Workforce Management

A GUIDE TO CUTTING LABOR COSTS

EBOOK

Table of Contents

2

Introduction ...........................................................3

Ch. 1: Where Can You Cut Costs? ..............................4

Ch. 2: Steer Clear from Turnover ...............................6

Ch. 3: The Truth About Training .................................8

Ch. 4: How Much Time Are You Wasting? .................. 10

Ch. 5: Software as a Service (SaaS) Simplified .......... 12

Ch. 6: Is Automation the Answer? ............................ 14

Ch. 7: Scheduling in The Cloud ................................ 16

Ch. 8: Learn How to Communicate ........................... 18

Ch. 9: Schedule like a Boss ..................................... 21

Ch. 10: Control Turnover before It Controls You ......... 24

Ch. 11: Communicating Will Cut Labor Costs ............. 26

Ch. 12: Incentives Lead to Loyalty ...........................29

Ch. 13: Zip Schedules ............................................ 31

Author: Danielle Richards

Trying to curb labor costs in your place of business involves a multitude of factors that can make the task a daunting one. Laying off employees, although the quickest method, is usually an unrealistic option for management because they must meet business demands with an adequate workforce. In order to reduce labor costs, managers are forced to evaluate their day-to-day operations to ensure they are not wasting money on menial tasks. Those in management need to equip themselves with the right tools and best practices to properly allocate labor without damaging the business’ bottom line.

Introduction

“MANAGERS ARE FORCED TO EVALUATE THEIR DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS TO ENSURE THEY ARE NOT WASTING MONEY ON

MENIAL TASKS.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY29

3

The first step in cutting labor costs is a full assessment and understanding of the procedures involved in managing labor at your place of business. For the retail and restaurant industries, due to the multitude of part-time workers, overseeing labor and curbing costs can often be an especially complicated issue. To start trimming labor costs, management must understand that labor is a purchased good, implement a cohesive set of daily procedures, and automate menial tasks via technology. Once operators have a grasp on the concept that both time and labor cost the company money—just like a purchased good—they can look to those areas of the company where time is being wasted.

Where Can You Cut Costs?

“TO START TRIMMING LABOR COSTS, MANAGEMENT MUST

UNDERSTAND THAT LABOR IS A PURCHASED GOOD”

1CHAPTER

4

4

If you have the opportunity to cut employees or salaries, that is the quickest and easiest way to bring down your labor expenses. However, it is uncommon for employers to hold on to a number of dispensable workers. If you cannot cut salaries or employees, the first step is to cut small inconsistencies. Hone in on what the focus and goals of your business are and put your labor efforts and expenses in that direction. A major area where management can curb labor costs is to reduce the amount of turnover that occurs. Especially for restaurateurs and retailers, due to the large number of part-time workers, reducing turnover can have a tremendous impact on a business’ bottom line.

“ABSENTEEISM IS DEFINED AS A TENDENCY TO BE AWAY FROM WORK

WITHOUT A GOOD REASON.”

5

Excessive turnover rates are a surefire way to break your business’ bottom line. The definition of “Employee Turnover Rate” is the percentage of employees in a workforce who leave during a certain period of time. For businesses with a majority of part-time workers, turnover tends to be especially prevalent because individuals tend to hop from job to job more frequently. Turnover is typically caused by a number of factors, most relating to levels of employee satisfaction. The Wall Street Journal notes that “High employee turnover hurts a company’s bottom line. Experts estimate it costs upwards of twice an employee’s salary to find and train a replacement.” When employees “turn over,” not only is the company losing a valuable team asset, but now must make a serious investment in recruiting and training a

Steer Clear from Turnover

“HIGH EMPLOYEE TURNOVER HURTS A COMPANY’S BOTTOM

LINE.”

2CHAPTER

6

6

replacement. Employers should focus on tactics to keep their employees engaged and feeling rewarded for the work that they do. It is absolutely essential that employers do all they can to boost the morale of their workforce in order to curb turnover. With excessive turnover rates, a company will never be able to cut labor costs. The first step for reducing turnover is to retain and incentivize current employees through various methods of praise and recognition.

“ABSENTEEISM IS DEFINED AS A TENDENCY TO BE AWAY FROM WORK

WITHOUT A GOOD REASON.”

