As summer approaches, it’s a great time to think about rostering and your current staffing. Depending on your industry and business type, staffing needs can vary, however with the holiday season approaching, it’s important to plan for the end-of-year rush.
For many warehousing businesses, you might have seen a rapid increase in distribution and the need for more workers, or it might be time to reassess your staffing needs and focus on how to manage your rostering.
Regardless of your business type, it’s important your rostering system is reliable, fast and responsive.
Are you using spreadsheets and a paper trail to keep track of staffing?
There are better ways to manage your rostering and using the right system can make the workplace better for you and your staff.
By implementing a workforce management system, your business will be better equipped when managing staff and organising staff leave over the festive season.
Less deskwork, more productivity
If you’re using spreadsheets and paper documents to manage staff, you’re bound to run into data entry errors or worse still, lost documents. Think of the time it takes you to update spreadsheets. This is time that could be better spent focusing on growing your business.
By using workforce management software your staff data is all together, in one place. This includes information such as hours worked, pay, leave and entitlements. It can identify who is available to work and factor in multiple workplace locations, as well as workplace regulations. But the best part is that workforce management software can automatically generate rosters, minimising your time in the office.
Managing multiple sites and staffing requirements
If you’re a franchisor, using workforce management software is a great way to organise your outlets and employees. It gives you the ability and flexibility to view multiple locations and staff availability, which benefits both you and your staff.
Workforce management software is cloud-based, which means all changes are updated in real-time. Staff can make leave requests and access any rostering updates from their mobile phones. This gives you and your staff peace of mind that shifts are covered and organised in advance.
Clear Communication
Paper rosters and phone confirmations are bound to eventually fail, especially when last-minute changes are made. Outside work, our lives are busy, and it’s easy to forget a phone message or misplace paper rosters. Outdated methods could leave you short-staffed or worse, staff required to work double shifts. With overworked staff, potential workplace accidents can occur.
With integrated applications for mobile devices, workforce management software allows staff to access rosters and receive shift notifications and reminders directly on their phones.
Following the rules
Navigating employee workplace agreements can be difficult to understand at the best of times. The last thing you need is trouble with the Fair Work Commission. If you make the switch to a payroll and workforce management system, workplace agreements can be integrated into your system, and tailored for individual staff.
When organising your rosters with a workforce management system, automatic notifications can alert you to breaches when it comes to overtime or extra allowances. This gives you and your staff confidence that regulations are being met.
How can Acacia help?
Workforce management systems combined with payroll have immediate benefits – it helps minimise non-compliance risks and reduces tedious office work that wastes time for you and your employees.
At Acacia, we are an MYOB Advanced Platinum Partner and an industry leader in helping businesses and franchises overcome issues, rebound and become more profitable. We help optimise, automate and improve the traceability of your business. Acacia has the knowledge and experience across a range of businesses to provide the most cost-effective solution for your business.
If you are interested in talking through the advantages of implementing workforce management software, please contact us to find out more.
