Scheduling employees or staff is a problem that every store owner faces and tries to solve in different ways. Even though it might seem hard to plan the hours of several employees on a team, if a manager has the right tools and methods, it can be a quick way to improve efficiency and cut costs.
The easiest way to fix a staff schedule is to know how many people are coming in and out of the store. The reason is simple: the only way to better schedule employees is to know when the retail store’s busiest times are so an owner can add or take away workers during that time. Let’s find out how using an employee scheduling app helps.
- Different Schedules, Different Departments
Those who run a small mom-and-pop store with just one employee and set business hours might not put a lot of thought into scheduling workers. But those with more than one employee who does something other than help customers, such as stocking shelves, rearranging the store layout, or delivering goods, need to schedule their staff. To ensure the business does well, they need to find the right way to schedule employees to keep track of all the different parts.
- Reduce Scheduling Errors
Whether managers manage employees’ schedules with a pen and paper or a digital spreadsheet, it’s very easy to make a mistake and not realize it until it’s too late, as when there are not enough workers for a shift. There are a lot of different software scheduling programs on the market, and they all have a lot of benefits for business managers. An employee scheduling app will indicate if there are open shifts or if a manager doesn’t have enough people for a shift, so they can deal with the problem before it happens.
- Automate Various Requests
Collaborative employee scheduling software lets employees request time off online, whether for a two-hour window for a doctor’s appointment or a week-long vacation. A solution like this is helpful for managers because it removes the need to remember everyone’s unique reasons for requesting time off. However, it still gives them the final say since most software needs approval from a supervisor before a request can be granted.
- Look at Employee Performance
The same software that lets managers set up their employees’ shifts can also help them evaluate how well they do their jobs. It’s a good idea for stores and restaurants to look at sales data for different shifts of employees. Maybe there is one employee or a group of employees who are really good at making sales. If managers know this, they can schedule their best employees when they need them the most.
- Figure Out Busiest Times
Employee scheduling software is useful but can be made even better by combining it with other business analytics solutions. By comparing data from different sources, such as software for scheduling employees, foot traffic counters, and POS data like conversion rate, managers can look at past trends and determine when their store is busiest. So, they’ll know how to schedule their staff for busy shopping weekends or holidays.
- Better Communication with Employees
Even if it’s from the boss, it’s easy for a message to get lost in a group chat. And it can be hard for managers of stores with more than one location to keep track of all the chats between different groups of employees.
Today’s employee scheduling software is great because it has features that let managers send messages to their staff. Let’s say a busy week is coming up, and the manager needs some people to work extra shifts or come in on a Sunday to help unload inventory. With a staff scheduling tool, they can send company-wide messages like these with the click or tap of a button, and employees will know right away.
