Proper staff scheduling starts with understanding your business and needs. Setting up your shifts is one of the most important things you will do when starting your new or expanding business.  It sets the cadence of your workflow and has a great deal of influence on the satisfaction and even the health of your employees.

One of the greatest frustrations for managers is to go back and alter a shift setup after setting one in motion.  This is especially difficult when using an inflexible scheduling tool like a spreadsheet or outdated and complicated software.

There are several valid approaches to shift design that should be considered before jumping in.  I’ll outline a few of the more popular in this post.

Businesses that are Open 24 Hours a Day

Businesses that stay open 24hrs a day often employ a standard three-shift day.  The day is typically split up in three 8 hour blocks, the first starting at 6 am.  It is recommended that employees are scheduled for the same shift time for at least a week at a time enabling them to adjust to a normal sleep schedule.  Variations include four days on followed by four off, two days, two nights followed by two off and three mornings, three afternoons, three evenings followed by two days off.

Split-Shifts and Other Special Cases

Restaurants, bars and other hospitality businesses often employ what is commonly known as, “split-shifts.” Employees work four hours in the morning, then four hours in the evening with a longer, unpaid, break in-between. For example, the working day of a waiter on split-shifts could be 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and then 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

If you run a business, such as customer service, that starts and ends slow but picks up during the day you might consider the scheduling strategy, “Earlies and Lates.”  For example, the first employee starts the early shift alone and a few hours later a second employee joins.  When the early shift ends a late shift starts, thereby ensuring there are still 2 employees during peak times.  When the middle shift finishes the evening, or slow time, finishes off with only one employee.

Additional Considerations

Often shifts that occur on holidays or at odd hours are paid at a premium.  Be sure any scheduling software solution you choose can accommodate this if you know you’ll need it

Picking the Right Employee Scheduling Software

Whatever your situation may be, picking an employee scheduling solution that is flexible, easy to edit, and that supports your special shift requirements is of paramount importance. You don’t want to get stuck with an inflexible system.

Here at Hello Scheduling we take the special needs and shift requirements of our customers very seriously and have worked hard to support each circumstance.  If you have a particular need please be sure to let us know and we’ll make sure to accommodate you.

Good luck and Happy Scheduling!