How to Make a Work Schedule: 8 Tips for Time Management
As an employer, your team is critical to the company’s overall success. Knowing each individual’s role, as well as knowing how they plan on getting the job done, is paramount. However, just making a mental note of these aspects doesn’t necessarily translate into success. In order to get a better grasp of operations as a whole, you’ll need to learn how to make a work schedule.
Making a work schedule doesn’t have to be too complex. In fact, you can use employee scheduling software that will consolidate every piece of the work puzzle into one, convenient document. Here are the eight steps on how to make a work schedule and improve time management:
1. Know the schedules of your team
In order to make a work schedule effectively, you’ll have to know how your employees operate. We are all unique in our own way, and deserve to have our characteristics known. This is especially true for the workplace, where there could be a mix of diverse personal lives and different scheduling needs.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to know every personal detail of the lives of your employees. However, acknowledging how they work can lead to the creation of an efficient scheduling system. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to simply strike up a casual conversation with them every now and again!
2. Build the schedule around your employees
Making a work schedule around your employees may be a challenging step, given that you have multiple individuals to work with. However, as an employer, you have to be able to efficiently resolve this issue in order for professional duties to be carried out. Once you have determined the availability of your core team members, you can then begin the process of scheduling.
Take into consideration which employees are best suited for each, relevant time slot. Also, you may want to schedule more experienced employees with your other workers as well, especially if they are new. That way, you won’t have to meddle in their affairs, so that you can get your own responsibilities accomplished.
3. Communicate about the work schedule
A schedule is the go-to method of organization, as it pertains to the workplace. However, just because everyone knows when to get to work, doesn’t necessarily mean things will go as planned. As such, you’ll need to have an effective communication system in place.
There are a plethora of systems in place that allow for workplace correspondence to occur without issue. Apps such as Slack are designed to ensure efficiency, when discussing all issues pertaining to the workplace. If all else fails, make sure you have contact information from your employees, in the event that you need to discuss scheduling with them personally.
4. Let employees do the scheduling
Once you have an employee, or a number of employees, who is proficient enough with daily operations, you can let them make the work schedule. Workers who have been around the company will typically know the ins and outs of the business. After this has been etched in their memory, they should be able to handle workplace scheduling.
This is beneficial for a number of reasons, but primarily is useful because it takes a slight burden off your shoulders. In addition, it allows your more experienced employees to develop autonomy. This only serves to help all those involved with the company in the long run!
5. Check for everyone’s availability
All of us have our own personal lives. This is a given, and requires employers to take it into consideration when an employee is and isn’t available.
As such, determining the availability of a worker is a key step for how to make a work schedule. When emergencies inevitably crop up, you’ll be glad that you have another employee on deck to come in and fill that empty shift.
6. Honor employee requests
It is important to recognize that a work schedule is not always set in stone. Sometimes, an employee will ask for spontaneous time-off to handle personal affairs. As a manager, you should honor these requests when they occur.
Not only does it build rapport, but it shows that you can empathize with your team. You are a leader, not a boss; it is important to know this distinction!
7. Hire enough staff to fill the work schedule
Employers usually look for the quality of staff they hire, as it pertains to the job requirements. However, it is also important to consider the quantity as well. If your budget allows for it, make sure you hire a requisite amount of employees, in order to fulfill all workplace obligations. This ensures that peak times will always have the number of staff needed, if scheduling issues arise.
8. Make the work schedule easily accessible
It’s common sense to make the work schedule accessible for everyone, so make sure you don’t overlook this step! Similar to being able to communicate effectively, always ensure that the work schedule is readily accessible. Physical copies should be posted in the office, while digital copies can be uploaded to a drive-based service such as Google Drive.
No schedule is perfect. Issues are bound to arise, but you can mitigate their impact when you take the proper precautions. Remember, always try to be flexible and you will always have a happy, focused team!
