How to Build a Shift Schedule That Works for Your Employees

As the manager of shift-based employees, one of the tasks that never seems to get easier is building the schedule. While filling the schedule is fairly simple, creating one that works for employees is much more challenging. And in reality, poor scheduling drives high turnover, absenteeism, and productivity loss, which are measurable costs for businesses of all sizes.

A few intentional changes to how you build schedules can make a significant difference in these numbers, as well as boost satisfaction rates and keep employees around. Explore our guide to building a shift schedule that works for your team.

Identifying What Employees Need

Building a schedule that works for employees starts with understanding when they are available. Before you start, collect availability and keep the data up to date. If you have employees with recurring constraints, such as school pickups, medical appointments, or additional jobs, keep that information readily available when creating schedules.

Preference matters, too, but availability is more important. Scheduling people for shifts when they can work reduces last-minute callouts and frustration.

Build Consistency Where Possible

Predictable schedules help to reduce the cognitive load on shift-based workers, allowing them to plan ahead and achieve a greater work-life balance. The link between schedule consistency and retention is real, and it’s especially important to hourly workers who rely on their schedules to determine what they can do during their non-working hours.

Of course, consistency isn’t always an option, such as in the retail, food, and healthcare industries. When you can’t keep schedules consistent, work to provide as much notice as possible to workers when issuing schedules.

Some cities and states shave enacted predictive scheduling laws, and compliance is not optional. Explore our state-by-state guides to predictive scheduling to determine what’s required in your area.

Ensuring Fairness When Balancing Coverage Needs

When your business operates into the night, on weekends, and on holidays, coverage needs can be challenging to meet. But it’s critical to ensure fairness by avoiding giving all the less-desirable shifts to the same people. Rotate unpopular shifts, such as weekend and holiday work, as a baseline practice to show that the company is fair to all staff members.

It’s also important to review schedules regularly to look for potential patterns that may demonstrate favoritism or other issues. Your business could face discrimination claims and other legal problems if patterns are present and not resolved.

Visibility into shift history helps managers make more equitable decisions across the board. With WorkforceHub, you can view, create, and manage shifts within a single platform. It also tracks hours to ensure accurate payroll, every pay period.

Managing Shift Swaps

When managers have to be involved with shift swaps, chaos tends to ensue. WorkforceHub allows employees to handle swaps, rather than involving managers or simply calling out and leaving everyone in a lurch. You can also establish voluntary availability to fill in gaps without mandating overtime or forcing staff to work harder due to absenteeism.

Setting clear rules for swap requests and enabling self-service management are two ways to improve flexibility while ensuring coverage.

Scheduling as a Tool for Retention

Remember that creating schedules is more than an administrative task; it’s also a clear indicator to employees of their value. When scheduling practices respect workers’ time and take their needs into account, those employees are more likely to stick around. Building fair and equitable schedules that align with employee availability is a tool for retaining great workers and growing your business.

WorkforceHub makes scheduling easier for everyone involved. Employees can view schedules from their mobile devices, as well as utilize the self-service capabilities for requesting swaps. They can also look at accruals balances, time off, and hours worked, all from a single platform. Give it a try and streamline your scheduling today.