How To Prepare Your Employee Schedule For A Workplace Emergency

September 11, 2012 | 14,009 views

Online Employee Scheduling

September is National Preparedness Month and ScheduleBase wants to know if you are prepared for an unexpected emergency in your office?  Do you know where to take cover if a tornado warning were issued?  Did you pay attention to your fire drill process in school?  These events, fortunately, are rare scenarios that only produce a small scare once in a great while and are either avoided or forgotten in most situations.

However, if you are a manager in your place of business, apply this same optimistic approach to your day-to-day outlook of scheduling your employees.  Are you comfortable with your process? How do you react when an employee needs a schedule change last minute?  Do you scramble and call each of your employees to see who is available?  Do you continue short-handed today and tomorrow?  How do you communicate the needs of your all-important employee work schedule to each one of your staff members?  Here is a quick list of tips to keep in mind when preparing your next employee schedule.


Make a Plan

You never know when a scheduling disaster might hit. Your most valued employee just might have an emergency tomorrow and you need to be prepared to cover that particular shift immediately. You may be away from the office when a surprise schedule change occurs, so it’s important to have a plan in advance, and make sure every member of your staff is aware of it. It is a great idea to have immediate access to everyone’s contact information so instant employee communication to remedy the situation can occur. It is also recommended you have access to everyone’s schedule who is not working, but available, in order to fill the void. You should have this information at your immediate disposal in order to take action on your scheduling emergency. An online software program is an ideal way to get started. Also, having a “filler”, or an employee available to call that can work a shift anytime, anywhere is a great addition to your preparedness.


Anticipate Peak Hours & Busy Times

In any schedule preparation, it is important to know your peak hours along with anticipated busier times of the year when allocating employees each shift.  You want to ensure your customers are getting proper attention.  Understaffing creates havoc for customers and employees.  Not only can you lose customers but employees too.  On the other hand, overstaffing can be a result of poor scheduling management and should be coordinated with an ideal employee scheduling program allowing you to view schedules in advance to guarantee efficiency.


Build an Emergency Kit Full of Employees

Ensuring that each department or shift at your workplace is optimized for strong performance is a necessary strategy for all industries.  Be sure you are utilizing each one of your employee’s strengths and coordinating their daily responsibilities in order to maximize the best performance results.  Do you have an employee that has a special certification that can be used in a stressful situation?  How about fluency in a foreign language to communicate with customers?  With a group scheduled for a particular shift, you really should have at least one experienced employee who can guide the others or lead newer co-workers in unexpected situations.  A great manager’s strategy in work scheduling efforts is to make this team leader’s responsibilities and expectations known throughout every communication effort with employees.


Protect Yourself From the Ultimate Disaster

The most feared and catastrophic loss in any employee scheduling situation is complete loss of scheduling data or information.  The best way to prevent this type of loss is to utilize an online scheduling program to keep your information accessible from multiple locations in case you are unable to gain access from your workplace at any given time.  With an online program, you are able to schedule anytime, anywhere and your employees will receive up-to-date scheduling information no matter where you are via text or email.  As all great managers strive for continued success, implementing online structure to coordinate people by shift, job, group or time is an ideal safe haven from disastrous situations.


About ScheduleBase

ScheduleBase is online employee scheduling software from Atlas Business Solutions, the leader in employee scheduling software.  For as little as $10/month, businesses can schedule employees online and communicate work schedules by email, text message and mobile devices.

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