Yet for those that manage staff, especially large teams, creating the roster is one of the most challenging roles. Why? Despite there being several reasons, in this article we’ll highlight two key reasons.

1. Ensuring that the right number of qualified staff fill each shift, all while taking into consideration rates of pay and costs.

2. Working within the confines of staff availability whilst avoiding perceived preferential treatment. All of which can affect job satisfaction, employee retention and long-term relationships.

Such considerations create significant pressure on a manager creating a month-long roster.

How then can such challenges be addressed?

Eziway understands the difficulties, due to our comprehensive experience working with rostering, award interpretation and payroll software systems. Let’s examine some specific challenges and how EziPay provides effective solutions.

Manual rosters

The challenge - Keeping track of staff preferences, rates of pay, qualifications for given activities, applied for leave etc. cannot be easily managed in one spreadsheet. These challenges are amplified as the number of staff grow.

Eziway’s solution – All necessary steps are built into EziPay, automating roster creation.

· Predefined roster activities

· Predefined skill sets built against every activity

· Predefine staff availability and preferences

· When creating the roster, suggestions are made for each activity based on availability and most qualified

· As staff are allocated, availability is modified to prevent being “double booked”

· Predefined roster activities and skill sets ensure better control, avoiding preferential treatment

Managing staff preferences

The challenge - Staff will readily let you know what their preferred work hours are. Personal life impacts on those choices, picking up children from school, getting Johnny to football practice, establishing a healthy work life balance. When these are not taken seriously it has a bearing on job satisfaction and can be a determining factor in staff remaining in your employ.

Eziway’s solution – Flexibility to notify shift manager of change requests either online or via the Mobile App.

· Employees notify managers of any permanent or short-term changes to their availability

· Staff accept or decline shifts electronically providing real time changes to the roster

· The flexibility to swap shifts once approved by the manager

Staff communication

The challenge – effective communication requires that staff have necessary information at their fingertips, any time anywhere. Often such communication is limited to hard copy documents. However, what if there are changes to the roster? How do you ensure that each staff member has the most up to date information?

Eziway’s solution – Advanced technology provides staff with information in real time.

· Rosters are available online or via the Mobile App providing 24/7 access

· All alterations to the roster are immediately visible, allowing staff to view up to date information

Unexpected changes to the roster

The challenge – Staff require the weekend to move house, fall sick, bereavement, there are many and varied reasons for unexpected changes. Identifying qualified staff and their availability can be time consuming.

Eziway’s solution – Flexibility for staff and managers to fill change requests

· Managers are immediately notified of requests to a change of shift, made via the App

· A list of available resources is available online anytime, anywhere

· Staff are promptly notified of available shifts via a SMS and email indicating their availability via the App

· Once shifts are filled the roster is updated in real time

Leave and its implications

The challenge – all staff want to take advantage of their available leave. Yet the process of staff applying for leave can be cumbersome. Then there is the need to keep track of approved leave and the implications on the roster. 

Eziway’s solution – Advanced technology within the Mobile App provides great flexibility.

· Staff apply for leave online or via the App

· Management is immediately notified of leave request for approval

· Once approved, availability to fill shifts is adjusted during the leave period

Conclusion

There are many and varied challenges while creating and managing a roster. At Eziway our ambition is to resolve those challenges by focusing on solutions. EziPay incorporates easy-to-use built-in functionality to manage preferences, unexpected changes, communication, leave and more...

Not only is this to the benefit of those creating the roster but importantly the end user. Managing expectations around when and how much time an employee works is a high priority for any member of your team. Staff satisfaction will add to morale and the long-term viability of retaining a qualified workforce.

To learn more about how EziPay can be of assistance simply begins with a conversation.

A third consideration is discussed in part 2 of this article. To learn more on managing the challenge of integrating rostering with an award interpreter and payroll click here.