In October 2015 there were over 20 million people in the US that worked part-time for non-economic reasons.1 With the cost of recruitment, training and reduced productivity while a new employee acclimates, retaining committed employees is a goal of almost every business. With the number of employees that choose to work part-time rising for the last decade, part-time workers play a vital role in many business.2
These 20 million people have chosen to work part time for various reasons. Whether it is because the worker is a student, needs to be available for child-care or elder-care, has a disability or is pursuing other goals, the common thread is that they are looking for a way to balance work and other aspects of their life. So, how do businesses attain and retain these workers?
These 20 million people have chosen to work part time for various reasons. Whether it is because the worker is a student, needs to be available for child-care or elder-care, has a disability or is pursuing other goals, the common thread is that they are looking for a way to balance work and other aspects of their life. So, how do businesses attain and retain these workers?
The simplest answer is to be respectful of each worker and to understand their individual motivations. There are hundreds of articles with check-lists on employee retention, but for part-time workers, it really boils down to treating people respectfully and meeting their individual needs. This has been an incredibly difficult thing to accomplish because of the ever-changing schedule needs of the part-time worker. Managers can spend hours each week scheduling and then still more hours re-scheduling due to change requests. Here is how organizations are solving this challenge:
- Begin by understanding the needs and motivators for each prospective hire during the interview process. Be clear about your needs and make sure that everyone is in agreement.
- Provide training so that your employee understands not only the skills and processes, but also the approved framework for customer interactions. For example, Disney is known for providing ground rules and the structure for interactions, but then enabling the employee to resolve problems in unique ways to "delight" guests.
- Create trust and transparency. Ensure good communication flow and keep employees in the knowledge loop so they know what is happening at the company and feel engaged in the process.
- Provide flexibility to help the employee balance their work with their other commitments. Since this balance is one of the biggest reasons employees work part-time, this flexibility is key to successfully attracting and retaining employees.
How do you provide this level of flexibility and accountability? One of the ways companies are helping employees balance their work and commitments is through the use of online employee scheduling. This enables employees to enter their availability into the staff scheduling software and managers can use an automated scheduling feature that ensures everyone gets a schedule that fits their needs. Some benefits of staff scheduling software include:
- Managers can set limits on the number of hours, set preferred workers, assign workers to only certain tasks and much more.
- Online employee scheduling enables employees to request a swap, or drop a shift while on-the-go, with one click. The staff scheduling software will automatically contact other employees to see if they can pick-up the shift and the manager has the right to approve all requests.
- Managers can generate schedules up to 80% faster, so employees receive their schedules sooner and can plan accordingly. This is a huge factor in part-time employee satisfaction.
- If there are multiple departments scheduling the same employee, such as a student worker at a college that has work study hours in the library and in the gym, one online scheduling software even has the unique ability to check both schedules and ensure that your employee receives a conflict-free schedule with no overlapping shifts. For busy employees, getting the right schedule, the first time, can make a huge impact on how an employee sees your efforts to respect their time and commitments.
- When the optional employee time-card function is enabled, employees can check and confirm hours online as well as log-in and out of shifts from their mobile. Some scheduling solutions even offer GPS location functions to ensure that employees log-in at the job site.
When it comes to measurably impacting employee satisfaction, shift flexibility and online employee scheduling are very effective tools for many organizations. If you want to learn more, read our case studies on customers who have implemented staff scheduling software technology. These case studies feature real-world examples of how online scheduling software helps part-time employees balance commitments, while it helps management teams reduce the time spent scheduling employees by up to 80%. Want to give it a try? We offer a FREE trial of our staff scheduling software. There is no credit card required, so you can be signed-up and creating scheduling in minutes. Try it and see for yourself how online staff scheduling simplifies your staffing process and makes meeting your employees’ scheduling needs quick and easy.
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