What are the benefits of Online Employee Scheduling Software vs. the Traditional Methods?

05 Dec, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Mr. Kennedy owns a midsize company called Kennedy Linens2Go, which supplies linens to hospitality businesses in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. The company operates a fleet of trucks that picks up dirty linens and drops off clean ones on a regularly scheduled basis. The principle staff members at Kennedy Linens2Go include truck drivers and linen washers.

During the majority of the year, scheduling the drivers and washers is a relatively quick and easy task. Workers have their preferred hours and shifts, and there are relatively few requests for time off.  But in the summertime, workers want time off for vacations at the beach, to travel, and to spend time with their kids. Then during the holidays, people request time off to shop and attend special functions and spend time with friends and family. During these times of the year, Mr. Kennedy spends many hours each week preparing the weekly employee work schedules.

For Mr. Kennedy, creating an employee schedule for a typical pre-holiday week means:

  • Accepting time-off requests from the staff via the phone, in his office, notes left on his desk or passing by in the hallway
  • Creating a schedule based upon what Mr. Kennedy thought were all the requests
  • Getting three last-minute requests from workers who forgot that Monday was the day to submit time-off requests
  • Throwing away the original schedule and starting over again
  • Finishing the second schedule, only to find that he forgot to include two part-time drivers
  • Starting again on schedule number three
  • Finally posting the schedule in the employee lunch room only to have one employee complain that they cannot work their scheduled shift after half of the employees have already seen the weekly schedule
  • Once again he must start over for draft 4, and then contact all his employees to inform them that a new schedule is available

After two months of pre-holiday scheduling frustration, Mr. Kennedy needs some time off himself.

Rather than a vacation, Mr. Kennedy needs a new way to create weekly employee schedules. He needs a method that is quick and easy during every week of the year, even during the holidays. He also needs a much more efficient way to notify his employees of newly posted shifts and to avoid spending hours on the phone giving each of his employees their upcoming schedule, when they are not working. He needs to stop working in his business and start spending time on his business.

Luckily the perfect solution is available today from WhatTimeDoIWork.com.  By offering, simple, flexible, realistic,  easy-to-use online employee scheduling software, WhatTimeDoIWork.com enables Mr. Kennedy to store all his employees’ names, departments, skillsets, emails, phone numbers, preferred shifts, and requested time off in one online location. With point-and-click simplicity, Mr. Kennedy can create an employee schedule in minutes. And because all time-off and shift requests are stored in the software, Mr. Kennedy receives an alert when a scheduling conflict appears—such as trying to schedule a part-time driver on a day when she doesn’t work. Schedule changes are just as easy—Mr. Kennedy can simply cut-and-paste a time slot to a new name. Even better, all new schedules and changes are distributed to all staff members via email or smart phone, and remain accessible online to the entire staff 24×7. No more calling his entire staff not only when a new schedule is posted, but if there are any updates to the schedule.

Mr. Kennedy will find numerous benefits from online scheduling software:

  • No more keeping notes of when employees want time off
  • Ability to manage/update/change a schedule at any time
  • No-shows are reduced; schedules are always available to the entire staff, so they all know their shifts
  • No more paper schedules are required
  • Employees can find their own replacements to cover in an emergency—removing Mr. Kennedy from the equation
  • Automatic alerts of overtime hours or scheduling conflicts while creating the original employee schedule, which will cut down labor costs
  • View labor dollars as the schedule is created
  • Remind employees of upcoming shifts to eliminate no shows

To sign up for online employee scheduling software, Mr. Kennedy can simply visit https://www.whattimedoiwork.com/free-trial/. He can discover for himself how much time, effort, and frustration he’ll save by moving his employee work schedules online.

Try it out today with our 30 day no obligation free trial. And when we say free we mean free:

  • No credit card is necessary to try the software
  • No service contracts or hidden fees
  • No downloads required

How can you make medical on call scheduling more efficient?

21 Nov, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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For every industry sector, effective communications are key elements of success. But for organizations that operate in the healthcare industry, clear and timely communications are critical to the well-being of not only staff members, but also patients. One type of internal communication that has historically held considerable room for improvement is on-call scheduling. Managing on-call coverage in all departments all the time can be confusing, to say the least. Normal day-to-day scheduling is simple by comparison.

Let’s assume you completed your on-call schedule for November 4, 2013. You assigned general physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists, surgeons, radiologists as your on-call staff from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. You used a spreadsheet to create the schedule, and you posted it in the staff lounge. As far as you’re concerned, all the bases are covered, and your job it done.

