5 WAYS AUTOMATED EMPLOYEE SCHEDULING CAN INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND REDUCE LABOR COSTS

Transcription

1 5 WAYS AUTOMATED EMPLOYEE SCHEDULING CAN INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND REDUCE LABOR COSTS

2 Introduction Managing employee scheduling using tools such as Excel is a complicated, error-prone and time consuming task. Whether you re a manufacturing plant with a couple of departments, or a multinational oil producer with numerous facilities and thousands of staff on different shift patterns, there is a better way to increase efficiency and reduce labor costs. Studies on manual employee scheduling have shown that each scheduler is likely burning 7 hours a week *. This includes ensuring employees have the right skills, follow union rules and/or industry regulations, and notify employees appropriately. Another study at a Big 3 U.S. auto manufacturer found managers spent more than 80 hours of combined time every week using manual scheduling**. With manual employee scheduling, you likely don t have any visibility into how much overtime is costing your business. Unless you are a small business with less than 10 employees, there are better ways than using pen-and-paper, a whiteboard, or Excel. A Big 3 auto maker was wasting 80 hours a week scheduling employees Automated Employee Scheduling In order to optimize operations, organizations have invested significant capital into automating business processes. By 2022, nearly 60%* of all business processes will be automated, so it s vital to leverage all the benefits available from employee scheduling software solutions. However, due to complex processes and workflows in regulated industries, employee scheduling has at times been misunderstood and overlooked as a way to generate immediate impact to the bottom line. 60% of businesses will be automated by

3 1. Minimize wasted time It may seem like a routine process for managers to manually create and revise employee schedules in Excel. Or to spend time calling through lists of employees to fill open shifts due to illness or emergencies. However, manual scheduling is draining your time and resources, and there are ways you can quickly address and improve those inefficiencies. Streamline scheduling staff In large organizations, it is common to have one or even multiple full-time employees whose day-today job involves creating, distributing, and updating staff schedules. This becomes more complex when there are labor regulations and union agreements to comply with. But with an automated scheduling solution, the need for multiple full-time schedulers disappears. For example, an autoschedule function common in scheduling software can generate compliance-checked and skills-matched schedules in minutes, with just two-clicks. It can also make overtime scheduling a breeze by showing the optimal candidate for filling each shift. Navigate Union Rules For companies with unionized staff, it is common to have specific rules around overtime equalization, which refers to a ranked and rotating system for assigning overtime shifts. For a workforce of hundreds (or thousands) of employees, keeping track of this employee listing can be a nightmare, and human errors can lead to employee grievances. These grievances then require monetary compensation for the affected employees, as well as administrative time for HR to process paperwork. However, this doesn t have to be the case. With scheduling solutions that are customizable to your business rules, you can ensure compliance with 2

4 any policy around overtime scheduling, no matter how specific and unique. These solutions will always schedule according to your business rules and alert the schedulers when trying to override or schedule an exception. This type of flexibility can effectively eliminate union grievances related to scheduling and save organizations large amounts of time and money. For a Big 3 auto manufacturer in the U.S., they reduced employee grievances by 93% after implementing an automated employee scheduling solution**. 93% less employee grievances when using a scheduling solution 2. Improve productivity Make sure your workforce is performing at its best by scheduling the best-fit and lowest cost employees to drive maximum productivity. You may not realize productivity is an issue until you realize how much more efficient your team can be, both from a cost and output perspective. Reduce management overload For many organizations, managers are in charge of the scheduling since it is a critical and specialized task. But this means managers are tied up with administrative tasks instead of more important team leadership activities. When a manager s time is taken up with scrambling to find people to fill overtime shifts at the last minute, that means another task is being neglected. When this happens repeatedly, leaders are spending less time managing performance, throughput and utilization. This multitasking can lead to a 40% reduction in productivity*, a backlog of incomplete projects and can impact employee morale. 3

5 Multitasking results in 40% less productivity Allocate resources better A study published in the Harvard Business Review* showed that staffing level mismatches can result in a loss of 9% in sales and 7% in profits. Employee scheduling solutions can improve staff productivity by ensuring that people are accurately allocated to where they are most needed. By providing dashboard views to instantly see where you re under- or over-staffing, you can optimally schedule the best-fit and lowest-cost employees. Additionally, you can report on under-utilization to show exactly when and where your resources could have been scheduled better. For example, the Government of Alberta reduced overtime payouts by 45% using scheduling software*. 45% less overtime payouts with optimized scheduling software Automate staff scheduling One sure-fire way that employee scheduling software can resolve this productivity challenge is by dramatically reducing the time it takes to manage a schedule and also by making the process as intuitive as possible for users. Automated scheduling can easily replace the hours it takes to manually plan shifts and also do it in a fair and compliant way. When situations require attention, such as when filling staff shifts, it doesn t have to involve hours of a manager s time calling and confirming availability. 4

6 Employee scheduling solutions have several ways to make the process faster and easier, such as posting an open shift, allowing employees to trade shifts, and doing an automated call-out to all available employees by phone or . Last-minute changes always occur, but managing them can be much simpler. 3. Data-informed decision making From big data to data science, there is no shortage of buzzwords that speaks to data s importance for enterprises. Instead of a scattered process, your employee schedules can be a centralized database for extracting critical insights to better understand, improve and streamline your workforce. For companies that are keen on maintaining their competitive edge, having access to real-time and accurate data is not a matter of choice, but a necessity. Workforce analytics provide insights on how best to optimize your business through more efficient and effective staffing. With such easy-to-use technology available now, you no longer have to make key business decisions in the dark. What exactly are you missing out on by scheduling manually? Insights available through automated scheduling solutions include: Total hours or overtime hours worked by employee or group level for a specific date range Number of employees assigned to specific skills Overtime shifts listed according to reason Compliance review with all your work rules Analyze and optimize for performance In particular, data around overtime is important to understand where you may need to adjust staffing numbers, and for tracking trends over time. For example, does one employee consistently have higher rates of overtime than another? The ability to review compliance is important not only to avoid union grievances, but also to simplify audits.

