Manual Shift Scheduling

What Is Manual Shift Scheduling?

Manual shift scheduling is creating employees’ work schedules without any automated tool or software, like an employee shift management system. It can end up being a lengthy and detailed process, often dependent on planning and organising the individual who works at what time, using paper, spreadsheets, or simple documents.

Although it gives the manager personal control over the scheduling process, this process often turns out to be rather clumsy and highly prone to many errors.

Disadvantages of Manual Shift Scheduling

The first and most notable disadvantage of manual shift scheduling is that it takes so long to prepare and, hence, to change. Managers have to be aware of their employees’ availability, skill levels, and business needs as they try to cover each shift. Changing any shift requires shifting the schedules of the entire workforce, which can leave employees confused and frustrated.

Another con of manual scheduling is the likelihood of potential human error. The error may come in terms of putting data into the system or in changing the shifts. It may lead to understaffing or overstaffing of the employees, which, in turn, can affect productivity and reduce the morale levels of the employees.

Disputes from work, frequently caused by undesirable shift assignments, will arise when undesirable shifts are always assigned to certain employees unevenly. In cases where preferences are not considered, dissatisfaction will arise due to unfavourable shift placements.

Despite all this, some organisations still prefer manual shift scheduling to have a more personal touch and flexibility. However, as businesses grow and the needs of the staff increase, it becomes necessary to embrace automated shift management software to improve scheduling efficiency and minimise errors.

Why Do You Need to Think Beyond Manual Shift Scheduling?

While it is rather manageable to prepare shifts manually for a smaller team, ideally, the size of ten or below, it is not a viable option for larger teams. When team size expands, the intricacies of scheduling will also increase. Errors will become commonplace, requiring HR managers a good amount of their time to tweak them.

Modern cloud-based shift management systems automate the entire process of shift scheduling, so you will have less work to manually assign shifts.