7

Management must be a cohesive and well-oiled machine if they hope to control labor expenses. Employees must be able to readily access, question or contact management when they are having issues on the job. Managers, especially those focused on curbing the amount of money spent on labor each month, need to ensure that training is done the right way, from the very beginning. Having to re-train employees or taking the extra time to explain complicated practices or software later down the job cycle can inflict serious costs on a business. If each individual is properly trained and prepared for their given job, the company need not waste any more time or money re-teaching them the best practices for the business. Management may find themselves surrounded by a workforce that is not adequately trained to do the job

The Truth About Training

“MANAGEMENT MUST BE A COHESIVE AND

WELL-OILED MACHINE IF THEY HOPE TO CONTROL

LABOR EXPENSES.”

3CHAPTER

8

8

at hand, and will ultimately have to pour money into additional training tactics. By training each employee properly, and only one time, management will save the time and labor required to re-visit training.

Training is expensive and not a commodity that should be taken lightly. The Wall Street Journal claims that “Hiring the right people from the start, most experts agree, is the single best way to reduce employee turnover.” By equipping your business with hardworking individuals from day one, you will ultimately spend less money on training in the long run. Invest in high level recruiting and training methods in order to find the best quality workers.

9

After reviewing procedures, management has the ability to pinpoint where time is wasted at the company and can begin to make adjustments to curb expenses. Because time requires labor, and labor costs the company a pretty penny, it is essential that time wasters be taken out of the equation. In the business world, abusing time on the clock is referred to as “time theft.” Time theft has gotten more popular with each year, with workers feeling that they deserve some sort of “me time” during the work day. The more time theft occurring at a business, the more of a burden it is to the bottom line. Heading into 2015, employees have made it clear that a major life goal is to attain a proper “work-life balance.” That is, this new generation of the workforce, referred to as Millennials, do not believe work should take

How Much Time Are You Wasting?

“IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT TIME WASTERS BE TAKEN OUT OF THE EQUATION.”

4CHAPTER

10

10

up all their time, and they feel entitled to some “me time” at the office. Because of the evolving face of the workforce and changing habits, management must stay on top of trends in order to curb their labor budget. Managers must be aware of where time is wasted; inefficient operations, complicated daily procedures, and menial activities. Workers find different techniques to take advantage of time at the office as a means to get through the eight hour workday. This is both a stress and a burden on management and the business’ bottom line. Time wasters are doing nothing but eating up valuable money allocated to labor.

After establishing who the time wasters are at the company and either reprimanding them or teaching them the boundaries of “me time” at work, it is time to find out what tasks take employees the most time to complete. For example, in the retail and restaurant industry, the creation of the weekly schedule has always been a time-consuming chore. Managers pore over schedules for hours in front of Excel spreadsheets, stuck using outdated software methods; wasting their time and the company’s money. The key here is that regardless of the industry you are involved in, you and your managers must be equipped with the right tools and technology to get the job done efficiently. For example, a construction worker would not leave for the job-site without his tool belt, much like restaurateurs should not go about writing a schedule without the most up-to-date software. Each industry has specific areas where it could cut the amount

of time put into certain projects; such as retail spending hours re-racking clothes, IT professionals spending hours poring over data, or restaurant managers dealing with employee availabilities and shift changes. It is inevitable that time will be wasted at some point during the day, by one employee or the other, so to automate and streamline the projects that are known to take excessive time and energy will be a great step toward saving your business’ bottom line.

11

Once managers put in the effort to review procedures, they are able to pin-point areas of the business where time and money can be saved, and can look for new solutions to these time-consuming tasks. Due to the proliferation of technological advances in the last decade, owners and operators are turning to technology as a solution to streamline day-to-day operations. With the advent of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, it has become the norm to utilize web-hosted services to augment routine tasks at the workplace. SaaS or “The Cloud” can be understood as an efficient method of delivering applications (software) over the internet. Prior to the invention of the cloud, both individuals and businesses who required software did not have access to it on a web-based server. Instead, software required

Software as a Service (SaaS) Simplified

“THE CLOUD” CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AS AN EFFICIENT

METHOD OF DELIVERING APPLICATIONS (SOFTWARE)

OVER THE INTERNET.

5CHAPTER

12

12

installation and maintenance, reducing the convenience, ease and speed of use. SaaS, defined by Gartner Inc., is “a software model in which applications are licensed on a subscription basis and centrally hosted.” Gartner continues to define SaaS as “software that is owned, delivered, and managed remotely.” Instead of having to buy personal, hard-copy versions of software, today, many services are available on the internet for download. With this quick and easy access to information at all hours of the day, SaaS has become incredibly popular for a generation that has been raised with the internet, mobile phones and the online boom. SaaS has proved to be a revolutionary technology that has allowed individuals access to applications and services anytime, anywhere.

