Leaders should know the difference between productivity, utilisation, and efficiency to set the proper schedule for their time. Scheduling for the team is a tricky task for the leaders as they struggle with productivity and workload. They want the maximum returns from their investment in the limited business hours. However, it should not come at the cost of an exhausted team with one less reason to remain in your organisation.
Some businesses manage multiple shifts with different costs for each labour. The best use of these resources will determine the sales number at the end of the month. Thus, you should learn effective team scheduling to become a better version of yourself as a leader.
Productivity V/S Utilisation V/S Efficiency
Many mistakes are of high resource utilisation or efficiency as a measure for productivity. At the same time, the 3 concepts are different with their own problems.
Resource utilisation is the proper use of a resource for a task that makes the best use of its skills. Productivity is the amount of work they provide in a period. In contrast, efficiency is the upper limit of output in the same period.
Organisations invest in talent acquisition to get a diverse workforce to ensure they have resources to utilise for different tasks. In comparison, productivity depends on your strategy to get the maximum output in a period. Efficiency is the comparative measure of your output when compared to the industry standards.
Tips to Set the Ideal Work Schedule for Your Team
Setting the ideal work schedule for the team is not the job of your management tool. Numerous factors will come into play that will decide the efficiency and cost. Therefore, here are some tips for creating an ideal schedule while keeping in mind those essential factors.
Hire Based on Requirement
Employers learn about the requirements of their business to hire the right number of employees. The understaffing is a very tough situation for the existing employees because of the increased stress. On the other hand, overstaffing will result in a needless cost for the business.
However, both situations will make scheduling difficult for the management. You don’t have to stretch the best resources because your company is short of a few hands. And it doesn’t make sense either to let the employees stay idle because of premature scaling.
Set Realistic Expectations
Scheduling the workforce will help you form various performance metrics for employee evaluation. You set expectations for the employees based on the tasks allocated to them and their skillset. However, these expectations often create an inefficient schedule because of their unrealistic nature.
You don’t want the employees to become productivity machines like some computers. They have their own process and speed to get the task done. Therefore, always set realistic expectations to help them manage the tasks in their schedule.
Know the Regulations
Businesses have to follow the local regulations to ensure fair treatment of the employees. You must know those regulations to make sure the company don’t face a lawsuit. Or, it may also lead to inefficient use of the workforce in many cases where the employees remain on call.
You will find many factors in the regulations that will have an impact on your ideal schedule. Remember, you might have to pay the full salary even if the on-call employees don’t get any assignments. Leaders often miss those minor details only to compromise the accuracy of their data and decisions.
Invest in Technology
Efficient scheduling will involve employees working on critical tasks that suit their profile and skillset. You don’t want them to waste the essential productive hours on menial processes. Thus, you must invest in the technology to streamline the business process and reduce the workload from employees.
Automation with the help of the latest tech will help them get rid of those unnecessary manual labours. You can give important tasks to them for the best use of the money spent on their services. Try the bad credit loans in Ireland to cover the investment cost for the automation tools in your business.
Ask for Input
The whole schedule is messed up if the employees suddenly ask for time off. You need them to provide the input on time to create the weekly or daily schedule keeping in mind their availability. It is a common practice in the professional world to ensure smooth operations.
You should invest in a system to help the employees add a request for their time off. The system will inform the authority responsible for creating an ideal schedule for the available resources. Also, make sure the system is easy to understand for the different employees in your organisation.
Provide the Required Resources
Employees will require the resources to complete the task in their schedule. You cannot expect them to get the task done without the right tools. Therefore, gather the required resources before setting an ideal schedule for the team.
Specific resources are limited in quantity, and multiple employees may not work with them simultaneously. Thus, the situation will only create chaos if you don’t consider the availability of these resources. You might have to invest in acquiring new assets as a positive sign of organisational growth.
Create a Flexible Schedule
Each individual has a different way to complete the tasks in their schedule. You don’t know their most productive time to allocate the essential tasks. Thus, the schedule should remain flexible for them to manage the tasks on their own.
It will create a positive environment in the workspace as the employees will appreciate the flexibility and trust. The micromanagement may limit their creativity to impact their overall performance. Moreover, a flexible schedule is an excellent way to improve employee retention and attract the best talent in the industry.
Create Time Block
As mentioned above, people have different productivity levels throughout the day. Some come with great energy to complete the essential tasks in the morning. At the same time, others build speed and focus on managing those tasks in the latter half of the day.
Furthermore, your business will have specific hours where the sales volume is exceptionally high. You should create time blocks to use the most efficient employees during those hours. It will help your company balance the most productive hours of the employees with the most critical hours for your business.
Conclusion
To sum up, setting a schedule is indeed a complicated task with different factors and constraints. You need to create a thorough strategy from the start and update it regularly. The investment in technology is inevitable as the management will involve numerous critical tasks for the business.
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In this blog, a few tips are mentioned for the leaders and managers to create an ideal schedule for their team for the best use of their skills, time, and labour cost.
