Are you a Schedule Seeker? Most people are. When faced with the need for a new employee work schedule, they immediately begin searching the Internet for free examples. They think that finding a good work pattern or pre-designed template is all they need to do. Unfortunately, there are two problems with this approach:

• It’s difficult to gain acceptance for a schedule introduced this way. Other managers won’t be particularly supportive since they don’t fully understand or appreciate the value in changing schedules. The workers will be resistant to any change in the current schedule, and many will strongly object to your proposal. They’ll want to know why they can't keep the existing schedule or why you didn’t consider a schedule they worked somewhere else. Be prepared for a long, uphill struggle to get your new schedule accepted.
   
• If you’re lucky enough to get your schedule adopted, can you be sure that it’s the best solution for your requirements, resources, and pay week? It might make inefficient use of your employees. It might have unnecessary overtime. It might have uneven coverage or coverage that isn’t aligned with your workload. Or you might miss opportunities to give employees more weekends off. You could live with inferior results for years - never realizing how much better things could have been with a different schedule.

Strategic Schedulers, on the other hand, enjoy remarkable success by following a strategic schedule selection process. This process has been used effectively by shiftwork consultants with hundreds of large companies in various industries throughout the world. Although the consultants charge anywhere from $50K to $100K, their clients have no regrets. The return on investment and absence of major disruptions or flare-ups make it worth every penny.
 

We recommend hiring a consultant if you have more than 50 shift workers (especially if you have moderate-to-high wage rates and a union-represented workforce). But what if you’re smaller or don’t have that kind of budget? We recommend you follow the same steps that the consultants use.

1. Agree on the Problem. What’s wrong with the current schedule? Why do you need a new one? Does the rest of the management team understand this? Do the employees? Before searching for scheduling solutions, it’s critical to get agreement on the problem. If you don’t, it will be extremely difficult to gain support for a new schedule. Larger organizations often prepare a business case that justifies the change. It describes the current situation (e.g., production or coverage shortfalls, excessive overtime, idle time, alertness issues, etc.) and the benefits of changing. You don’t have to be this formal, but you must educate the workforce about the problem and its impact on the organization. You also should tell them how they will be involved in finding a solution.
    
2. Identify the Alternatives. Once you have agreement that a change is necessary, you can begin exploring possible solutions. It's best to start with a broad set of approaches, such as: (a) higher staffing levels vs. built-in overtime, (b) different shift lengths, (c) fixed vs. rotating shifts, (d) fixed vs. rotating days of work, (e) relief coverage vs. more coverage, and (f) others. We can help with this step by designing alternatives that are based on your resources (staff size and average hours of work), coverage requirements, and schedule preferences. Click on Custom Schedule Solutions for more information. This is a good way to get actual examples of the different approaches. Since the schedules are all in the same format, they will be much easier to compare.
    
3. Evaluate the Alternatives. You can start the evaluation by comparing features such as staff size, average hours of pay, coverage, and format (fixed vs. rotating shifts). Sometimes, you will need to eliminate certain alternatives before showing them to employees. For example, you may decide that 10-hour shifts would be too expensive, so you drop them from consideration. Employees can rate the remaining schedules according to their own interests, such as the number of weekends off, number of consecutive days of work, speed of rotation, etc. Remember, they are not voting on whether to change or not; they are only guiding the direction.
    
4. Repeat Steps 2 & 3.Once you have zeroed in on the “best” overall approach, you may want to drill down into specific options. For example, suppose you have decided that an 8-hour fixed shift schedule with no built-in overtime is best for your group. You could repeat steps 2 and 3 using only 8-hour fixed shift schedule patterns. We can show you several different possibilities with our Alternative Patterns. We can also convert the schedules into annual calendar format which might be easier to explain to employees.
    
5. Revise Pay Policies. You should always match your group's paid time-off policies to the new schedules. For example, if a schedule uses 12-hour shifts, you may want to change the holiday, vacation, and similar policies so they are stated in hours rather than days. Organizations that fail to do this can run into financial problems that undermine the benefits of the new schedule. You’ll need to explain these new policies to the employees before they make the final schedule selection.
    
6. Make the Final Selection. After the alternatives have been evaluated, the organization should be able to present the top two options for a final vote. Employees now can select their preferred final option and, if the schedule has fixed shifts, their preferred shift. Management also may want to consider seniority, skills, and other criteria when making the final shift assignments.

The strategic schedule selection process is like a funnel. You start with a broad look at what’s possible and progressively narrow down the alternatives until making the final selection. This will lower the risk of missing an opportunity to improve coverage, reduce costs, and maximize weekends off. Involving the affected workers in as many steps as possible will help to gain their buy-in and support for the new schedule. If you want a smooth implementation with a highly successful outcome, you must follow this strategic approach.
 

We can help with these some or all of these steps. Click on the link below to get started.

Request a Quote for Custom Schedule Design