Saas, because it is available at arm’s reach and only a download away, it is just another way that this generation has become accustomed to instant gratification. At most jobs, employees can turn to their computer, type in a concept and there is a software program engineered to fit their needs.

13

Technology is not the only option for business owners to turn to when trying to speed up productivity and drive down labor costs at their company. Industrial automation is a growing field of technology defined as the use of “automatic equipment” for manufacturing or other production processes. A simple and relatable example of automation is the invention of the automated car wash to replace the manual labor method. The car wash example demonstrates how automation can save a business money in the long run. For example, let’s say a gas station usually schedules ten employees to work the Saturday car wash shift. To make things simple, each employee is a part-time worker, paid minimum wage. The company is investing $9 an hour x ten employees x number of hours worked every single day. If each individual worked

Is Automation the Answer?

“INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION IS A

GROWING FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY”

6CHAPTER

14

14

eight hours, the company is spending $720 for just one day of manual car wash labor. Now, this may not seem so bad compared to the huge price tags of machine-powered car washes. However, over time, and combined with the cost of turnover, it would be smarter for the gas station to lose money immediately in order to invest in an automated technology. This is the most cost-effective route because, unlike employees, a machine is not going to “job hop” or require additional hours of training that will cost the company money. Yes, using technology to automate menial tasks may be a hefty investment at first, but with time it pays for itself over and over, slowly trimming your labor expenses. Automation may be the solution for your company’s labor woes.

15

As previously discussed, the advent of “cloud” technology has brought with it a sweeping revolution in the way in which business operations are conducted. Where businesses once spent countless hours on menial tasks, they can now choose to replace tasks with automation or utilize web-based software to augment management tasks to speed up daily processes. To explore an example presented earlier in this eBook, let’s discuss the challenges associated with retail and restaurant workforce management. Workforce management is complex and has hardly been given the credit it deserves. Managers spend hours compiling silos of information from a multitude of platforms: employee availabilities, sick days, requests for time off, as well as state labor laws. A retail or restaurant manager must consider a number of factors

Scheduling in The Cloud

“REPLACE TASKS WITH AUTOMATION OR UTILIZE WEB-BASED SOFTWARE TO AUGMENT MANAGEMENT TASKS TO SPEED

UP DAILY PROCESSES.”

7CHAPTER

16

16

when compiling the employee schedule. First, they must take into account all employees’ availabilities, assuring none have changed in the recent past. Second, managers must schedule employees according to state labor laws; and third, managers must remember to satisfy employee requests. It may seem like a simple task, but managers continue to dread the task even in 2015. It is clear that the outdated spreadsheet method should be replaced by web-based solutions. Retail and restaurant industries tend to employ mostly part-time workers, making schedule creation an even more difficult task for management. It is not unlikely that management will be putting together a schedule while referring to sticky notes, voicemails, emails or even phone calls requesting time off, sick days or attempting to switch shifts. Managers drown under the excessive paperwork, and often notes with requests are lost in translation. Employees end up being scheduled days they are not available, causing even more confusion and increasing labor expenses.

The days of sticky notes and paper requests are over, thanks to the flourishing use of cloud technology. Managers, when attempting to curb costs, should turn to technology as a means to ease their daily labor expenses. Scheduling exemplifies a lengthy yet menial task that is required of managers on a frequent basis. By replacing the old methods of schedule creation with a web-based application, the complications can be dramatically reduced. When complications are reduced, less time is wasted and the company will save itself money in the long run. Management can transfer its focus to more critical areas of operation within the business just from the time being saved on schedule creation.

17

“THE DAYS OF STICKY NOTES AND PAPER

REQUESTS ARE OVER”

Labor costs are especially difficult to control when a company does not have channels of communication accessible to all employees and management. Ease of communication is such a critical aspect of any business, especially when issues are time-sensitive. Continuing to discuss the example of scheduling methods, the confusion for employees following a published schedule is actually damaging to a business’ bottom line. The more time it takes a manager to finalize, publish and satisfy requests from employees only means more money being spent on labor. Another easy fix for labor expenses is to streamline communication within a company, assuring any questions can be attended to in a timely fashion. For example, following the publication of an employee schedule, especially for part-time workers, comes an influx of requests demanding shift trades.

