Workforce scheduling is the bane of some managers and business owners.

Despite its importance, setting up effective workforce scheduling can be challenging to pull off.

What’s worse, inefficient workforce scheduling results in absenteeism, lack of collaboration, poor employee retention, and decreased profits, all of which can lead to any business downfall.

Today, smart companies use advanced scheduling software to create efficient employee schedules. Find out how scheduling tools can boost your team productivity.

1. What is scheduling software?

Employee scheduling software enables teams and businesses to maximize their work hours.

It automates the way you create efficient schedules and helps monitor your team’s time and productivity.

With scheduling software, you can:

  • Plot and manage shifts.
  • Automate the scheduling process.
  • See your team’s availability.
  • Collaborate effectively.
  • Monitor your team’s attendance and work hours.
  • Request leaves and swap shifts

As a result, you ensure that all shifts or tasks are covered.

Moreover, using the scheduling software to track time and attendance prevents payroll errors, overtime costs, and overages.

Overall, a scheduling software aims to streamline the way you manage your team’s schedules.

2. How does it improve your team’s productivity? |

Find out how scheduling software can maximize your team’s time and productivity.

a) Remove time-consuming tasks.

Managers say they spend an average of two days in a week working on administrative tasks. In turn, it prevents them from doing strategic or more important work.

With automated scheduling software, you and your team will spend less time coming up with schedules or dealing with scheduling issues.

It will cut down your time dealing with leave requests and shift changes for HR teams and managers.

Deputy’s auto-scheduling feature is a great example of how scheduling software saves you time.

When you try the Deputy scheduling software for your team, you can automatically fill in shifts with just one click.

Screenshot of the Deputy’s auto-scheduling platform. Source: deputy.com.

Using the software helps you schedule the right person at the right time in just a few minutes.

In turn, you and your team can continue finishing your tasks.

Moreover, you can focus your attention on more important projects such as improving employee training and engagement or helping generate more sales.

Overall, a scheduling software’s efficient processes clear up time on your team’s schedules and allow them to focus on tasks that matter.

b) Keep everyone updated.

Using scheduling software allows you to share schedules with your team and other departments.

Being transparent with schedules provides several advantages:

Members can see their plans in advance.
For example, members can know ahead of time if and when they need to work on a night shift.

It informs them to be present on that date and time, but it also helps them prepare their schedule for their upcoming shift change.

It encourages better collaboration.
When a team member requests time off, the team can adjust timelines or tasks so that projects can continue running smoothly.

Seeing everyone’s availability will also guide members on when to set meetings and create project timelines.

Transparent schedules are especially useful when you work with remote employees from different time zones.

It offers flexible work arrangements.
Unless it’s against your company policy, team members can request to switch shifts with another employee.

The scheduling software will easily notify managers about this, and once it is approved, it will reflect on the team’s schedule.

Overall, scheduling software keeps everyone posted and aligned with regards to schedules. It enables teams to plan effectively.

c) Manage workload and overtime.

Work overload decreases productivity by 68%.

Scheduling software will provide a bird’ s-eye view of your team’s shifts to help you manage work hours and prevent your staff from burnout.

Using this information, you can adjust your team’s work hours and prevent them from working long hours.

However, you should look at your team’s work hours, but you should also look at their breaks.

Scheduling software can also incorporate breaks in work shifts to make sure that your team members are taking enough rest.

For example, the Deputy’s break-scheduling feature allows you to plot different breaks within a shift.

Screenshot of the Deputy’s multi-break scheduling feature. Source: deputy.com

The software also monitors whether your employees comply with the set break times.

Lastly, when a shift is understaffed, the scheduling software always fills it in.

In this way, you also prevent overworking your staff by scheduling the workforce’s right number needed for each shift.

Overall, scheduling software provides the best employee scheduling solutions while avoiding overtime costs.

d) Create the most efficient schedule.

At its core, an employee scheduling software creates efficient and effective work schedules.

You do not hold to bother about being understaffed, over-staffed, or running late with projects because the software will automatically recommend people based on their availability.

It takes away the challenges of plotting the perfect schedules according to your needs and staff availability.

Additionally, it ensures that you maximize your available resources.

For example, the software can evenly distribute your staff across the workweek. It ensures that every shift has a manager available, or an IT staff present in the office.

The efficient time schedules create a smooth workflow within and among teams. Having the right people at the right time will increase your team’s overall productivity.

2. Maximize your team’s work hours.

Leverage technology trends to streamline business processes and maximize team productivity.

Using employee scheduling software allows you to monitor shifts and create the best possible schedule that will improve your overall productivity.

If your company is flexible with work schedules, you can arrange your team’s shift based on their most productive days and hours.

Also, scheduling software is built for scalability. As you increase the number of your team, the software continues handling your scheduling needs.

With an efficient schedule, your team can produce more output and give better results.

No matter your team size or goals, employee scheduling software provides the right solution to boost employee productivity and morale.