In industries reliant on shift work, such as healthcare, hospitality, retail, and public services, effective rostering and staffing management is vital. Balancing the allocation of staff, covering shifts, handling holidays, monitoring absenteeism and morale, and controlling costs and productivity can be a challenging task. Even the smallest mistake can have significant consequences for a company.
This is where employee rostering comes in.
When done correctly, rostering has numerous benefits for a company, including reduced absenteeism, increased efficiency, improved customer experience, and cost savings. In this comprehensive guide, we will provide you with everything you need to know about effective rostering practices.
What is Rota Management?
Rota management, similar to rostering, involves planning shifts for your employees. This includes considering staff availability, holidays, well-being, cover, on-call shifts, skills, and costs to create a rota that ensures the smooth operation of your business.
Traditionally, rostering was a manual process, with HR teams and managers using spreadsheets to plan shifts. However, manual rostering is prone to mistakes due to the numerous factors that need to be considered. These mistakes can lead to a variety of costly issues.
Here are some of the main problems associated with traditional rostering.
1. Increased fatigue and stress among staff: Managing staff well-being is crucial when planning shifts. Manual rostering makes it difficult to track hours worked, absences, and the need for cover, especially with a large number of employees. This can result in staff members taking on excessive overtime or being unable to take their breaks, leading to fatigue and stress among your workforce.
2. Understaffing: Efficient roster planning requires agility. Unexpected events, such as staff illness or severe weather, can necessitate changes to the rota. While automatic rostering systems can immediately identify resource and staffing problems, manual rosters require constant monitoring and adjustments, which can result in under or overstaffing. This not only impacts immediate profits but also negatively affects the customer experience.
Why Should You Consider Auto-Rostering?
Auto-rostering, also known as e-rostering, refers to software that manages your company’s rostering process. These platforms automate the shift planning process, making it easy to create rotas tailored to your company’s needs.
Here are some of the reasons why auto-rostering can benefit your business.
1. Time and cost savings: By automating time-consuming rostering tasks and reducing administrative work, auto-rostering streamlines your rota management, allowing you to allocate resources to other areas of your business. It also helps you save money by minimizing the risks of under or overstaffing and providing real-time visibility of any necessary adjustments.
2. Enhanced profitability: With properly staffed shifts, you can ensure a positive customer experience, increasing the likelihood of client referrals and ultimately boosting profits.
3. Reduced absenteeism: Auto-rostering benefits not only your business but also your employees. By providing complete visibility of staff working patterns and identifying any issues automatically, you can ensure that everyone is working the appropriate hours with adequate breaks. This results in fewer problems related to fatigue, burnout, and stress, leading to decreased absences and the need for cover.
Discover the Leading Automatic Rota Management Solution
Managing rotas may be complex, but it doesn’t have to be. With Nextra’s rostering platform, you can easily configure rotas and utilize intelligent forecasting to meet projected demands. Control shift costs, track absences, and address any problem areas while remaining compliant with working time regulations. This is rostering you can rely on.