Learn How to Communicate

“EASY FIX FOR LABOR EXPENSES

IS TO STREAMLINE COMMUNICATION

WITHIN A COMPANY”

8CHAPTER

18

18

Management has dealt with employee requests for years using outdated methods of communication. Today, we live in a society where almost any piece of information is available at our fingertips, at any time of the day. It should be just as easy to discuss a matter with your boss or co-worker as it is to text message a friend. Businesses, especially management, have been evolving over the years to fit this new generation of tech-savvy individuals who are used to the 24/7 access to infinite facts and figures. The year 2015 marks a society heavily dependent upon its electronics, and it only seems fitting to evolve the workplace to fit the needs of its employees. Why should management continue to rely on paper requests, sticky notes or voicemails as a means to communicate? This inundates management with confusing requests. Many times, sticky notes and messages are lost without an electronic trail. Amidst a society with flourishing technological advances, many employees expect the same caliber of communication methods available at their fingertips at the workplace.

To exemplify the amount of time and money wasted by outdated methods used by management, imagine a retail manager has just published the weekly schedule, posting it to the door of the office in the back of the store. Typically, the schedule is set to be released the same day each week. However, many employees forget to take into account that managers are also human, and may make mistakes; so some weeks it will take longer to get out a given schedule based on

19

complicated requests. This can lead to incessant calls flooding into an establishment until the late schedule is announced. The first issue a manager may run into following publication is the influx of calls coming into the store from employees asking an associate to read them their schedule. This takes time away from the current employee working at the store, for they must go to the back, retrieve the schedule and let co-workers know when they are set to work. This takes the associate away from their job and their customers, wasting time and company dollars. After individuals have received their schedule, a number of employees will typically notice a shift that they would like to trade with another co-worker. This requires a game of phone tag between the original employee, the new employee up for the shift and a manager. Most times, management requires a call from both employees to verify the switch. However, it is typical that they may only hear from one side of the trade. This leaves all three individuals to wonder and worry who is in fact going to come in for the shift. Management is stuck worrying that they could end

up being over- or under staffed on any given shift. Old methods of scheduling put a burdensome amount of responsibility in the hands of management, which is already busy overseeing all operations. Responsibility for knowing and switching shifts needs to be transferred to the employees themselves. However, without proper communication channels, it becomes difficult for employees to voice requests without a confusing aftermath of phone calls.

As a manager, if you are looking toward areas where you can shave labor costs, be sure that employees have accessible and efficient modes of communication with the company. If employees—managers or associates—do not have an easy way to reach their business, it is only wasting the company’s time and ultimately costing the company serious revenue. It is impossible to begin cutting labor costs if you have poor communication strategies in place at your business, simply because wasted time is wasted money.

20

20

A major contributor to burdensome labor costs are those incurred due to accidental overtime hours and over- or understaffing. Overstaffing happens when a company does not have the ability to properly forecast its sales for the following week. Without an idea of how much foot traffic will come through the front doors, it is nearly impossible to schedule the correct amount of employees. If businesses overstaff, employees lack the incentive for tips, decreasing overall productivity during the shift, or maybe even the entire week. Many times, managers find themselves sending workers home early if they find that they are dealing with an unusually slow day of business. When a manager decides to “cut” (send home) an employee, this is frustrating for both parties involved. First, the employee is not going to be making

Schedule like a Boss

“WITHOUT AN IDEA OF HOW MUCH FOOT TRAFFIC WILL COME THROUGH THE FRONT DOORS,

IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SCHEDULE THE CORRECT

AMOUNT OF EMPLOYEES.”

9CHAPTER

21

the amount of money that was anticipated because they are going home without fulfilling their assigned hours. Second, management has wasted money by scheduling an extra employee. Without forecasting methods, employers must rely on intuition to staff properly and save the most amount of money on labor. Curb your labor costs by learning how to properly staff. This cannot be done simply by guessing the foot traffic coming into the business each week; managers should be equipped with proper forecasting methods in order to staff the business with the correct workers.

Overtime is often a recurring headache within the world of human resources at most businesses. Whether you work full-time or are only a part-time employee, overtime is a pain in the neck for everyone involved. Many times, overtime takes place when a company is understaffed. Not maintaining adequate levels of staffing at your business will surely take a toll on your labor costs. Having too few employees, although a quick method to cut labor expenses, will always cost a company more money than being overstaffed. Overtime not only costs your business a pay rate of at least “time and a half” per employee, it also increases the chance of chronic fatigue, stress, and illness in your workforce. This leads to employees having to take more sick or personal days, call-out at the last minute or need to switch their shifts with a coworker. Some more serious consequences of overtime hours include the risk of reduced productivity, increased healthcare costs and ultimately higher turnover. Although understaffing may appear to save the company money at the time, the costs incurred due to overtime will be much greater than if the business were properly staffed. The cost of overtime, sick days,

