9 Tips for Creating online Employee Roster

An online employee roster is an indispensable component of a successful business. Having the right number of employees working when you need them ensures that the service runs smoothly and keeps your customers happy and appeals to them to come back for more.

An online employee roster system is something that every manager, whether of a small café or booming enterprise, struggles with every day for it, but only a few make it. Even though technology makes it easier than ever to optimize the process and get it right the first time, managers face a lot of trouble to smoothen the process.

It is fair to say that creating an employee schedule is rarely seen as an enjoyable and attractive task. It is an act of proverbial juggling that involves balancing the employees’ mind changes, leave requests, swapping shifts, business requirements, modern award requirements, customer demand, and often conflicting personalities. Without the right tools and information in hand, this daunting task can take valuable hours that managers must spend on other productive activities.

Employee Rostering software

Employee Rostering software, particularly built into cloud-based workforce management systems, makes this task much easier (for reasons that will come later in this article); however, much more needs to be done to make this task more doable, enjoyable, and efficient.

We bring you 9 top-notch tips that will help you in building an optimized, cost-effective, productive, customer service-oriented and perfect online employee roster.

1.   Use Online Cloud-Based Employee Rostering Software

It is one of the most effective and perfect rostering methods that you can use. You will get the best results and save more time if online employee rostering software is integrated into a multifunctional management system that includes a self-service application for a shift change, online leave management, attendance, and payroll for employees. In this way, you will have all the data you need at your fingertips in one place.

Furthermore, it is vital to make sure that your purchased automated software offers modern awards templates because the interpretation of awards can be an extremely complex process. Hence, the chances of making mistakes are very high. These templates make sure that you properly roster people and save you from other pitfalls regarding break time, labor cost, etc.

2.   Begin with Exact Staffing Budget Figure 

You must have a clear understanding of the weekly and monthly staff budgets for all types of employees. To begin with, a well-known budget will help you in all aspects of your routine business. It will also prioritize the financial health of your business. It is also important to monitor performance.

3.   Fill the Names Where they Fit and Suit

While filling the names in the employee roster, you need to think carefully that whose role suits there and according to the projected demand of the particular day. Start with permanent employees and then part-timers.

4.   Devise Need-Based Roster Templates

Make roster templates for your best friends. You can start by devising a template for your permanent employees with pre-decided shift patterns. It provides your basis each week, and then you need to just fill in the blanks for roles and sudden shift changes. You can make templates with Excel. However, employee scheduling software does work with more ease and efficiency.

5.   Experience Gives Better Results in Peak Times 

Peak hours are critical to your business’s reputation and financial growth. During peak times, you need your best worker on the front. In busy hours you must fill shifts with veteran staff members and pair newbies with experienced managers during low traffic times. In such a way, you will not compromise serviceability, as well as productivity.

6.   Pair up those, who work best together. 

Filling up proper roles, and numbers for a given time is just one part of effective roster management. You need to know about the combinations which work best together. A productive team is a prerequisite for any successful business. Try to find out and avoid pairing up with people with conflicting personalities and working styles.

7.   Strict Policy for Submitting Leave Requests

Set strict deadline policy for submitting the leave requests and unavailability notices. Otherwise, all these last-minute leave and non-availability issues messed up the whole roster management.

8.   Make Better Rostering Decisions with POS and Timesheets

Guessing and estimating based on fluctuating trends can be troublesome and unreliable. You need to use sales data from POS and analyze the exact clock-in and out data to pinpoint the number of workers you need at what time on a certain day.

9.   All Connected Roster

Usually, local part-timers work in many shops in a certain locality. Therefore, all managers should stay connected with each other and share their rosters to avoid overcrowding or lack of workers at a place. This can be done by using employing rostering software that provides all-in-one connectivity.