Surveys of shift workers show that schedule predictability is the most important schedule feature (see graph below). Employees want their time off to be predictable so they can plan their lives outside of work.

What are the most common causes of schedule unpredictability?

1. Chronic understaffing
2. Lax absenteeism policies
3. Incorrect schedule
4. Lack of skill balance/cross training
5. Unpredictable product demand

For each cause of unpredictability there is a solution. I will discuss each of these separately in the next few blogs. We'll start today with the first cause: chronic understaffing.

Chronic Understaffing
Three common indicators of understanding are:

1. If your overtime hours are consistently higher than 15% of straight-time hours
2. If you have a 5-day work schedule, but end up working a lot of the weekends
3. If you are frequently using employees to cover open positions that have yet to be filled

The solution is to hire more employees or fill the open positions faster. If you are frequently working employees on the weekends, consider changing schedules. You might find the discussion of expanding to a 7-day operation on my website at: 5 to 7 Days informative about the multiple ways to expand your 5-day schedule to accomodate higher work volumes.

If you have the work (which you've proven through high overtime), the new employees will pay for themselves. To avoid overstaffing, aim for a goal of between 5% to 15% overtime. Going below 5% is not advisable as it suggests overstaffing and the likelihood of unproductive, idle time.