You're a dedicated manager multitasking at every given moment throughout your day. In addition to supporting customers, you're constantly trying to improve morale. You deserve a couple of tips that will help you increase morale when creating your schedule. On their own each one of these tips is small; but combined, they are an unstoppable combination.
These scheduling suggestions only take a small bit of time to implement, but they will drastically benefit you and your staff.
6 Scheduling Tips to Increase Morale
1.) Update your employees' availability before every schedule is generated.
An often overlooked area of part-time employees' schedules, is their personal schedules outside of work. Asking them for their optimal work times will often make employees feel like they're coming into work when they want to work, and not when they have to. As an employee, knowing that you're on the schedule because you put yourself there makes the whole experience seem a little less restricting.
2.) Provide an easy way for your staff to request time off
Poor communication around requests for time off (RTO) is a pain for everyone. Managers and/or employees have to find last-minute shift coverage, causing stress for everyone, including the coverage for the scheduled shift. Offering an easy way for an employee to give reasons and plenty of notice takes the stress off of the employee, as clear communication often does. Having RTOs taken care of before generating a schedule eliminates the need to find coverage altogether because shifts can automatically be made available or assigned to someone who can work for the requested time off.
3.) Schedule for longer periods of time and post weeks in advance
Giving your employees their schedules ahead of time will do a huge number on making them feel like they have more control over their schedules. Giving a longer runway for employees to find coverage for their shifts will once again reduce stress and increase morale. Believing that they aren't restricted by work can lead to actually wanting to be there! In addition to the employee benefits, you and your other managers will have a more stable schedule with fewer last-minute adjustments.
4.) Allow your staff to access their schedules online
Social scheduling is a growing concept. Posting schedules online and through mobile devices makes it even easier to accomplish all of the other "empowering employees" tips. Being able to view and request changes from anywhere gives employees the flexibility to anticipate the need (or want) to offer a shift to co-workers on the go. Keeping your schedule online eliminates the call-in and walk-in distractions of employees attempting to figure out what their schedules will be for the work week.
5.) Keep track of last-minute shift coverage and reward your staff
Tracking the efforts of your employees you can help you communicate your gratitiude by rewarding their efforts. If you have a cusomary "Employee of the Month" plaque, certificate, gift, etc. make sure you're keeping a close eye on who is working to their potential. Even just giving a pat on the back for a job well done, makes employees feel more confident about the work they're doing and makes them want to be there.
6.) Let employees work it out amongst themselves
Solving conflicts is often the most stressful part of managing employees who have crazy work schedules because of school, family, another job, or other conflicts. Checking your email at 1 a.m. and seeing a no-show message about a shift that same morning is what open communication aims to eliminate. By keeping communication open across all levels at work, employees will find themselves working out most of their conflicts amongst each other and finding coverage without ever needing a manager to make phone calls or send texts to other employees.