Rostering is an important part of the management process that determines the roles of all employees. Besides that, it represents a set of strategies that will organize the workflow by predicting the pressure on workers and providing them with enough resources.
When rostering is properly implemented, it will provide the business with benefits such as increased productivity, decreased chance of delays, better monitoring, and higher overall satisfaction of employees. This system is common in industries like construction, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and more.
The whole process is quite complex because it requires the analysis of workers for proper determination of their roles, efficient communication, submission system, covering alternatives, and more. The best way is to assign roles and create the schedule is by arranging an environment in your company where workers are provided with balance and workflow where unexpected occasions won’t disturb the main processes.
Implementation of such a system will require the integration of modern tracking and scheduling tools as well. In that matter, you should check rosterelf.com. However, even with the assistance of modern tools, people responsible for rostering must have proper knowledge and experience. Here are some common mistakes that could create issues for your business.
1. Missing to Assign the Shifts
This is especially common in service and catering. It is not a rare case that managers in hotels and restaurants are under high pressure since they are responsible for dealing with various challenges, securing the supplies, monitoring the workers, and more.
Missing a schedule for some workers or providing an inaccurate one can cause complications where the business could face a lack of stuff at some point. For example, two waiters haven’t shown for work due to a mistake in scheduling. Still, when there is good communication between different structures in the company, similar mistakes can be quickly resolved.
2. Not Delivering Schedules on Time
It is important to provide the workers with some level of flexibility. Sharing the weekly schedule on Sunday evening is a mistake because some of them might need some changes. That could lead to complications in case that some of the employees have to change the shift.
On the other hand, it can be frustrating to them as well. The best approach is to work towards higher flexibility and efficient communication that will secure the proper rostering. Also, that will lead to more satisfied workers.
3. Avoiding to Consider the Skills of Workers
Depending on the area where your business is operating, choosing people with a specific set of skills is always required. For instance, you will look for people with experience in service when you need new workers for your bar. However, there will be different roles assigned, starting from the bartender, waiter, people responsible for payment, supply, and more.
The common mistake is the poor arrangement of these roles. For instance, swapping the barista with a waiter could significantly reduce productivity. It is important to keep that in mind when creating schedules.
4. Difficulties in Monitoring
As a manager, you are responsible to track the productivity of your team and work towards improvements all the time. The most important is to secure the workflow. However, that might become challenging if you lose sight of the main processes.
Roster mistakes could lead to inefficient tracking as well. The best solution is to present a set of rules where workers will be required to communicate with the manager and between themselves, share reports, and notify about the changes in schedules on time.
5. Lack of Balance
It could seem that you might be having favorites in case that you repeat the same mistake more than once and provide one or several workers with more favorable schedules. While one part of the group will become less productive, that will increase the pressure on others.
That will lead to an increased chance of mistakes and less satisfied workers. When you are creating the roster, the main focus should be on balance and flexibility. The point is to create a plan reasonable for all of the employees.
6. Avoid Excel
Excel is a handy tool for detailed charts and reports, and it might seem like a good option for rosters as well. However, it would be difficult to apply a set of automation for scheduling by using this software. That could lead to mistakes like missing shifts, double shifts, and create troubles with both the workers, who will become less productive and dissatisfied, and endanger the main targets of the company.
In that matter, you should use software designed especially for rostering. The main benefits are the creation of efficient schedules, track of expenses, saving time, avoiding gaps, and more.]
7. Lack of Workforce
When there is a poor system for creating rosters, missing to arrange shifts from time to time is not the only problem. The lack of a flexible system will prevent proper monitoring and insight of the group. You won’t be able to notice that there simply aren’t enough people to cover all roles.
With a well-structured roster strategy, you can determine if the business requires additional full-time or part-time assistance. That will also help you to release the pressure of some workers who were under stress due to unreliable scheduling.
The Bottom Line
The most important about creating an efficient roaster is to consider the main targets of current projects along with the needs of your workers. The distribution of shifts must be equal for all employees, and they should be capable of assisting in unexpected circumstances. Also, there is no reason for creating strict rules.
A much better solution is to determine different groups of people with the same or similar skills and provide them with flexibility where they can easily adjust the roster and make it even more efficient. In that matter, you should assign the schedule for the following week at least one day in advance, so the people could apply some changes if necessary.
