surrounding remote work. Security is understandably a concern that can be allayed by a trustworthy, safe platform. Here is some insight to appease curmudgeonly employers that a remote workforce is indeed a boon to business.

Choose and vet the right employees for remote assignments. You don’t want your fledgling remote work program to be DOA.
Consider the effect on customers, co-workers and management.
Productivity expands since time is spent on the job, not traveling back and forth to punch a clock.
Set regular goals and objectives to be evaluated monthly, weekly or even daily.
Encourage ongoing feedback between management and the remote employee.
Online video programs allow for remote workers to visually participate in staff meetings and events.

No guessing where they are

Managers will quickly and easily know where remote staff is with the GPS Clock-in platform’s photo-verified system. While this provides peace of mind for employers knowing their workers are on the job, there also is a safety component involved.

In the event of an unpredictable natural incident, be it a sudden tornado warning, freak ice storm or an earthquake, employers can find peace of mind in knowing that resources are instantly available to check the location and safety of their remote employees.

The federal Office of Personnel Management cited improved emergency preparedness planning as a benefit of expanding its remote workforce. The agency also stated that remote work reduced employee commutes and provided cuts in real estate costs and energy use. Other positive outcomes included:

Improved employee attitudes.
Better recruitment and retention.
Improved employee performance.

As the number of employees working remotely increases every year, change long-overdue attitudes and adopt the right technology to build a vibrant, dynamic remote workforce. Enhance your business and put your remote workers in a position to excel in their jobs and boost productivity with Workforce.com’s GPS Clock-in platform.

May 26, 2020June 29, 2023

How to make your onboarding process engaging and easy

Time was in the not so distant past an employee’s first day on the job was spent filling out a raft of paperwork. If they finished the daunting deluge of forms in front of them, there might be time to find their workstation only to stare at a blank screen, since IT had no clue that a new employee was joining the organization.

It’s a scenario that unfortunately still plays out. Most organizations have some type of orientation process for new hires. Too often though, those programs are neglected, poorly run and mismanaged.

That experience transforms an eager new recruit into an employee who is disengaged and disillusioned with their new company based on their first day at work. Rather than going home and effusively boasting about a great first day, your newest staff member is more apt to mumble, “Eh, I’m just glad today is over.”

Make onboarding memorable and easy

Onboarding — the process of providing new employees with the key information and training to be immediately successful in their new roles — should be simple, engaging and perhaps most importantly, repeatable.

Thanks to a continuous surge in innovative human resources technology, a simple, paperless online onboarding solution has organizations bidding farewell to the tedious stream of paperwork and enhancing their employee’s first days on the job.

The advantage of paperless onboarding

When an organization adopts a digital onboarding solution, everything becomes paperless. The new employee’s banking details, withholdings, important addresses, emergency contacts and immigration status are immediately integrated into payroll and admin without a single sheet of paper being passed along. Online onboarding allows new hires to examine health and retirement benefits options and other company perks at their leisure.

HR also gets a valuable early-alert solution to schedule IT and other stakeholders that a new employee will be joining the organization. This portion of online onboarding should become a seamless, well-structured experience that HR can use whenever a new hire joins the organization.

Getting social

In most cases a new hire knows no one in their new workplace. Other than some cursory interactions with the immediate hiring team prior to their first day, the new person is walked awkwardly through the workplace with basic introductions and small talk.

Digital onboarding software can launch a social interaction well before the new hire ever enters the workplace. Access to the onboarding software allows the new employee to begin learning about their future teammates, supervisors, key executives and responsibilities.

They can pre-enroll in company- and job-specific training courses, survey employee resource groups and open a dialog with future colleagues. From hobbies to food restrictions, managers can get to know their new employee.

One chance at a first impression

Given that the onboarding process is a new hire’s introduction to the organization and its workplace culture, onboarding plays an underrated role in employee retention.

Research has shown that a new hire will decide within the first year if they want to stay with the company. One survey revealed that nearly a third of new hires quit their jobs within the first 90 days while a separate report showed that organizations with a strong onboarding process improved new-hire retention by 82 percent and productivity by over 70 percent.

An effective and inviting onboarding process holds the key to improving employee morale, productivity and retention. Workforce.com’s employee onboarding platform keeps it simple.

An employee’s first day shouldn’t be all about arduous paperwork and trying to absorb an overwhelming information dump of company rules and policies. Instead, go paperless and online with your onboarding so your new hires can do it all ahead of time and immediately dig into the job at hand.