How long does it take for your work to create your weekly schedule? How difficult is it to get shifts covered or can we get them covered last minute?
Consider this when it comes to spreadsheets and managers creating their weekly staff schedules:
- On average 140 hours are wasted annually on scheduling done manually with spreadsheets vs scheduling apps.
- Managers using spreadsheets spend an average of 20% (or 3.14 hours) of their work week just on creating the weekly work schedule.
- Average 2.64hrs. per week for restaurant, hotel and office managers for creating their team schedules.
Depending on the type of place we work or manage whether it’s a local cafe, bar, office or restaurant, chances are we have a system for scheduling staff that might be due for an upgrade.
Why Switch from Spreadsheets to a Staff Scheduling App?
Aside from the potential learning curve and investment, there are a number of considerations for most managers when switching from spreadsheets to scheduling software and apps.
Here are 10 reasons most managers consider switching spreadsheets for scheduling apps to creating their team’s work schedule:
- Efficiency – most managers go from taking hours each week to only minutes then creating their teams weekly work schedule
- Availability – last-minute call-outs mean checking available staff and calling in a replacement is a nightmare for most managers, but a couple of clicks and approval for others
- Communication – notifying staff of schedule or policy changes
- Planning – prevent double-scheduling and assist in workforce management by scheduling better teams and staff per shift
- Tracking – keeps better and more accurate track of shifts and staff hours
- Compliance – where spreadsheets need manual checks, scheduling apps can automatically check all shits meet licensed staff requirements
- Task Management – spreadsheets might not get updated, where a project or shift manager needs to be able to see the tasks assigned to their team to know what they need to be working on
- Automation – manager can automate sending timecards or reports, trigger messages to be sent to staff to record their time or clock in-out, or a number of other tasks with scheduling software
- Scalability – spreadsheets or some traditional scheduling software can be limited when it comes to affordably growing your team, requiring time or financial investment scheduling apps save
- Integration – your spreadsheets might integrate with QuickBooks – but what about your HR, CRM, POS, or Payroll system?
Benefits of a Work Scheduling App
- Reduce time spent managing schedules by 80% and
- Labour costs by over 3%
- Better records to meet regulatory compliance requirements
- Transparent labour and cost tracking
- Better time and workforce management
- Better forecasting and shift coverage
- Reduce staff turnover and increase retention
Conclusion - Spreadsheets Cost While Scheduling Apps Save
If we are sending our schedule via spreadsheet or posting it online, how difficult is it to swap shifts? To update the schedule so everyone gets the new times?
No schedule is bulletproof or perfect. It’s common for last-minute changes, swaps, or cancellations altogether. That’s why it’s wiser to consider how much time we would save (and money) for our business if we were able to track, updated, and communicate about the schedule in a straightforward and easy way.
The introduction of cost-effective and powerful cloud or AI-powered apps is making some of the leading rostering and scheduling software of yesterday double the cost when it comes to maintaining, operating, training or upgrading.
Some of the latest advancements in work scheduling apps include:
- Cloud-based with unlimited storage or user licenses.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered automation tools.
- Real-time communication.
- Integration of apps with other providers (bookkeeping, appointment scheduling apps, HR, accounting, POS, etc.)
- Predictive analytics and planning tools.
- Automated timesheet and timecard comparison to flag discrepancies.
- Automated weekly schedule compliance checks.
The rapid digital revolution in the business and consumer app marketplace means a rostering app could solve multiple problems for us as managers, and also additional ones in the business – staff retention/turnover, productivity, or simplifying communication.
The majority of apps today offer a free version to try and get us to explore some of the features and benefits. This is how we can discover some of the opportunities we have missed out on thinking we didn’t have the budget. We may find additional productivity within our team, for communicating, tasking, management and scheduling could bring our team to the next level, especially if we have a small to medium-sized business where staff scheduling is key priority.
Contact us today to give Tommy a try and discover the ease of automation, communication, and task management.