7 Where manual scheduling may require hours of managers time working through stacks of paperwork, employee scheduling solutions can instantly produce reports for any specified date range within seconds and export it into any file format you need (eg. pdf, xls, csv, rtf, text, mht, text, images, etc.) Reporting within the organization is hassle-free and the workforce analytics are key to the decisionmaking in the head office. GOVERNMENT OF QUEBEC, CORRECTIONAL SERVICES 4. Boost employee morale Having an employee scheduling solution can help boost staff morale by being more objective, and eliminating suspicions of bias related to shift allocation. A New York Times article* was published about an employee who repeatedly had to start 5am shifts on short notice, which impacted her personal life and made her work performance more challenging. Manual scheduling can cause a lot of frustration for both managers and employees. Union grievances and accusations over favoritism in scheduling are one issue, but there are also the annoyances of having to drive into work to check one s schedule or calling in to cancel, change, or even confirm shifts. When scheduling is done manually, communicating the latest updates to employees can be tedious. Whether the schedule is posted on walls or distributed to each employee, timely communication is challenging. Common complaints from employees include: Shift change notification Overtime shift availability and allocation Shifts scheduled while on vacation Shift trades with other staff Improve schedule communication Web-based scheduling software eliminates the communication gap between the manager and employees. Managers can make changes to the schedule and automatically alert employees whose shifts have been moved. Employees have 24/7 access to the schedule, allowing them to view the latest updates regardless of where they are and if they re using a laptop, tablet or mobile device. 6

8 Empower Employees Allow employees to manage their schedule through an easy to use self-serve portal where employees can: View scheduled shifts Specify availability Request leaves Request shift trades Volunteer for overtime Bid on open shifts This allows the employee to have full knowledge and be accountable for their own schedules instead of falling victim to staff planning, communication issues or union agreement oversight. Employees (and managers) can have peace of mind that the scheduling process is as fair and transparent as possible. 5. Enhance worker safety Employee fatigue is a serious risk in industries that involve shift work, such as refining, manufacturing, and transportation (aviation, truck driving, etc.) Failing to comply with labor regulations and fatigue guidelines and other oversights in scheduling can lead to irreparable damage to a business s reputation and in the worst case scenario, even the loss of human lives. In the oil and gas industry, fatigue has been a direct or contributing factor to many workplace incidents. Studies have shown that tired and sleepy workers are 70% more likely to be involved in accidents than well-rested individuals*. Tired workers are at 70% higher risk for accidents 7

9 Full-time compliance Managing compliance is difficult with manual scheduling. Staying below the maximum number of hours worked and consecutive shifts for thousands of workers who have different skills, shift patterns, and availability is challenging. Considering there are often multiple sets of labor rules that a business must comply with, adhering to fatigue guidelines almost always requires the help of a specialized tool. Whichever employee scheduling solution you choose, ensure it has the flexibility to match your unique business needs and helps your company reduce operating costs. The high profile Texas City Incident in 2005 resulted in a series of explosions at a BP refinery that resulted in 15 deaths and more than 170 injuries. An investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board found that employees had been working significant overtime hours, several on 12-hour shifts for more than a month straight. The scale of this event led to the development of an industry standard for fatigue management referred to as API RP 755. Shell s fatigue management compliance Shell Oil decided to get ahead of the petroleum industry and searched for an employee scheduling solution that would be able to automate and ensure compliance with the new RP 755 guidelines. As a result, Shell was the first of the super-major oil companies to implement a fully compliant solution across all their U.S. refineries within a year. Summary Many organizations don t realize the hidden costs of using a manual employee scheduling system such as Excel. Issues such as staff underutilization, overtime costs and the large amounts of time spent manually scheduling can severely affect productivity and bottom line profit. Automated scheduling solutions help to minimize wasted time and increase productivity by empowering your organization with instant staffing and labor cost data. This software provides an objective approach to scheduling which increases transparency and boosts employee morale. With optimized staff scheduling that follows your preferred way of working, you not only become more compliant with all regulations, but you also provide a safer work environment for your company s most valuable assets -- it s people. **Analysis of customer ROI after implementing SchedulePro solution for 1 year. 8

10 ABOUT SCHEDULEPRO SchedulePro automates workforce scheduling for Fortune 500 companies such as Shell Oil, BASF, Ford and Procter & Gamble. Our solution helps organizations significantly reduce labor costs and better comply with industry regulations through a flexible platform. By providing a data-informed scheduling solution that adapts to your individual business rules, SchedulePro drives down operational costs and provides immediate ROI for enterprises. Visit to learn more how you can be in the know with employee scheduling.