Can we see a show of hands: Is there any part of a manager’s job more frustrating than employee scheduling? Exactly. This arduous, time consuming task can often be laden with staffing, compliance, and, ultimately, customer service issues.
If you are a Kronos Workforce Ready (WFR) user, a powerful scheduling solution is the Time Labor Management (TLM) tool. TLM can improve your platform’s scheduling efficiency. The powerful TLM tool — configured to meet your unique workforce requirements — can help you improve scheduling efficiencies, prevent labor overspend, and help you avoid burning out your employees.
Below are just a few ways we’ve learned how to improve our client’s WFR scheduling ROI. Note: While the TLM tool includes the basic Scheduler Program, many clients also add on Kronos Advanced Scheduler depending on their workforce needs.
5 Ways to Maximize WFR Scheduling
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Create an organizational map first. It’s important before you embark on configuring WFR’s TLM tool, to make an organizational map to see how the pieces of your workforce need to move together. Different employees and supervisors (part, full, shift) may require different configurations. If you skip this step or put off until later, you could be doubling your efforts.
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Configure Open Shift features early. One pain point for WFR customers is manual fill-ins for time sheets when there’s a last minute shift change. The best way to avoid manual entries is to configure your Open Shift functionality early on in the configuration process.
You can also configure WFR automatically to flag exceptions such as missed punches, early/late arrivals, and extended or skipped breaks that violate your company’s policies and alerts managers.
Note: The latest release of WFR allows managers to Auto-Assign capabilities and lock down previously edited shifts with Advanced Scheduler. Manual edits were not locked down before; and running the Scheduler engine to Auto-Assign open shifts would wipe out your work. Now you can freeze manual edits and run Auto-Assign safely.
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Maximize shift swapping. Shift swapping is one of the most powerful features of WFR. To get the most out of your WFR, be sure to align this feature with the needs of your workforce. WFR, configured correctly, will spot trends in scheduling, which means fewer schedule conflicts, reduced manual entries, better compliance, and happier employees.
Note: WFR’s latest update allows users to use Time-Off Request Notifications in conjunction with a Time-Off Request Workflow. So, you no longer need to keep using custom workflow steps to set up email notifications for time-off requests. WFR managers and employees can use Time-Off Request Notifications to approve, change, reject, request, or cancel time off.
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Automate compliance. WFR (configured correctly) will allow individuals to punch in early but it won’t actually start the clock until the time they are scheduled to work. This improves both compliance and payroll accuracy. You can also configure it to restrict workers from punching in too early or working too much overtime.
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Project documentation. A lot of people want to skip this step but in doing so, forfeit massive amounts of time and effort already invested into their WFR platform. We advise admins (and consultants) to take screen shots and document any system upgrades. This will help you document configuration details and shortcuts and provide your team with a quick, visual reference during the testing phase. Strong project documentation is knowledge transfer at its best and helps equip new managers to continue using the scheduling model without interruption.
Automating your company’s scheduling as much as possible is the key to cutting labor costs, minimizing risk, and reducing frustration among managers and employees.
Looking for more inside information on optimizing Kronos Workforce Ready?
5 Kronos Workforce Ready Challenges [And How to Solve Them]
6 Ways Kronos Workforce Ready Can Amplify Your SMB Workflow
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Need help optimizing your Kronos platform for maximum workflow ROI? We’re a Kronos-certified consultant firm with more than 30 years of experience in Workforce Ready, Workforce Central, and Dimensions. Give us a call today!
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