It’s buzzed about in the far corners of the break room, whispered through empty aisles during lunchtime. Texted, never talked about: the black market of the workplace.
Scheduling Changes Distract
In recent years, swapping shifts has remained (unfortunately) rather hush-hush. Dropping or adding shifts means a minimum of two conversations with between co-workers: one, asking/bargaining for a flexible friend to take on your hours, and two, clearing said exchange with the boss. Of course, while managers often don’t mind allowing the change, hearing the process can be a source of anxiety, and has been described as “a distraction”.
Case and point: one worker was recently fired for swapping schedules with a co-worker without clearing it first with the boss... by text message. Ouch. [www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/shop-fined-10000-for-firing-worker-in-cowardly-text-20110530-1fctp.html]
Scheduling Changes are Necessary
But whether the powers that be are enthusiastic about it or not, scheduling changes are a necessity of the workplace. Life happens. There are responsibilities outside the workplace. Delaying or canceling out the ability of a workforce to keep their hours flexible decreases morale, puts workers in unhappy situations, and prevents employees looking to actually tack on hours from doing so.
An effective solution: online scheduling systems. By pushing schedule changes to the electronic realm, it cuts the bargaining during work hours to a minimum and allows workers who want extra hours to take advantage of those who are handing them out. It scoops workers from the shady corners of the floor and allows well-thought out shift exchanges that often can be requested far ahead of time. Flexible hours, happier workers, more efficiency.
But for us, the biggest question we have for now is this: how does your organization handle shift requests? Is it something you allow, or even encourage?
Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/