Do you have staff that work across different locations or multiple time zones? If so, a regular scheduling software isn't going to cut it. The limitations of other scheduling tools require you to do most of the heavy lifting, including figuring out which staff work in which location, or what their local time zones are, to create the perfect schedule. There is a better way to do that (did we mention it's automated too?).
Scheduling is tough, no matter who your organization is and what you do. This is particularly true if you need to create a schedule for team members who are dispersed throughout the region, country, or world. It's not uncommon for franchise businesses with many physical locations, an international corporation with a global workforce, or a small business or college campus with satellite offices or buildings to have employees working across two or more locations or time zones.
In these cases, managers not only do you have to juggle the normal aspects of schedule creation like managing employee availability and double checking shift assignments to make sure everyone gets the right amount of hours, but you also have to factor in employee time zones and their current schedules. If Liza lives in Denver, she may forget you're scheduling from Miami in the Eastern time zone. You may forget too! If Liza works for your wellness franchise and is scheduled to work at location A, you need to pay special attention to be sure she isn't schedule somewhere else at that same time.
All these cases mean it's more important than ever to have a global workforce scheduling solution. A solution that accounts for local time zones, current shifts, and prevents conflicts from happening across all your locations makes a huge difference to your managers and dramatically reduces the time they spend building the work schedule. It also streamlines everything for your employees - they don't need to worry about triple-checking the schedule or what time they need to be at work. They have a simple process, and they know that you value them and their unique situations. As well, it also increases accuracy and efficiency in the scheduling process – serving to boost team engagement and morale.
It is a common mistake to think it is not a big deal to post schedules in a standard time zone and expect employees to convert it themselves, but it is a mistake nonetheless. It can be a major hassle for employees. The benefits of simplifying the scheduling process cannot be overstated. A miscommunication of when Liza's shift actually starts can impact her ability to arrive for the assigned shifts on time. This leads to a whole host of other problems!
When your employees don't work in one standard time zone, there's a lot of room for communication error. No other workforce management software takes this complex issue into account the way SubItUp's Global Workforce tool does.
Global workforce scheduling tools eliminate guesswork about shift start times by automatically converting schedules into the local time zone of the employee. Now, neither you nor Liza needs to remember that you're two hours apart. All you have to do is assign each employee a time zone. Liza can submit availability, see her schedules and others she is working with, and clock in and out in her own time zone. SubItUp handles everything!
Many organizations have multiple locations they have to schedule for. It's not uncommon for these organizations to have multiple managers who share employees too. Say you're a regional developer of a franchise concept and are set to open your second location in the region. You want to rely on tried-and-true staff for the grand opening, and they all work at your first location. Well, in SubItUp you can create a position and location for the new location and easily add the shift times you need covered. Then, SubItUp will generate a schedule that staffs them at both locations and accounts for other shifts they might have, travel times between the locations, and never schedules them beyond their max hours ceilings each week.
A similar process is followed when you operate in an environment like a college campus. It's likely that student employees will pick up work when they can, and that means they may have jobs with different departments and divisions. You might have employees that work shifts at multiple dining halls, or employees that have shifts in campus recreation and athletics. In every scenario, SubItUp will ensure they cannot pick up a shift or be scheduled for a shift when they have an existing shift scheduled during that time, regardless of the manager or department. It's completely conflict-free. SubItUp also will not schedule employees over the max hours they can work across all their jobs, will accommodate buffer time so they can travel between locations, and more.
With SubItUp, scheduling your employees in Malibu, Montpelier, and Montreal is as simple as if they were all on-site right next to you in Miami. Streamlining the scheduling process in a defined area, like a college campus or city, is within reach now too.
To learn more about our employee scheduling software for multiple locations as well as what else our software provides that others do not, reach out for a demo. Our team can go over exactly what solutions we have that meet your organization's exact needs. We’re excited to show you everything our workplace management software can do to make your daily life easier.