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Identifying and Avoiding Scheduling Conflicts

Many companies may hire hourly employees who don’t follow consistent work schedules. For these businesses, effective scheduling is vital for smooth operations. Scheduling conflicts occur from time to time, but there are ways to quickly resolve them or even prevent them from happening in the first place. Discover how to keep scheduling conflicts from derailing your business.

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How do schedule conflicts affect employers?

Conflicting work schedules have a big impact on employers. These are just a few of the potential consequences:

  • Increased turnover: If you can’t accommodate a team member’s scheduling requests, they may find that their schedules don’t offer enough hours or don’t provide adequate work-life balance. Employee turnover is costly, as you have to advertise the open position, conduct interviews and dedicate additional resources to onboarding a replacement.
  • Lower productivity: When employees have to take on additional duties due to another colleague’s scheduling conflict, it may leave them with less time to handle their everyday responsibilities. A team member may even have to leave tasks unfinished due to staffing issues associated with scheduling conflicts, potentially causing lower productivity in the workplace.
  • Dissatisfied customers: If you don’t have enough team members on duty, customers may have to spend more time waiting for assistance. They may also struggle to reach your business by phone, reducing overall satisfaction with your services.
  • Reduced morale: Scheduling conflicts have the potential to impact morale. For example, if one employee always has to cover for other team members, they may feel less motivated during their own shifts.

Common types of scheduling conflicts

Schedule conflicts occur in every industry. If your business creates ever-changing schedules for your employees, it’s important to be aware of common scheduling conflicts so you can take steps to avoid them.

Double-booking

Double-booking happens when you book the same employee for the same shift or book them for the same shift in different locations. For example, if you have a team member scheduled to work the drive-through from 5pm-10pm and the order counter from 4pm-11pm, there’s a conflict. Most often, double booking happens when employers create schedules manually instead of using automated scheduling software.

Scheduling unavailable employees

When an employee requests time off for vacation, the scheduler might forget and add that person to the work rotation despite their lack of availability. This can also happen with sick days or last-minute requests for time off. Additionally, if a manager leaves your company, their replacement may not have access to previous time-off requests, making scheduling errors more likely.

Unbalanced shift distribution

Some employees may work more hours during a pay period than others due to production needs or individual availability. Conflict arises when there is a lack of balance between the employee’s needs and the organization’s needs.

For example, if employees have to work mandatory overtime due to staffing shortages, they may not have enough time to rest and recharge. At the opposite end of the spectrum, some employees may be concerned if they feel like they don’t have enough work hours.

Insufficient break time

Some industries require lengthy shifts. For example, many doctors and nurses work 12-hour shifts rather than traditional eight-hour shifts. Employees must have sufficient time between their shifts to rest and recuperate before returning to the workplace. Not providing enough break time between shifts is another common scheduling conflict.

Unofficial rescheduling

In some cases, employees trade shifts to better meet their personal demands. Occasionally, these unofficial shift swaps lead to confusion, miscommunication and potentially missed shifts. For example, if a team member forgets that they swapped with someone, you may end up with fewer employees than you need during a busy shift.

Last-minute schedules

Some companies try to prevent unofficial shift rescheduling by releasing shift schedules before the new work week starts. If employees don’t receive their schedule with enough notice, they may schedule medical appointments or make plans with their family members. Unfortunately, this can lead to more last-minute schedule changes if employees have arrangements prior to receiving the schedule.

Benefits of preventing scheduling conflicts

Scheduling conflicts can lead to severe consequences for both employees and the company. Taking proactive steps to prevent conflicts and effectively manage inevitable schedule changes can help:

  • Boost morale: When employees see that their supervisors care about their work-life balance and want to create a schedule that supports them, they’re more likely to be committed to your company. Increased morale may even translate into better customer service and reduced turnover.
  • Ensure employee well-being: Ensuring employees have adequate time to rest in between shifts allows your staff to take care of themselves and perform their best work when they’re on duty.
  • Increase productivity: Employees who feel heard and respected through effective scheduling practices can be more productive on the job, especially when they don’t have to work overtime at the last minute.

Tips for handling a scheduling conflict

If you manage employees, you’ll likely encounter a scheduling conflict from time to time. Use these tips to resolve these conflicts quickly and effectively:

  • Stay calm: As you find a solution to the scheduling conflict, remain calm and positive. Your tone and demeanor set an example for your staff on how to handle the situation. If you’re easy to approach, employees are more likely to respond positively.
  • Review your roster: Check your full roster of employees and look to see who’s not scheduled for the day. Call those staff members to see if anyone is available to pick up the shift.
  • Offer perks: If you’re having trouble finding someone to take the shift, consider offering perks like a free meal or additional paid time off as an incentive to work extra hours.
  • Schedule yourself: To fill gaps in scheduling, consider taking a shift yourself or asking another manager or supervisor to work that day.
  • Extend hours: Ask employees who are already scheduled that day if they’re willing to work overtime. Include perks like longer breaks, employee meals or other incentives to encourage them to accept the overtime shift.

6 tips for preventing scheduling conflicts

The best way to manage scheduling conflicts is to keep them from happening. Follow these steps to create effective schedules that make your team members feel valued.

1. Create an availability tracker

Develop an easy-to-use tracking system for employees to submit their availability. Consider a cloud-based system to ensure that employees can access the tool even when they’re not at work. Once you implement the new system, be patient. It can take time for employees to adjust to a new way of submitting their time-off requests.

2. Use scheduling software

Consider purchasing scheduling software for your business. Once employees let you know their availability, the software package does the rest. For example, if a team member tells you they can’t work on Tuesdays, you can mark them as unavailable. The software will automatically note the restriction and avoid giving the team member any Tuesday shifts.

Scheduling software is also helpful for reducing overtime and improving work-life balance. Depending on the type of software you purchase, you may be able to set parameters regarding work hours. For example, if the software detects that one employee is scheduled for 45 hours in a week while another is scheduled for only 30 hours, it will send you an alert. Then you can make easy adjustments by scheduling the first employee for 40 hours and the second employee for 35, reducing overtime costs.

3. Allow for trades within the system

If shift trading is common in your company, allow staff to trade shifts within your software or scheduling platform. Using a specific program ensures that no shift will be left unfilled since the people trading will have to make sure they’ve covered each shift before exiting the program.

4. Provide a communication feature

Allow staff members to send schedule-related messages through a formal communication channel. Keeping the system centralized will help everyone involved in the scheduling process ensure there are no open shifts.

Scheduling conflicts are inevitable in companies with hourly employees. Establishing best practices for scheduling and quickly managing any conflicts can help improve company morale and increase productivity.

5. Set a deadline for schedule requests

It’s tough to create a schedule that works for everyone when team members are allowed to submit last-minute requests for time off. To prevent scheduling conflicts, require employees to give you notice if they need time off for medical appointments, family celebrations or vacation plans.

Once you announce the new deadline, make sure you enforce it. For example, it’s not fair to require one week’s notice from some employees and not others. Consider being flexible on this deadline based on the circumstances —in fact, a little flexibility may go a long way toward helping the employee feel valued.

6. Consider hiring an on-call employee

If frequent scheduling conflicts are making it difficult for your organization to reach its goals, consider hiring an on-call employee. When a conflict arises, you can have an on-call worker cover your regular employee’s shift, limiting the effects of scheduling issues on your operations. Just be sure to create effective on-call schedules, or you might run into some of the same scheduling problems.

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