Provide Stable Schedules to the Service Workers

by | Feb 28, 2022 | Corporate Culture

A person with glasses sits at a desk, looking thoughtfully at a computer screen displaying a color-coded calendar. They hold a pen near their mouth and use a mouse. Natural light filters through the window in the background, brightening the scene, as they work on maintaining a stable schedule.

These days, the service industry has become highly dependent on its always-available worker pool that accepts shifts as per the company requirements. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has posed a significant challenge for such routines, and it has somewhere brought something good to the overlooked efforts of these hard-working service class employees.

The recent surveys show that scheduling issues were one of the major causes behind the Great Resignation drive. However, several companies have still not understood the challenge behind this. It is high time when employers need to rethink hourly workers to avoid labor shortage, and they need to pay more attention to unpredictable shift timings, inadequate work hours, and full-timers.

It is common to see companies putting shift workers on rigid job timings to meet rising consumer demands. But such scenarios are not suitable for the company’s welfare and may lead to significant loss of labor because the new age workers have become aware of their rights. Creating stable schedules for the workforce with a highly profitable mindset is better.

Traditionally, when workers accept an hourly role in a company, they are not aware of how many hours they will be assigned in a shift. Several workers reported that they were not told in advance about their shifts, and the sudden changes affected their lives considerably. Many of them even experienced severe financial strain due to low wages. In addition, the work cultures that followed unpredictable hours without consistent schedules caused several psychological and sleep issues among workers. Along with financial insecurity, they also experienced significant cognitive distress.

When employees do not receive stable work routines, they cannot work happily on jobs and are likely to make more mistakes. Moreover, absenteeism may also increase due to increased stress and tardiness. This absenteeism is further going to affect the company’s growth. Therefore, it is high time for management to arrange stable work schedules for shift workers.

Setting up stable work routines for shift workers:

Although the increased variation in customer preferences and traffic has made it difficult to set up stable routines for workers. But in many companies, this instability is led by merchandising, supply chain, and marketing decisions. For example, when a company has an extensive product variety, they are likely to experience more inconsistent and frequent deliveries. In such scenarios, companies need to make effective operational decisions from time to time. The delivery windows must be predictable, and the target group of workers must be informed in advance about schedules.

Experts at Global Investment Strategies suggest that employees must be cross-trained to handle customer requirements with increased traffic. The primary thing that demands your attention is offering well-paid and respectful jobs to the shift workers. When your company shows value to them, they will not resign and will likely serve your brand in the long run. Instead of overburdening your employees, offer them a positive and progressive work culture where they can enjoy enhanced work-life balance.