Overtime is a common result of struggles with scheduling and extended work hours. However, overtime can be managed and avoided through different policies and actions taken by your company. Developing a functional overtime policy is vital for your business and will result in a safer and more productive workforce. This article discusses some steps that can be taken to ease the scheduling process and decrease the struggles associated with overtime hours.

Avoid Double Shifts

Working doubles for employees can be a common strategy for businesses. Employees enjoy the extra pay and employers are able to have every position covered for the next shift. However, this isn't always as beneficial to everyone as it seems. The need for double shifts may mean that a shift needs to be covered as soon as possible and the only person that is available happens to already have worked earlier that day. Managers scramble to ask around and fill the position, which takes time away from other tasks. Furthermore, the employee available may already be exhausted from working a long and busy workweek. Now the employee may be upset from working so much and your business has to pay for the expensive overtime hours that could have been avoided with a simpler scheduling system and the minimization of double shifts.

Offer Cross-Training For Employees

Some companies get into a bind because workers are only certified for or able to work specific positions. This makes covering shifts more difficult without anyone available or qualified to work the position needed. Thus, a few workers end up getting outstanding amounts of overtime even if they don't necessarily want it. When employees can be trained for mutliple positions, it becomes easier to distribute time evenly to avoid the costs of overtime. When a workforce is cross-trained on multiple levels, this can help your company to remain highly productive and improve employee satisfaction. Better trained and knowledgeable employees can also better serve the customers because they know how to further explain any information about the products and services your company offers.

Set An Annual Cap

Many businesses will set an annual or monthly cap on overtime hours to reduce costs and prevent overworked employees. A cap benefits employee health and safety and also helps distribute overtime more evenly. Overtime creates difficulty controlling costs and businesses may find they are spending too much on unnecessary scheduling issues. A cap can help better control these issues from occurring but unfortunately may not make the process of shift management any easier.

Implement Scheduling Software

Along with many other time and attendance features, scheduling software offers scheduling solutions to simplify the process, improve productivity, and save money from overtime issues. You are able to manage overtime with automatically generated employee lists based on skill sets to ensure that the right people are covering the right positions. Overtime rules can be established based on an organization’s current policies and procedures. Realize significant cost savings with information concerning the employees who are eligible for straight time, comp time, or time-and-a-half. Also, with scheduling software, employees are able to communicate with each other quickly and easy through their phones so they can contact co-workers for shift coverage. This allows for employers to see who will be working the shift without taking any time away from their other tasks.

For more information on better scheduling solutions and eliminating the struggles of overtime, check out the downloadable guide below.