Automatic Scheduler For Employees: How To Save Time with Automatic Scheduling

Tired of spending hours each week figuring out who will work…the hours each week?  Instead of a cumbersome process full of paper, phone calls, and text messages—employers can get scheduling done in one easy click with an automatic scheduler. Employees can have input on when they work and get the ideal shift that they said they were interested in.

One-click automatic scheduling

One-click automatic schedulers reclaim hours of effort that used to be devoted to creating the work schedule. What used to take countless steps is compressed down to a single click.

There are a few different approaches to one-click employee scheduling. Depending on the scheduling tool you use, you can enter various data to help generate the schedule. Most tools require basic information, like employee time-off requests or shift preferences. Others will take historical customer foot traffic, labor cost goals, seasonal adjustments, and similar data into consideration.

Why automatic scheduling is necessary

The employment landscape has become more complicated in recent years due to changes in generational work expectations and legal requirements. Even without those changes, creating employee schedules has always been challenging.

An automatic scheduler is necessary for several reasons:

Save on costs, increase profits

Every opportunity to reduce the time spent on tasks is an opportunity to increase profits. By using an automatic scheduling tool, you can reduce the time spent on creating employee shift schedules by 80% and cut your labor spending by 3%.

Automatic scheduling also helps reduce overtime costs that stem from a variety of causes, including poor scheduling or under-utilizing new, competent employees. Some employers repeatedly schedule the same employees based on recent memory, familiarity, and habit. This leads to overtime costs and safety issues from fatigue that can incur additional costs due to employee turnover or accident.

Forecast labor demand and predict the future

Employers have to be nimble to maintain both profitability and staffing levels that provide customers optimal service.

Using a variety of demand signals, such as sales, foot traffic, or bookings, you can accurately predict how many people you will need working at any time. Perhaps there are seasons or weather patterns that affect customer behavior and labor demand. Additionally, you might know which employees are better at up-selling or work better under pressure—these are data points you can plug into your auto scheduler. While you can’t control the weather or major events that can affect your business, auto scheduling can help you use the data available to have your shifts covered. 

Auto scheduling takes the guesswork out of building your shift structures using this data, some of which would be almost impossible for you to handle manually.

Meet legal compliance issues with an automatic scheduler 

Predictive scheduling laws require employers to inform their employees of their work schedules well in advance of their scheduled shifts. While there are other aspects to the laws that include various protections from unfair work practices—like “clopening” or hiring new staff without offering shifts to current employees—the idea of these laws is that employees are aware of their work schedule ahead of time without fear of it changing at the last minute. 

Predictive scheduling laws can be challenging for employers but can be an excellent way to retain employees. It makes it easier for employees to maintain their personal lives, schedule daycare, work other jobs, and balance their home life. They can make plans without worrying that they will have conflicts with a shift or that their hours will be cut at the last minute. Still, it’s yet another moving part employers must work through when creating employee schedules.

With auto scheduling, you don’t have to worry about legal compliance—it’s managed automatically. Auto scheduling can be adjusted for the laws in your area, creating a highly optimized and legally-compliant schedule every time.

What makes a great automatic scheduler?

Simple to use: Choose an automatic scheduler that isn’t loaded down with requirements you have to set. A good one will let you simply add in the shifts you need and do all the work in the background, finding eligible and available employees. 

Value for cost: Find an automatic scheduler that saves you time on scheduling. If you’re constantly having to redo the schedule after it’s made, that’s not helpful and you’re really just wasting money on the tool and in your time.  

Integrates with your suit of tools and apps: Integrated employee scheduling, time tracking, and team messaging is key to making sure the auto scheduler you choose actually works for you and your employees. Keeping everything together in the same platform increases engagement and productivity.

Ability to view the employee availability: Make sure you’re able to see employee availability and time-off requests in whatever auto scheduler you choose, so you can be sure those requests are being honored. An auto scheduler should take availability into account when scheduling.

Ability to remind employees about upcoming shifts: Select a platform that includes schedule and shift notifications, so employees know when they can choose from available shifts or see that they’ve been assigned shifts in the schedule. This will reduce no-shows and absenteeism.

The When I Work Auto Assign feature

Auto Assign takes into account several key elements when assigning an employee to a shift. These include:

• The positions the employee is trained to work (tagged positions)
• Whether the employee is already scheduled for an unpublished or published shift 
• The days or shifts the employee has noted as preferring to be unavailable
• The employee’s approved time-off requests
• The maximum number of hours set in the employee’s profile

These are things you would have to manually account for when scheduling, but Auto Assign does this automatically.

How Auto Assign Works

Auto Assign is simple to use.

• Add your employees into When I Work.
• They request time off and input their work availability.
• You create unpublished OpenShifts for each of the positions you need covered.
• Click the Auto Assign button. When I Work automatically assigns those shifts to your employees, based on their availability, time off, and a maximum of 40 hours per week.
• Adjust the schedule as needed, and then click publish.

You have full automation with the ability to customize those results to suit the needs of your business. You can automatically create the optimal schedule for everyone involved. Plus, the process isn’t all on you. Your employees participate and save you from having to gather the data manually.

Are you ready to put your schedule on autopilot?

Instead of reinventing the wheel every week, you can simply copy the previous week’s schedule. That works in some situations. But if you need greater scheduling options and flexibility than reusing last week’s schedule, or you’re managing a lot of moving parts (and employee requests), automatic scheduling is best. 

Think of it this way: for a business that relies on shifts, auto scheduling is putting artificial intelligence to work for you. You set up the initial rules, input minimal data, and AI does the rest—creating your optimal schedule.

The perfect schedule, in a single click. Sign up to try When I Work free for 14 days!