Employee Scheduling Software Tips & Tricks
Employee scheduling software is quickly becoming a must-have technology for businesses of every size and industry. After all, in the digital age, there’s no excuse for spending more time on mind-numbing administrative work than you need to. That being said, you can do a lot more with scheduling software than just build and manage your employees’ schedules. Keep reading to make the most out of your employee scheduling tool.
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What Is Employee Scheduling Software?
Nowadays, it almost seems as though there’s a software or online tool for every aspect of doing business. While this can be a good thing in terms of running your business more efficiently, keeping up with the constantly evolving tech industry is definitely a challenge, especially if you’re not super interested in staying up-to-date on all of the latest gadgets.
Employee scheduling software is a web-based scheduling tool that allows you to create, share, and edit employee schedules online. Not only can this save you time when it comes to making weekly schedules, but it also makes the scheduling process more convenient for both you and your employees.
Because scheduling software uses cloud technology, you don’t need to buy and install new equipment to use it: You and your employees will be able to access the schedule on any Internet-connected device.
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Perks of Online Scheduling
So, why is employee scheduling software becoming so popular? Well, for starters, it’s no secret that scheduling can be a bit of a hassle—and a less-than-fun way to spend valuable work time. Here are some of the benefits that make scheduling software a smart investment:
- Convenience — Convenience is probably the number-one reason that employers invest in employee scheduling software. Features like drag-and-drop functionality, scheduling templates, color-coding, and copy and paste make online scheduling tools huge timesavers.
- Accessibility — Because it’s a cloud-based tool, scheduling software enables you and your employees to access the schedule anytime, anywhere. This translates to fewer missed shifts, better organization, and less schedule confusion.
- Versatility — Part of the beauty of web-based tools is that they can be used for more than one thing. Integration is a major perk that accompanies employee scheduling software because you can incorporate its data into other administrative areas like billing, payroll, bookkeeping, and more.
- Learnability — Are you someone that struggles with learning how to use new forms of technology? Good news: Most forms of employee scheduling software are highly learnable and user-friendly, which means you’ll master using it in no time and so will your employees.
Scheduling Tips & Tricks
With employee scheduling software, creating schedules is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of uses. These are some tips and tricks that will help you to use it to its fullest potential.
Send Your Employees Notifications
Most scheduling software providers have a feature that allows you to send notifications to employees when a new schedule has been published or an existing one has been updated. This feature is crucial to keeping your employees informed and preventing them from missing shifts.
Make this feature more effective by finding a scheduling software that has a mobile app in addition to an online portal. Employees will love being able to download the app and view their schedules with the tap of a finger.
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Multiple Locations? No Problem!
If your business has multiple locations or more than one job site, then you know just how confusing scheduling can get. Simplify the process—and eliminate confusion—by adding locations to your employee scheduling software. This will prevent you from making any mistakes while you’re building the schedule, and it’ll ensure that employees know exactly where they’re supposed to be for every shift.
Assign Employees Positions
Likewise, you can guarantee that employees know what they’ll be doing during any given shift by creating and assigning positions to each employee. This feature is ideal for employees that flip-flop between positions and, again, will eliminate any confusion surrounding how they’ll be spending their shift.
Combine Time Tracking and Scheduling
Like we said before, most online tools have more than one use. Two tools that work great together? Time clock software and employee scheduling software. Luckily, most software providers have both, allowing you to combine time tracking and scheduling into one efficient service. This means that your employees will use the same platform to clock in and out as they do to check the schedule, condensing the number of moving parts in both processes.
Streamline Your Business with the Right Technology
Even the staunchest business traditionalists have to admit that sometimes, the new way of doing things is better than the old way, and employee scheduling software is definitely one of those instances—because we all know that when it comes to business, saving time means saving money.
Scheduling software is an administrative shortcut that makes scheduling easier for everyone involved. Not only will you cut down on the time that it takes to create your weekly schedules, but you’ll also make it more convenient for your employees to check those schedules, request time off, and update their availability. Plus, you’ll streamline your business in more ways than one when you integrate your employee scheduling software with the other management tools that you use. It’s a win-win-win!