“OVERTIME IS OFTEN A RECURRING HEADACHE WITHIN THE WORLD OF HUMAN RESOURCES”

22

22

absenteeism and tardiness has much more of a negative effect on a company’s bottom line than does overstaffing. It is imperative that a company steer clear of being under- or overstaffed, for it exacerbates the issue of controlling labor costs. Businesses must be equipped with the most updated and efficient tools to

schedule the proper employees during appropriate business hours. Replacing old methods of scheduling with web-based applications allows managers to use the hours otherwise wasted on necessary operations.

23

Once you have recognized what areas of your business are costing you the most, you can proactively make changes in an attempt to curb these expenses. Managers must a) identify inefficiencies, b) implement changes to increase productivity in these regions, and c) make investments today in order to curb labor costs tomorrow. The first step for owners and managers to curb labor costs is to control employee turnover. Turnover is mostly determined by the levels of employee satisfaction within a company. To boost employee satisfaction, human resource departments tend to increase recognition and rewards programs in hopes of increasing overall company morale. When employees are feeling appreciated and necessary to the team, productivity levels are likely to increase. Happy employees tend to work harder than those who

Control Turnover before It Controls You

“HAPPY EMPLOYEES TEND TO WORK HARDER THAN THOSE WHO ARE

UNHAPPY!”

10CHAPTER

24

24

are unhappy! Businesses try to curb turnover rates through programs that allow workers to feel appreciated. I will use the software at a service company, Yelp, as an example of a business that practices recognition programs to increase efficiencies. For example, Yelp allows its sales associates a half-day on Friday if they have reached their sales quota by mid-month. This exemplifies how a company can provide a reward for hardworking individuals, in hopes they will continue such practices and remain loyal to the company. By decreasing the amount of turnover, a business will experience a stark drop in labor costs due to growing levels of employee dedication; resulting in reduced costs associated with recruitment and training.

25

As discussed previously, proper mechanisms of communication are absolutely necessary for a company to thrive, and especially critical if a company is looking to cut down on labor costs. To exemplify how expanding communication platforms will enhance a business’ bottom line, we will delve further into the example of employee schedule preparation. Owners looking to cut down on labor costs can turn to new technologies as a way to augment communication methods. For example, retail and restaurant owners now have the ability to evolve their scheduling methods from paper scheduling to web-based applications. With web-based applications, management can leave behind the days of paper scheduling. The web-based scheduling applications available in 2015 provide managers with direct messaging capabilities with the

Communicating Will Cut Labor Costs

“OWNERS LOOKING TO CUT DOWN ON LABOR COSTS CAN TURN TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES.”

11CHAPTER

26

26

entire company. Just as you would message a friend on Facebook from your tablet, smartphone, or desktop, many scheduling applications have an integrated messaging function to allow instant, 24/7 access to any co-worker. This is especially critical for reducing the amount of confusion that may exist following a schedule release. For example, instead of having to play phone tag with managers whenever you need to change your schedule, simply send a message, and be assured it is received with no doubt that the note will be lost. An electronic trail reduces the confusion that has always followed shift trades; no longer will employees question if they are scheduled to work. The excuse of, “I lost my schedule, and I didn’t know I had to work today,” will be one of the past. You can stop questioning whether or not management ever received the sticky note with your request for time off on it. Due to the evolution of the Internet and smartphones, conversing

with others is painless; the same convenience should be made available at your place of work, especially if you expect employees to remain engaged and satisfied.

To further ease the shift planning process, some web-based scheduling applications provide schedule templates that can be saved and re-used week after week (when applicable). Not to mention, forecasting methods are integrated in a number of web-based schedulers, making it that much easier for management to properly staff their business. With forecasting measures that take into account the previous weeks of foot traffic, it is much less likely that management will end up with too many or few employees to meet the demands of customers. As mentioned previously, over- or understaffing is a quick way for businesses to pour money into wasted labor. Forecasting the correct workers will ultimately

27

28

play a role in the amount of overtime being abused at the company. If too few workers are being scheduled from one week to the next, employees will be forced to work overtime due to understaffing issues. With a mixture of forecasting methods and the ability to save schedules week-to-week, managers are equipped with the most recent and useful tools to manage their workforce.

