What would you do with seven more hours a week?
Managers like you spend about an hour a day on manual shift planning, but a shift planning tool frees up your time and makes business run smoother.
The right scheduling and HR system saves managers a huge amount of time by making communication, scheduling, employee management, and payroll accessible from one place. Many businesses still use pen and paper for a number of business processes. By consolidating data and streamlining processes, these businesses can save up to 7 hours a week.
Hear how Planday customers use our shift planner to simplify their scheduling processes
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Benefits for the manager
- Flexible scheduling
- Fewer miscommunications
- Less employee turnover
- Less spending on recruiting, hiring, and training
- More time for management and customer interaction
Benefits for the employee
- Better communication
- Easier shift-swapping
- Improves mental health
- Reality meets expectations
- Workplace morale and performance is higher
- Better health, fewer sick days
- Mobile is a format they use regularly
Planday’s expert advice on how to create a shift plan
A great shift plan staffs your business with the right people at the right times. It sounds simple, but it’s not easy. There are two main things to balance: your employees’ needs, and those of your business.
Know and honour your employees’ availability, and their capabilities. When shift planning, you should:
- Schedule a mix of employees.Use both new and veteran employees during shifts. Too many new employees may cause challenges in customer service, but too many veteran employees may be too costly.
- Honour employee schedule requestsKeep updated records on employee availability around their school, family and personal obligations. Have a policy for handling sick days, and for accepting vacation requests.
- Look out for burnoutDon’t schedule “clopens,” and keep an eye out for over-scheduled employees. A shift planner can help notify you of these risks.
- Manage expectationsWhile some employees may only want to work ten hours, others may have been hired with the expectation of working 20 a week.
- Avoid miscommunicationsWhen employees trade or pick up shifts, they may not always go through the right channels. A shift planner can keep communication in one spot.
- Follow your local lawsPlan overtime and breaks according to laws in your area.
Hear how Planday customers simplify their shift planning processes
How a shift planner like Planday can help your business grow
The other major component of shift planning is predicting volume based on last year’s numbers and upcoming events. You want to do what’s best for your business, and this won’t always line up with every request your employees make.
From a business perspective, your shift planner should help you:
- Stay on-budgetModern shift planners sync with other systems, helping you avoid overspending on labour.
- Provide excellent customer servicePicking employees with the right training at the right times is essential.
- Look out for burnoutDon’t schedule “clopens,” and keep an eye out for over-scheduled employees. A shift planner can help notify you of these risks.
- Create your shift plan earlyThere will often be last-minute conflicts or requests from employees, or unprecedented changes in volume. The earlier you create your shift plan, the better.
- Account for business growthYou should be scheduling more people over time, with the expectation that business will grow steadily.
- Optimise your staff’s skillsChoose cross-trained employees for slower hours to save on labour, since they can do multiple jobs simultaneously.
- Keep up with changes in technologyA shift planner can automate menial tasks, improve communication, and make your job a whole lot easier.
Planday’s shift planner app keeps everything running smoothly
Planday’s shift planner software and app enable you to drag and drop shifts, track your staff work schedule, assign tasks and communicate with your employees – all with the touch of a button, enabling you and your staff to collaborate seamlessly from anywhere at any time.

Try it out today!
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