Are you having difficulties in creating schedules for your employees? Does your company need help with planning and managing shift schedules? There are a lot of important questions that employers consider during employee scheduling. You might be wondering, how can an employee scheduling software answer these questions? Will it magically provide employees when there are no-shows or any last-minute schedule changes? Well, it’s a great place to start. But how do you choose the best employee scheduling software for your needs?
Each business has unique scheduling needs, and the purpose of employee scheduling software is to help the company make informed decisions faster. Can an employer make an informed decision that suits all of the employees? Probably not without any assistance. That’s the role of this software. With the best employee scheduling software for you, you are guaranteed to save time and money!
Consider the Stakeholders
When looking for the best employee scheduling software for your organization, there are lots of people to consider. First, there are the managers who will be creating and managing shift schedules. They will have different considerations to the employees being scheduled. When it comes to employees, this is where software can make or break a company. According to the State of Software report, 25% of employees said the software they’re using has made them consider leaving their job. Not only that, but 1/8 employees have actually left a previous job over mismatched software. Then, you have your clients who are directly impacted by your scheduling practices. If your new software doesn’t perform well, they are the ones that will suffer.
What to look for in the Best Employee Scheduling Software Providers
There are plenty of employee scheduling software providers in the market. Many of them offer the services that your company is looking for. Celayix is just one of them. Such a great variety of options gives employers some degree of freedom in decision-making, empowering them to research and find the best employee scheduling software for them.
This brings us to the first and the most critical step in finding the best employee scheduling software providers: Research. There are many features you require to look at in your employee scheduling software to see if it’s the right fit.
Your Business Needs
The very first thing you consider when looking for the best employee scheduling software for your organization is your unique business needs. Think about the common scheduling issues you find yourself dealing with regularly, and think about the solutions to those problems. Do you need flexible scheduling options? Do you need your employees to have access to their schedule via an app or portal? Whatever it is, have your checklist at the ready when shopping around with different vendors. Some platforms are built out specifically for an industry, or to solve a specific problem. Others can be tailored specifically to your needs which is generally very beneficial. If a platform is customised to you and your business, you will likely be more satisfied with the solution.
Compatibility
Compatibility, is one of the most critical aspects when choosing any new software. As a business, you likely already have systems and processes in place that work for your business. It is essential to keep those systems in mind when on the hunt for the best employee scheduling software for your needs. Be sure to do your research and look into the integrations with your existing platforms. When choosing the right employee scheduling platform, key processes to consider are payroll and billing. Ideally, your employee shift data will integrate easily with your payroll provider for ease, accuracy and efficiency. Also, when your new software integrates with your billing provider, clients are charged correctly every time based on the shifts worked, and no clients are left unsatisfied.
Usability
Another important factor to consider when choosing the right software for your team is usability. If you chose a complex software, not only will you struggle to get to grips with it, but so will your team. The usability of a software solution directly impacts its adoption rate, efficiency, and overall effectiveness within your organization. Software with high usability is easy to learn and intuitive to use, which means employees can quickly get up to speed without a significant learning curve. This reduces training time and costs, and minimizes the likelihood of errors in operation.
More importantly, user-friendly software enhances employee satisfaction, leading to increased productivity. Conversely, software with poor usability can lead to frustration, decreased productivity, and ultimately a negative return on your investment. So, it’s vital to prioritize usability in the selection process to ensure the software is not only a good match for your technical requirements, but also a good fit for the people who will be using it daily.
Scalability
The goal for any business is to scale, right? Well, be sure to keep that in mind when purchasing ANY software. However, this is particularly important when it comes to employee scheduling software! What good is a software that doesn’t grow with you, when it comes to managing your workforce? A great way to research this one is to ask vendors for referrals from customers with different sizes of workforces. Is the person with 10,000 employees having the same experience as someone with 100 employees? Pick a software that will grow with you so that you won’t have to change it up again in a couple of years.
There are a lot of other important factors to keep in mind when choosing software such as cost, compliance, security and customer support. There is nothing worse than having a system in place and no one to rely on when something inevitably goes wrong. But, what happens if you do end up making the wrong call?
Risks of choosing the WRONG Software
To get something right, you need to know where you could go wrong. Now that you know how to find the best employee scheduling software providers, it is also important to know the risks associated with choosing the wrong software.
The true costs of choosing the wrong software are not often examined. It is difficult for any employer or manager to see what is deemed a solution as the newest problem for the company. The risks associated with software may be nothing for your devices. Still, they might be problematic for the employees, or worse, they do not successfully solve the problem for your company. The very intriguing question that any employer ends up asking is: Where did this investment go WRONG?
Firstly, it is essential to recall that digitization and automation were developed so companies could achieve profitability and transformation with ease. With profitability and cost savings on the line, businesses have started to look for fast solutions. This means a more liberal evaluating and selecting process. As a result, the game-changing benefits possible from the best employee scheduling software for you are often lost.
Consequently, some of the effects of choosing the wrong Software are:
Lost revenue
Implementing an ill-fitted software system can create havoc for the company’s day-to-day operations. Such failures could lead to loss of customers to competitors and hence a fall in revenue. Take a security company for example, if they get their guard scheduling wrong, clients are left with unguarded sites. They likely won’t stick around for this to happen again. Don’t risk losing clients, only settle for the best employee scheduling software to suit your needs.
Increased workload & wasted time
Implementing new software within a business is tricky, and it takes time for the workplace to adapt to the new configurations that the new software provides. Learning about the software adds to the workload for the employees and hence takes up more of their time.
If the software implemented is wrong, or does not fit the business needs, then all the time consumed on learning the software is wasted. Implementing a new software would seem wasteful and less likely to happen, even if the alternative software is a better fit. The more complicated the process gets in installing software, the greater the energy and time spent adapting to it. The best employee scheduling software for any business is one that can be implemented with ease.
Add-ons, upgrades, or customization costs
Sometimes, even the wrong software installed can be salvageable. However, this might require the businesses to ask for various add-ons, upgrades, and customizations that fit the business needs. It’s improbable that any software provider would provide all features without any costs. Some of the premium features can be pretty costly for the software providers to offer and make it difficult for any business requiring those features. It is essential that the business contacts the software providers about any important feature for the business in the research stage and ask whether those features can be provided at little or no cost.
Replacement and Reputational Costs
The capital expenditure from implementing software can be exorbitant, and stakeholders expect returns from such spending. Replacing software can often be tedious and expensive due to the time and energy spent. Overall, this may disrupt the business, eventually causing direct and indirect costs in replacement and reputation. In other words, you want to find the best employee scheduling software the first time round!
Team Morale
Fatigue is prevalent with employees that require to work harder if there are issues with the Software. From meeting with their clients to resolve any software-related issue to learning the new software, employee morale and team morale likely take a dip. Such a process can also create mistrust in business decision-making.
Job losses
Lastly, the team that is spearheading this procurement of the Software is at risk if the Software fails. If software failure creates considerable financial damage, further redundancies may be the only way for the business to respond.
So, what are you waiting for?
Choosing and implementing employee scheduling software is time-consuming, so don’t put it off. The sooner you act, the sooner you benefit from it. This isn’t to say that you have to rush the process. Any business decision requires a cautious approach and due diligence. Overall, it’s vital that the provider can cater to your needs. It’s more likely that a “one size fits all” provider will be unable to meet your specific business demands for software. That is why Celayix offers a solution that can be tailored to fit any industry or business and provides full support to any of your queries with the help of our fully trained and qualified employees. If you want to hear more about our employee scheduling software, get in touch with one of our solution advisors today!
