5 Hot Tips for Summertime Scheduling

Summertime can be a juggling act for managers. With employees eager to take vacations, high demand, and the need to train seasonal hires, maintaining effective employee schedules might seem like solving a complex puzzle. 

But don’t worry! With the right strategies, you can keep your team happy and your business running smoothly. 

Here are 5 tips to help you navigate the challenges and ensure a seamless summer season.

Summertime brings a wave of vacation requests. Planning in advance helps you avoid last-minute surprises and ensures you have enough staff on hand to meet your business needs.

What to do: Start by asking your team to submit their vacation requests as early as possible. This gives you a clear picture of when each team member will be unavailable. Once you have this information, create preliminary schedules and share them with your team in advance. Encourage open communication so employees can raise any concerns or conflicts early.

Seasonal hires are essential for handling increased demand, but they need to get up to speed quickly to perform well. Proper training ensures they can contribute to the team without causing disruptions.

What to do: Develop a streamlined training program that covers the basics seasonal hires need to start working. Pair new hires with experienced team members for on-the-job training. This not only helps them learn faster but also integrates them into your team’s culture.

Summertime can lead to burnout if some employees take on too much work while others are on vacation. Balancing workloads helps maintain team morale and productivity.

What to do: Ensure that no one person is consistently working the most demanding shifts. Rotate challenging shifts like weekends and evenings among your team to spread the load evenly. Keep an eye on everyone’s hours and be proactive about offering time off if someone seems overworked.

Speaking of burnout, taking your own vacation is crucial to maintaining your well-being. You can’t pour from an empty cup, so make sure to prioritize your own time off, too. 

What to do: Delegate key responsibilities to other managers and trusted team members and ensure they are trained to handle your duties in your absence. Create a detailed handover document outlining ongoing tasks and any potential issues. Keep your team informed about who to contact and how to handle emergencies while you’re away.

Scheduling software can be a game-changer for your business, especially during the busy summer months. It helps streamline and speed up the process, reduces the chance of human error, and enhances overall efficiency.

What to do: Take advantage of scheduling software, like Connecteam. Connecteam is ideal for businesses of all sizes and even offers a free plan for companies with up to 10 employees.

Here are some of Connecteam’s key scheduling features:

• Intuitive, drag-and-drop shift scheduler: Use premade scheduling templates for recurring shifts or create your own. The app also includes automatic shift conflict alerts that let you know immediately of any scheduling errors.   
• Auto-scheduling: Define what you want your schedule to look like, and the auto-scheduler will create it for you, considering employee availability, preferences, skill sets, and business needs.
• Shift swapping: Employees can swap shifts with each other or release shifts for others to pick up. You can set the app to allow this with or without manager approval. 
• Add tasks, forms, and checklists to shifts. This ensures that staff know exactly what’s expected of them when they clock into their shifts, providing clarification and reducing back-and-forth communication. 
• Manage breaks and overtime. Schedule paid or unpaid breaks and the app will automatically alert employees when they’re due for a break. It will also alert you when someone goes into overtime.
• Request and approve PTO: Employees can request time off right from the app, which you can approve or deny. With Connecteam, you can ensure you’re properly staffed when employees are away, remain compliant, and keep track of how much you’re spending on PTO.

Summertime scheduling doesn’t have to be a daunting task. By planning ahead, training seasonal hires quickly, balancing workloads, ensuring you take your own vacation, and leveraging scheduling software, you can navigate the summer months with ease.