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.
In recent years, swapping shifts has remained (unfortunately) rather hush-hush. Dropping or adding shifts means a minimum of two conversations 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 oftentimes don’t mind allowing the change, hearing the process is often a source of anxiety, and has been described as “a distraction”.
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 (such as SubItUp.com). 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. Efficiency, GOOD! (insert Frankenstein voice here).
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? Let us know in the comments below!