Let algorithms do your rostering

With around a quarter of Australians actively seeking other employment, according to a recent survey, keeping your workforce happy, motivated and engaged becomes more crucial than ever. And few things are more frustrating for an employee than being rostered on when they specifically requested a day off. Or turning up to a shift to find they’re doing three other people’s jobs because the rostering manager didn’t get the numbers/skills allocations right.

But it doesn’t need to be like this – not when there’s software that can do the niggly work of getting enough employees with the appropriate skills to the right place at the right time.

“I’ve seen one organisation using 100-plus different spreadsheets across 11 different sites to manage rosters, pay rates and pay rules. For an executive to understand where there were rostering gaps across all those sites was a real pain,” says Aulay Macaulay Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ento, provider of workforce management software and rostering solutions.

Technology now allows employers to avoid this kind of spreadsheet nightmare with platforms that are extremely user-friendly and offer transparency for everyone who needs it.

Empower your people

So what should rostering software offer to optimise your staff allocations and keep employees happy?

Best-in-class solutions enable rostering changes and communication on both sides, says Macaulay, which empowers employees by giving them a far greater degree of control.

“The solution should allow managers to roster people to shifts based on business needs, and employees to set their availabilities, leave and bid for available shifts based on their own preferences and circumstances.

“With Ento’s platform, they can also update their own employee details in one central place that can be accessed by managers.  They can bid for extra shifts too if they wish. A lot of our customers will communicate through the platform if there are last-minute shift availabilities,” says Macaulay.

This type of digitised rostering solution is especially suited to complex, shift-based dispersed businesses like childcare, aged care, retail and labour hire businesses.

With retail workers, for example, you can remove a lot of the stress that inadequate rostering inevitably causes.

“Our algorithm can forecast peak shopping periods based on historical footfall data. This takes the guesswork out of rostering, allowing managers to roster appropriately during peak times. It not only eases the pressure on staff, but also maximises sales, and cut down on wage costs during quieter periods,” says Macaulay.

“Understanding when, where and how to roster the right staff in the right places at the right time is a really common pain point for organisations,” says Macaulay. “This is particularly pertinent when businesses are looking to cut costs to survive the impacts of COVID.”

Importantly, demand-based rostering also ensures compliance and that staff are paid the correct rates at the right time.

“Systems can capture and automate award rates and business pay rules to ensure pay compliance across industries like retail and hospitality. This is particularly important for businesses wanting to avoid staff underpayment issues!”

Mistakes with salary payments aren’t just guaranteed to alienate your workforce but can come back to bite you in a big way, as Woolworth’s found to its cost; the supermarket giant now faces legal action after the Fair Work Ombudsman alleged it had underpaid staff upwards of $1.1m.

So when it comes to rostering and award rates, it really does pay to let algorithms do the calculations for you. Because while to err is human, so too is the inclination for employees to look elsewhere when the job conditions aren’t to their satisfaction.  Build Rosters In Seconds With Ento WFM Software