Manual or Digital Scheduling? Eight Advantages of a Staffing System

Juggling the company’s needs with the employees’ wishes. Making sure that you have the right competencies at the right place and at the right time. Managing sick leave and other unforeseen changes. In short: The staffing and scheduling process is a complicated task. Are you and your colleagues struggling to make the scheduling puzzle work? Here are some tips and tools that will help you on your way!

Staffing is crucial to keeping the business running, securing profitability, giving good service, and of course – keeping your co-workers thriving and feeling good. However, the work with scheduling and staffing is often a time-consuming and demanding puzzle. Perhaps, you and your colleagues spend endless hours with manual elements and struggling with spreadsheets? And, when you’re finally done, issues like schedule overlapping or understaffing occur – just when you are the busiest? Luckily, there are clever ways of saving valuable hours – and tackling a range of other staffing challenges. Here we will guide you through the advantages of having a staffing and scheduling system!

Staffing and Scheduling with a Modern System – Eight Substantial Advantages

1. Reduces Manual Work and Frees Time
   Few things are more frustrating than having to insert the same details repeatedly. With a staffing system, the whole scheduling process can be automated and sped up – so that you can spend your time with more enjoyable and meaningful things. One example of such a shortcut is the possibility to use a basic schedule, which can be reused and rolled out for an optional number of weeks once you've created it the first time. Even the work with all ongoing adjustments in the schedule becomes more manageable when it can be done in a few places directly in the interface.
   
   
2. Automates and Optimizes Staffing to Fit Your Needs
   Do you want to streamline your staffing? Did you know that many modern staffing systems come with automatic staffing – a function where the system will do the staffing for you if you provide it with the right terms and conditions? This is how it works: You specify which criteria should apply for staffing, such as cost, competence, employment time, or a combination of these. The system will then provide you with a staffing suggestion that you can proceed from, or you can make a new suggestion where you change the parameters. Simply put, a more innovative and faster way to the ideal staffing process.
   
   
3. Prevents Over- and Understaffing
   Are you working in healthcare, in a service occupation, or perhaps as an industrial worker? In that case, you understand the importance of avoiding situations where you are too few to be fully operational. Even the opposite is a problem in many businesses: you accidentally overstaff with the result of unoccupied employees, while the staff costs are increasing. Another advantage of efficient system support is that you will be notified when a shift has not been staffed; you always have a clear overview of under- and overstaffing.
   
   
4. Easy to Play by the Rules
   As we mentioned, scheduling and staffing is like solving a puzzle with dozens of pieces. Employment rates, personal requests, competencies, variations in staffing coverage, and budget are only a few of the parameters that have to line up. And, as if this wasn’t enough, you also need to keep track of employment contracts, trade union requirements, and the rules instituted by the Working Hours Act (in Swedish).
   
   Another solid argument for working with a staffing system is that the technology will help you keep track of everything that has to do with regulations and which rules apply regarding on-call shifts and standby duty, night rest, the number of and length of breaks that the employee is entitled to, and so on. For example, many programs signal when you try to schedule someone who already has too many hours and will then suggest other staffing solutions.
   
   
5. Keep Track of the Competencies
   Who has a fork license? Who took the floor maintenance course? And who has a delegation of medication administration? Making sure that the staffing matches the competencies and qualifications of your employees isn’t an easy task to perform manually. But in the ideal staffing and scheduling tool, smart views and functions will make the work much smoother. It is super easy to specify which competencies and qualifications are required for someone to work with a particular assignment or project.
   
   With just a button click, you let the system submit employees with the correct competency profile, and with drag and drop, you can assign the right candidate to the right shift.
   
   
6. No Expensive Surprises
   What is the actual cost of our staff? Without continuously overseeing the budget, working hours (including inconvenient working hours) can quickly become too many. With a staffing system, it is easy to keep track of your staff costs and ensure that you stay within budget. This way, you avoid unpleasant surprises when it’s time to pay your employees!
   
   
7. Smart Key Figures Help You Navigate
   How many scheduled and worked hours do we have? How much are we invoicing every month? What are our staff costs? The ideal staffing system also comes with a dashboard and other tools for key figures, reports, and analysis – something that can provide valuable insights and support for making the right decisions.
   
   
8. Better Communication = Fewer Misunderstandings and Happier Employees How is your company's communication about schedules and work shifts? Do the employees have the possibility to influence their working hours? Is it common with questions and misunderstandings regarding which schedule is up to date? And what do you do when a co-worker calls in sick at the last moment? Even these challenges become more manageable with a modern staffing and scheduling system.
   
   Here are a few examples of what you should expect from your system support for staffing:
   
   

   – The employees should be able to effortlessly access their schedule on the web or through an app. This way, they never have to wonder about when they are working or wait for the manager to email them or print a new schedule as soon as something changes. All adjustments are instantly available, and the employees can access the latest schedule wherever they are.

   – In a few clicks, the employees should be able to inform the manager which shifts they want to cover (or not) or switch shifts with their colleagues. Through email or push notifications, you stay updated regarding new events that you need to respond to.

   – As a manager or schedule planner, the system should support you so that you don’t have to call around for replacements in case of illness or other sudden changes. Instead, you send a request through the system to find out who wants to cover the shift. The employees can then answer quickly and effortlessly through the web or their phones.

Time For Smarter Staffing and Scheduling Management?

Are you and your colleagues tired of troublesome and time-consuming staffing and scheduling management? Do you want to avoid spreadsheet messes, always have the latest schedule in your pocket, and effortlessly sync with each other wherever you are? Please contact us, and we will tell you more about how our staffing system Flex HRM Plan can facilitate your and your colleagues’ workdays.