Now let’s assume that your facility faces a flu epidemic, and it’s affecting not only your patients, but also your staff—including your on-call people. With a steady intake of new patients, you need a full complement of staff members on the floor. As the scheduling manager, it’s your job to find people to fill in for those who are sick. This means calling people, one by one, department by department, until you find the coverage you need. And knowing the flu spreads like wildfire, you can look forward to the exact same crisis tomorrow.

This scenario is rather drastic, but it clearly shows that it’s time for a change—one that removes the frustration and stress from on-call scheduling. You can make the change today—by replacing your traditional manual scheduling process with online scheduling software. By storing all medical staff members’ contact information, department, availability, and previous schedules in the cloud, you can quickly and easily create on-call schedules that work for your employees and your company. And you can start using it today, by visiting WhatTimeDoIWork.com.

One of the primary benefits of on-call scheduling with WhatTimeDoIWork.com is enabling all staff members to see the schedule all the time. This way, staff members can take control of their working hours. They can own the responsibility of finding a replacement for their on-call hours in case of illness, emergency, or other unforeseen problems. And for those staff members looking to pick up extra hours, the software enables off-schedule workers to contact on-call employees and ask to pick up a shift.

The beauty of the entire system is that you are removed from the equation—all changes happen in the cloud, are distributed to all staff members via email or smart phone, and remain accessible to your entire staff 24×7.

Here’s what you do:

Medical Scheduling Efficient Table

To sign up now for online employee scheduling software visit our website and discover for yourself how much time, effort, and frustration you can save by moving your weekly and on-call scheduling to the cloud.

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Save time, save money, by working smarter with online scheduling software

31 Oct, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The old adage of “time is money” is truer now than ever before. Regardless of industry, every organization is looking for ways to boost efficiency as a way to drive down costs and save money. But as every manager knows, there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish all our assigned tasks. Flat organizational structures have removed many management positions, but the work still remains—which means more responsibility for you.

So the mantra of the day is, “Work smarter.”

One proven way of working smarter is trading in traditional work scheduling methods—such as paper and pencil or spreadsheets—for an online solution. Advanced web-based scheduling  software enables you to create accurate work schedules on your PC quickly and easily—helping you work faster and more efficiently, i.e., smarter. Let’s compare traditional methods to online scheduling.

WTDIW Chart

To help you work smarter, you can trust What Time Do I Work online scheduling software. Not only does this advanced yet easy-to-use solution enable you to create and update weekly work schedules on your PC or laptop, it also helps you track hours worked, dollars spent, potential overtime  and much more.

To discover for yourself just how much time and money you can save by using our online employee scheduling software, you can watch an informative video at https://www.whattimedoiwork.com/free-trial/.


Keeping your Bar and Nightclub Patrons Happy

24 Oct, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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As the owner/manager of a bar or nightclub, you have numerous business objectives—with the primary objective being “keep your customers happy.” You’re painfully aware that unless you keep your customers happy, you won’t have customers.

A critical component in keeping your patrons happy is excellent service. Visitors to your establishment want more than just cocktails and appetizers; they want fast, efficient service from a professional wait staff. Providing that level of service depends on two things: the right employees and accurate scheduling.

Let’s say that you’ve already found the optimal collection of wait staff, hostesses, bartenders, and kitchen staff. The challenge comes when you try to create schedules that meet their needs for part- or full-time hours, vacation time, preferred shifts, and much more. Adding to the challenge is when employees call in sick or have an emergency and can’t report to work. On a busy night at your bar, being short one cocktail waitress or bartender means service suffers—and that brings us back to the primary objective.

While traditional methods for weekly staff scheduling—paper and pencil or spread sheets—have been around for years, they are time intensive, manual processes that don’t lend themselves to change. And as you’ve probably learned over the years, change happens to nightclub schedules. Every time an employee asks for a last-minute change, you have to scramble to find out who else is available for that time slot of the people who can actually work that type of shift; you can’t expect your hostess to mix drinks. After scouring through your schedule, reviewing time-off requests, and finding phone numbers, you finally find a replacement to cover the shift. But while you’ve been searching and calling, your patrons have been sitting and waiting—and we’re right back to the primary objective.

Rather than continue to waste time and energy using traditional scheduling methods, perhaps you’re ready to try something new—like online scheduling software from What Time Do I Work.com. With our easy-to-use web scheduling software,  all your employees’ names, departments, skillsets, emails, phone numbers, preferred shifts, availability and requested time off is in one online location. With point-and-click simplicity, you can create an employee schedule in minutes. And because all time-off and shift requests are stored in the software, you’ll receiveautomatic alerts if there’s any conflicts—such as trying to schedule a bartender on her vacation day. Schedule changes are just as easy—simply move a time slot to a new name and you’re done.