28

Aside from optimized communications, it is imperative that a business put responsibility in the hands of its employees. That is, if employees do not feel that they have some sort of control over their life earnings, they will be less driven and less incentivized to work at 100%. The proliferation of “cloud” applications has brought with them a sense of responsibility for employees because they have anytime, anywhere access to business information. For example, employing a web-based scheduling application allows workers to contact management if need be, thus increasing employee engagement, ultimately building loyalty and decreasing turnover. Engagement and incentives are necessary to keep workers from “turning over” and thus essential to keeping your labor costs under control. With a web-based application, employees have

Incentives Lead to Loyalty

12CHAPTER

29

the power, for the first time, to contact co-workers or management if they are not satisfied with their schedule. In turn, if employees are given the opportunity to work the days and times they would prefer, they may be more inclined to have a positive morale at work. In fact, when employees work their preferred schedule, they feel that they are responsible for each shift, making them more incentivized to do well at work. A productive employee is the most valuable asset to any business. The more a company can do to cater to the individual, the greater the chances of boosting your bottom line.

30

30

Today’s workforce is made up of a majority of individuals who are keen on technology. Why not make the same type of easy-access, web-based applications for the workplace? It’s not just music, movies or social media that are available in the cloud. Today, business operators turn to the cloud as a means to augment tasks that were formerly tedious and time-consuming. Although this generation may be spoiled with the countless number of SaaS applications available on the market today, it is no doubt that SaaS has had a positively profound impact on business operations. Investing in a variety of SaaS has turned into the norm for many business owners when looking to streamline operations. If you are a retail or restaurant owner and have noticed that time is being wasted during schedule creation, I recommend you look

Zip Schedules

“INVESTING IN A VARIETY OF SAAS HAS

TURNED INTO THE NORM FOR MANY BUSINESS

OWNERS”

13CHAPTER

31

into the world of scheduling applications. One application, specifically, has answered many of the dilemmas presented in this eBook. Zip Schedules, an application for schedule creation, allows management to toss spreadsheets and old methods of shift planning in the trash, and puts the responsibility of the schedule back in the hands of the employee, where it belongs. Zip Schedules is an answer to many of the scheduling woes experienced by many businesses. Because of the complications surrounding part-time work shifts, businesses typically struggle with both over- and understaffing; many times resulting in overtime and potentially low morale.

For businesses, due to the high volume of part-time workers, I recommend considering Zip Schedules to ease the headaches that surround schedule creation. Zip Schedules provides workers with a clear and easily accessible work schedule. Instead of having to hold on to a paper schedule, employees can check the Zip Schedules application anywhere, at any time to view their assigned shifts. If they notice issues with the published schedule they can immediately contact whoever may be concerned. If someone is sick they can offer the shift up to any available workers, and no longer do employees need to call to inquire about who is available to take the open shift. Instead of contacting a multitude of co-workers, Zip Schedules automatically populates who is available (and willing) to work that day, making the task of finding a shift cover less confusing and time-consuming. Not to mention, Zip Schedules automatically incorporates state labor laws into its system. This means that employers will not have to fear penalties, fines, or lawsuits because Zip Schedules does not allow a non-compliant

32

32

schedule to be produced. As discussed earlier, like some web-based applications, Zip Schedules provides employers with the choice to save templates from week to week. So, instead of populating a new spreadsheet each week, you can copy a previous week’s schedule and make minor changes where necessary. This feature alone will reduce the time spent planning the schedules. What formerly took management hours has turned into a ten-minute task. Zip Schedules is intuitive and user-friendly, utilizing drag and drop technologies to assign individual shifts. Much like a smartphone or tablet, Zip Schedules has a small learning curve and even the least tech-savvy individual can navigate their way through the application. Also, no longer will management rely on intuition to determine how many employees should be staffed each day. Forecasting will allow managers to base future schedules on past business without playing a guessing game. Forecasting ultimately helps a business to schedule the right people at the right time. If a manager expects more customers one week (because it has been a historically busy one annually), he can ensure he has the correct amount of employees scheduled. Zip Schedules benefits both employees and management because employees are given the necessary tools to be responsible for their weekly schedule and management is given more freedom to tend to regions of the business that may be lagging. By providing an accessible means of communication, Zip Schedules has the potential to shave off a large chunk of the money that was once being wasted on poorly optimized labor.

To learn more about this product, please visit www.zipschedules.com.

“ZIP SCHEDULES HAS A SMALL LEARNING CURVE AND EVEN THE LEAST

TECH-SAVVY INDIVIDUAL CAN NAVIGATE THEIR WAY THROUGH THE

APPLICATION.”

33