The role of HR and operation teams has never been more important for organisations across the globe. The disruption of the pandemic and growing concern for an unstable economy means that simple and automated processes are becoming the norm to not only increase efficiency but to ensure your people can focus on strategic priorities.
Contrary to older schools of thought, automation isn’t designed to replace the human factor within organisations- in fact, greater degrees of automation have the potential to free the human experts within your business to leverage their time and talents in more meaningful ways. New technology isn’t intended to replace people, it is in fact a tool designed to handle the more tedious and data intensive responsibilities so that the talents of your people can be put to more creative uses. With the priorities of all businesses set on pushing forward productivity and profitability, it is clear that automation offers one of the clearest pathways to success.
We wanted to explore the future of automated processes for organisations- most specifically in the field of rostering and shift patterning and to examine some of the ways that increased automation can help transform a businesses’ prospect and allow them to leverage the talents of their people for the better.
Rostering challenges
It’s no secret that there are a huge amount of variables which can impact they day to day running of a shift. The past few years in particular have taught us a lot about the need for agility in our day to day working practices as well as the ability to react efficiently to rapidly changing environments. Some of the key challenges around rostering arise from hinderances and restrictions imposed by manual or outdated processes.
These can include:
- Lack of customisation- the inability to make changes to permissions or to set parameters around your working requirements can mean that manual or even basic rostering solutions aren’t offering the degree of customisation you need to effectively eliminate the tedious elements of rostering.
- Rigid frameworks- A major hindrance to effective rostering is the ability to react in a fluid fashion to sudden change. Ineffective systems can leave organisations lumbered with rigid shift patterning which is unable to account for changes to rotas, shift patterns or rules.
- Lack of insight- Manual processes rarely offer the ability to effectively pull reports around work patterns and output. This means that organisations are often left in the dark and lacking key insight to help inform ongoing strategy.
Why auto rostering?
Shift patterning and rostering is an extremely time intensive process and one which is absolutely ripe for digital transformation and automation. Ensuring you have the right people in place at the right time, not to mention ensuring the relevant skillsets are available for any given shift can mean that all too often, people teams find themselves losing valuable hours to manual processes. In order to achieve operational efficiency and compliance, businesses will need to look towards a degree of automation in their rostering.
Balancing demand with capacity is one of the key challenges facing an organisation when it comes to rostering. Furthermore, the need for specific skillsets or certifications (first aid training, forklift certification etc.) can mean that ensuring the right talent is in at the right time is easier said than done.
Furthermore, organisations which rely on heavily manual processes for their scheduling can often find themselves wide open to complications which arise from sickness absences or no shows. Without the reactive capability to source adequate cover ahead of time, businesses can find themselves hamstrung in terms of output, not to mention opening themselves up to potential compliance nightmares if certain health and safety roles aren’t adequately represented.
Auto rostering does away with the pain of manual inputs, freeing your teams to leverage their talents in more creative and meaningful ways for your business- focusing on what’s most important to you. With the touch of a button, shifts can be populated, all with taking into account the proper levels of skillset and certification, cover for sicknesses and absences can be sourced effortlessly and reports can be generated to help give you the key insights you need to guide ongoing strategy.
Advanced Auto Rostering
At Advanced, we understand just how vitally crucial it is that you have the people with the proper skillset on shift when you need them. We also understand how wrangling a schedule for a large workforce is easier said than done and without access to the proper tools, people teams can find themselves losing valuable hours each working week to manual processes.
Our new Auto rostering function has been created specifically to handle the strain of the complex shift organisation. Auto Rostering is a multi-platform smart scheduling application for all industry sectors, designed to make complex staff rostering easy, saving time and money. Auto Rostering optimises the allocation of employees to shifts and will take into consideration all active complex constraints and rostering rules, employee availability, and employee skill sets to get the right person in the right place at the right time.
Auto rostering can also offer you a unique framework to empower you people to take charge of their schedules. Our employee trade boards can be actioned by management within your organisation and provide a forum for your people to exchange shifts at their own discretion. This is a powerful feature which not only incentivises your people to take control of their shifts but most importantly, it bypasses the need for your people teams to deal with the admin of shift swap requests and sourcing cover themselves.
At Advanced, we’re proud to offer a comprehensive range of workforce management solutions, boasting some of the best systems and hardware on the market. Auto Rostering integrates seamlessly with Advanced Time & Attendance and clocking terminals to provide a full workforce management solution for your organisation.
If you’d like to discover more about how our auto rostering and other people management solutions can help transform the way you work, get in touch with one of our friendly team members today.
