Running a small business is definitely difficult and challenging on its own, let alone when additional issues, problems, and troubles come along the way. If you as the owner are not actively tackling them and beating them, there will be no room for growth and improvement and you will be stuck in the same place for years with revenue slowly falling off. In the modern day and age where technology dominates most practices and ways we do things, it is prevalent that we do as much as we can to make it a part of our operations and integrate the newest systems into our existing ones.
With this in mind, and in an effort to help you run your small business with one less thing to worry about, it is time to talk about employee scheduling software and see how it can help your company. Things like this are needed no matter the market you are in and the number of employees you have. Since it is a form of contemporary technology it can only improve how you do things. In the following sections we discuss the signs your small business is in actual need of such an advanced software. To learn more about this, we advise you to visit Shiftbase.
1. You have not changed your strategy in years
If your business has been around for more than a few years and you have not yet changed the way you schedule your employees, you definitely need to consider a scheduling software. Business strategies from a decade ago are not only old, but actually obsolete. Nobody has a reason to use them since so much has changed in terms of tech trends and how business is done. While it somewhat depends on your industry, numerous changes had to have happened over the last few years alone for you to fall behind without them. Your own changes and novelties like services and products you just introduced directly influence the employees and schedules. The needs of the staff are crucial to the success of the company so keep up with the times.
2. The workers seem unhappy and frustrated
If the workforce is unhappy with their conditions and how the management is treating them, the balance and workflow will shift and this will reflect in every little thing. From how well they carry out their daily obligations to how they talk to you, you will start noticing subtle changes in attitude, atmosphere, and general feeling about the workplace. A lot of your employees’ satisfaction with their job has to do with how much time they are not spending at the job. If their schedules are all over the place and if things can be done better, you need to know about it. The best way you can go about this change is through a trusty software that is capable of calculating the best course of action based on the parameters of your small business. Make your employees happier by giving them more optimal shifts and they will love you for it. Your workflow and revenue will never suffer again.
3. Gaps and overlapping in shifts
This is a direct result of poor shift management and inefficient employee scheduling and the best way to reach the stage discussed prior to this paragraph. If some workers from different shifts end up working together, if there are more people than needed, and if there is an obvious excess of employees at any given time, the schedule is not right. On the other hand, if there are too little or no workers between the shifts and if there is too much time between the morning crew leaving and the afternoon crew arriving, you again have a huge problem at your hands and probably a lot of downtime. This must not happen if your goal is to be successful. The workers probably also dislike this way of doing things as some of them will work more than others for no good reason.
4. High employee turnover
Employee turnover is not good for business and scheduling is among the most crucial and most commonly mentioned perk workers state when talking about their ideal job. If you have the shifts and schedules figured out, you will no longer have to constantly deal with unhappy workers who have no problem to quit and leave your operations unattended at any given time. Constantly having to train new workers because the just-educated old ones have already left is bad for business and it hardly allows one to prosper. In this economy, it is hard enough to find quality and able workforce especially for the more skilled tasks.
5. Overtime work
Nobody likes overtime, except perhaps able workers who are in need for some extra shifts to cover sudden expenses. On average however, people value their free time more than a slightly bigger paycheck at the end of the month. If you require your employees to stay after hours, be sure they will hate you for it. Once it becomes a regular occasion, the will probably view their work as something they would rather not be a part of and actively look for someplace else. To prevent them from staying overtime, use smart employee scheduling software to better calculate the shifts and the actual time a worker is required to stay clocked in. You may not need John to stay more than 8 hours per day if Jeff can also work 8 hours. Balance it out and have all of them work equally so that nobody ever stays more than they should.
6. Complete lack of data
Not having information and statistics regarding your operations in the 21st century is the best way to be clueless about the productivity of your business. You must have all of the data available at all times if you mean to cut expenses, prevent losses, and increase productivity. In terms of keeping your workforce happy and organized and not eventually treating them as expendable employees you will need to replace, you should seriously consider introducing an employee scheduling software to your business. The data it gives you will range from the actual performance-related stats as well as the optimal level and quality of work each individual needs to contribute to. Once you know all of this you can begin to reduce the workload and balance it among them more efficiently.