Helping you meet your primary objective, What Time Do I Work online job scheduling software means:

  • Better scheduling communications – All schedules are stored in a secure cloud. All your workers have 24×7 access to weekly schedules. In addition, schedule changes appear in the cloud immediately, and they are delivered to your employees emails and/or cellphone. All workers know what’s happening at your nightclub, all the time.
  • No more phone calls – Because every schedule is delivered to your workers’ emails and  cellphones, you’ll no longer receive phone calls from them wondering when the weekly schedule will be posted. Even better, your employees can even find their own replacements and cover their shifts themselves.
  • Reduced no-shows – Workers receive automatic alerts about their upcoming shifts. Reminders are a great way to ensure everyone shows up for work on time.
  • Reduce overhead costs – While creating schedules, you’re not only alerted to conflicts (reducing the number of times you have to update the schedule), but you also know when certain employees are scheduled for overtime shifts.

To discover how much time and frustration you can save by using our web scheduling software, you can try it for free with no obligation for 30 days. No credit card is required to sign up.  To learn about all the benefits, please visit https://www.whattimedoiwork.com/features/

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Updating Staff Scheduling

10 Oct, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Managing the employee schedules of all the workers in your restaurant, hotel, or conference facility is a very complex undertaking. Once you have created a conflict-free work schedule for housekeepers, cooks, wait staff, concierges, and all other employees, your plans can go out the window when you get an unexpected rush in the dining room or a party of 50 walks into the lobby. At times like these, your well-laid plans must make way for on-the-fly changes.

No matter how you created your schedule, you now need to shift around your employees to meet your customers’ needs. But where do you start?

  • The first step is finding out who’s working, in what department, and during what shift.
  • Second, you need to know who’s trained to work in what departments; you can’t move a housekeeper with no waitressing experience to the dining room- That would cause more problems than you have now.
  • Third, you need to alert available workers that there’s a change in their tasks for the day.

All these things need to occur to change a daily schedule based on real-time need, but how do you make that change happen?

  • You could run around your facility, hoping to immediately find the people you need—but that’s not only inefficient, it’s also exhausting.
  • You could ask your assistant managers for help—but that would pull them away from their own jobs, and you’d have to backfill for them, as well.
  • You could call the department heads on the phone and try to coordinate the shift changes—but that method is quite time-consuming, and the rush may have passed by the time you coordinate with everyone.
  • You must also record the scheduling changes so that you can accurately track who worked extra hours or overtime hours, and where/when the rushes occurred so that you can plan for the future.

If you create work schedules by hand or in an Excel spreadsheet, you know how much work is involved. Not only must you manually update your records every week, but you must also keep an up-to-date contact phone list readily available—you never know when you’ll need additional coverage for a rush or when a staff member calls in sick.  If these methods are becoming too time-consuming and frustrating, perhaps you’d be interested in learning about a new type of scheduling solution that can help you streamline not only weekly work schedules, but also daily tasks.

The solution is available from What Time Do I Work.com, its online employee scheduling software.  It will enable you to create all your work schedules in a secure cloud environment.  The What Time Do I Work.com solution saves you time, money, and frustration, while also keeping your workers on track and on task—even during unexpected rushes.

With our easy-to-use web scheduling software, you can store all your employees’ names, departments, skillsets, emails, phone numbers, preferred shifts, and requested time off, in one online location. So when a rush occurs and you need to switch workers around, you’ll know at a glance who is on the floor, and who is qualified to work in what departments.

Using the What Time Do I Work.com online job scheduling software, you can look forward to:

  • Better shift coverage – You can schedule adequate workers in busier departments and avoid scheduling too many workers in slower departments, based on scheduling reports. In fact, you can save your schedules and re-use them in the future.
  • Boost productivity – By scheduling the optimal number of workers in each department every day, depending on varying needs, more work will be accomplished. You can also assign specific tasks to your employees with our workplace scheduling software.
  • Get fast response – Schedule changes are delivered directly to your staff’s email or cell phone—as well as stored in

the cloud. Employees will receive an urgent email when a schedule/task change has occurred, enabling them to respond immediately. If schedules are changed or you have call outs, you can easily contact your entire staff to ensure you have adequate coverage at all times. With a single click, you can send an “SOS” to your staff.

  • Improve customer experience – With the optimal number of workers in each department, your customers will get the service they want and deserve.
  • Reduce overhead costs – When creating schedules, you are not only alerted to conflicts as well as reducing the number of times you have to update the schedules, but you also know when certain employees are scheduled for overtime shifts.

To discover how much time and money you can save by using our web scheduling software, you can try it for free with no obligation for 30 days. No credit card is required to sign up.  To learn more, please visit https://www.whattimedoiwork.com/features/

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