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Switching from a traditional employee scheduling approach towards a more modern one can make you wonder if it is worth the effort.
Using methods like spreadsheets and papers to create and manage employee schedules is pretty straightforward. So, witching to a software can seem like a daunting task as you need to learn how to use the software and then you need to show your employees how to use it too.
But let me assure you that the initial time investment and frustrations you get from upgrading to a scheduling software are worth it. It might seem like a massive task at the beginning, but in the long run you will save a lot of time and money. And you don’t need to take my word for it as here are 2 case studies that show you the results businesses achieved after incorporating a scheduling software into their business…
#1 San Churro saves $130,000 a year after switching to
San Churro is a chain of 52 stores that originated in Fitzroy. They sell churros and couverture chocolate.
Before using a scheduling software to help manage employees, San Churro used spreadsheets and boards.
“In the bad old days, I’d constructed a dinky Excel spreadsheet – and wish I never had – that was convoluted and tried to pull together sales estimates with info on which staff were on stream and when they were available,” says their founder Giro.
They would then list the schedule on a notice board. This was very chaotic for the staff and a lot of them would call during the week to find out when and where they were rostered.
This roster they created wasn’t perfect either because as Giro says, ‘spreadsheets can go wrong and get corrupted very quickly’.
So, they got themselves the UK’s leading rota software.
They used it to develop rotas for all employees in their 52 stores and for communication. It also integrated with their accounting system which made it easy tor managers to accurately calculate cost of rosters and to pay employees the correct amount they were owed.
As a result of these and many other features the employee engagement and retention shot up. And it also improved customer experience. It also helped the company save $130,000 a year in admin time.
#2 Heuser Ace Hardware cuts their time creating schedules by 50%
Another company that has seen an immense transformation by implementing scheduling software is Heuser Ace Hardware.
At the beginning the company used Excel sheets for creating company schedules. This led to a lot of issues. One of the main ones was that the software didn’t automatically check for errors which caused a of mistakes. Also, as Excel sheets don’t let employees communicate back, they weren’t able to add vacation requests to the document or specify the timings they preferred working at.
Also, there was no way the employees could swap shifts. This had to be done by their founder, Bobby Heuser. So, to help make things easier Bobby got himself a scheduling software and it made a massive difference.
He was able to set up more accurate schedules in advance and in less time. The time required to create the schedules was cut by 50% and it freed 10% of management’s time every week.
The ease of use of the software, made the rollout process easy too. Everyone at the company were using it within the 1st month. They used the software to view schedules, clock in & clock out, place leave requests, swap shifts and even communicate with each other.
Conclusion:
As you can see in the above two case studies, getting a scheduling software is definitely worth it.
Sure, it I going to take you a while to understand how it functions and how to use it efficiently and of course it can take about a month for your employees to adapt to it too. But in the long run after you get used to using the software, things will improve as you and your employees will spend less time creating and navigating complicated schedules and more time running a successful company.
So, go ahead and get yourself a scheduling software that lets you create highly productive employee schedules.