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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How to Schedule Efficiently In the Cloud

14 Nov, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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When you look to the future and see yourself repeating the same manual scheduling process, every single week, from now until who knows when, how do you feel? Frustrated? Overwhelmed? Exhausted? Bored? Or perhaps a combination of all four.

Let’s consider that the “same old thing” is creating your restaurant’s weekly staff schedule. Every week, you:

  • Pull out a new schedule sheet or spreadsheet
  • Gather together this week’s requests for time off and preferred shifts
  • Get prepared for requests to come in after you complete the schedule
  • Plug in names to time slots
  • Take a break and drink some coffee
  • Return to your office, review the schedule for accuracy, and correct any mistakes
  • Tentatively post the schedule on a wall somewhere

Now let’s consider a new future—one where creating the weekly staff schedule is a fast, easy, and stress-free task. In this new future, there is no paper, no pencil, no spreadsheet, and no haphazardly received requests for time off and shift changes. No more need for a calculator to avoid overtime shifts. This new world also includes virtually instantaneous changes to schedules to accommodate illness or emergencies, with automatic real time communication to all employees about updated schedules that are available. Even more, this brave new world of job scheduling reduces no-shows because your workers are better informed about when they work (and can set up alerts to remind them of upcoming shifts).

When you look to the future and see yourself repeating the same manual scheduling process, every single week, from now until who knows when, how do you feel? Frustrated? Overwhelmed? Exhausted? Bored? Or perhaps a combination of all four.

Let’s consider that the “same old thing” is creating your restaurant’s weekly staff schedule. Every week, you:

  • Pull out a new schedule sheet or spreadsheet
  • Gather together this week’s requests for time off and preferred shifts
  • Get prepared for requests to come in after you complete the schedule
  • Plug in names to time slots
  • Take a break and drink some coffee
  • Return to your office, review the schedule for accuracy, and correct any mistakes
  • Tentatively post the schedule on a wall somewhere

Now let’s consider a new future—one where creating the weekly staff schedule is a fast, easy, and stress-free task. In this new future, there is no paper, no pencil, no spreadsheet, and no haphazardly received requests for time off and shift changes. No more need for a calculator to avoid overtime shifts. This new world also includes virtually instantaneous changes to schedules to accommodate illness or emergencies, with automatic real time communication to all employees about updated schedules that are available. Even more, this brave new world of job scheduling reduces no-shows because your workers are better informed about when they work (and can set up alerts to remind them of upcoming shifts).

If the new future sounds like the right future for you, you can get it now by choosing our online employee scheduling software. Our unique program has advanced features yet easy-to-use. Some of the great time and money saving features include:

  • Build new schedules based on saved versions of past schedules
  • Speed up the scheduling process with all the needed employee information—name, contact information, preferred shifts, time off requests, departments, pay rates, hire dates—in one central location
  • Create conflict-free schedules; if you make a mistake, such as try to schedule an employee in a time slot he requested off, the software alerts you immediately
  • Store all schedules and employee information in the cloud, where it remains available 24×7 from anywhere
  • Eliminate random phone calls and other ways that employees request time off
  • Free up time in your own schedule for more important activities—like running your business
  • Significantly improve employee communications because workers:
    • Can see when there are open shifts, and offer to pick up extra hours when they want
    • Receive each week’s schedule and all schedule changes on their smart phone or email
    • Can find their own replacements without having to bother you

No matter what your industry, What Time Do I Work’s Online Scheduling Software has the solution to your scheduling needs. Discover for yourself just how much time and energy you can save by using our employee scheduling software. Sign up today for your no obligation 30 day Free Trial at https://www.whattimedoiwork.com/free-trial/.


No-Call control over fluctuating schedules

07 Nov, 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Whether your organization operates in retail, healthcare, hospitality, casinos/gaming, or fitness, you face the challenge of managing fluctuating schedules. You have full-time and part-time workers, as well as those who work only nights, only weekends, not on holidays, or any combination of those. While you pride your organization on flexibility and the desire to accommodate your workers’ lifestyles and availability, creating schedules that work for your employees and your company is an ongoing battle.

In addition to special requests for time-off, you must also handle the scheduling changes that occur at various times of the year:

  • During the school year, you have to work around class schedules.
  • At holiday times, you need to accommodate seasonal parties and family time.
  • In the winter, you have to juggle slow customer traffic and bad weather.
  • At any time of the year, you need to prepare for unplanned illness and emergencies.

Regardless of the reason why, you end up changing your work schedule weekly to meet your staff’s changing needs. Using traditional scheduling methods like paper and pen or spreadsheets usually results in revisions, trashed and re-posted schedules, not to mention untold numbers of calls from your employees, asking, “What Time Do I Work?”

Today is the day to say “good-bye” to your traditional scheduling methods and say “hello” to something new. You can trade in your paper and pen for online scheduling software from WhatTimeDoIWork.com—a revolutionary employee scheduling software that not only saves you time, money, effort and frustration, but also allows you to handle fluctuating schedules with ease.

By creating all your work schedules online and storing them in a secure cloud environment, you benefit on many levels:

  • Remain up to date – All your workers’ contact information—names, emails, phone numbers, preferred shifts, time-off requests, skill sets, etc.—remain up to date and available 24/7.
  • Save time –create weekly work schedules quickly and easily on your PC or laptop—anywhere, at any time.
  • Get more efficient — effortlessly avoid errors and conflicts with automatic alerts, our software lets you know when there’s a problem, such as scheduling a worker in a time slot he/she requested off.
  • Automate the process –complete your schedule by clicking Save, and the schedule is automatically stored in the cloud.
  • Enhance communications with employees — Rather than posting a paper schedule (only available in the office), click Post, and the schedule is automatically distributed to your employees’ email addresses and/or smart phones, eliminating calls about “What Time Do I Work.”

An added benefit of storing all workforce schedules and employee information in the cloud is that it remains available to all your workers all the time. This means that when an emergency arises, an employee can simply access the cloud, find out who isn’t scheduled to work, and find a replacement. Workers can update their information in real-time, and everyone in your company will be up to date on what’s happening.

To discover for yourself just how much time and money you can save by using our web scheduling software, take a few minutes to watch our informative video at https://www.whattimedoiwork.com/free-trial/


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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