How to Create an Employee Schedule Template for a Small Business

What is Employee Scheduling All About?

When you're managing a group of workers with different work schedules, terms of engagement, and locations, you may find it overwhelming to keep track of every movement and work hours put in. Yet, as an employer, it is one of the most important parts of your job. This is what employee scheduling is about. It simplifies the Herculean task of organizing employee work such that they are productive and satisfied with their jobs.

Employee scheduling or workforce scheduling involves understanding the workload of your restaurant and efficiently distributing it among all your employees. A work schedule typically includes time slots, work expected, name of location, leave, work hours, down time requests, etc.

Why is it Important to Schedule Employees?

1. A fair and efficient employee work schedule will make team members feel valued and they'll be less likely to quit. Such a work schedule doesn't overburden the workforce, while at the same time, meets business needs.
2. When employees work according to a scheduling system, it is easier for an employer to manage payrolls. Work schedules reduce the manual labor implicit in time tracking employees.
3. By scheduling employees in the correct manner, you can increase productivity and reduce labor costs. This can be done by efficiently distributing tasks, tracking hours worked, rewarding efforts and ensuring no time is lost between shift changes.
4. Effective scheduling methods can reduce employee burnout, increase work flexibility and job satisfaction among the staff. This will go on to boost your restaurant's productivity, as happy employees will do better work.

Creating schedules from scratch can be time consuming and difficult.

This blog will show you how to cobble together an employee schedule template that you can use time and time again.

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What is an Employee Schedule Template?

An employee schedule template is a Microsoft Excel template that is designed as a roadmap for your employees as they work. Schedule templates list all of the different tasks that need to be done throughout the day by each person and how long it should take them to complete their task. Employee schedules can also serve as guides for managers, making it easy for them to know exactly what needs to be done during each day, so there are no surprises in store at the end of the day.

Employee Time schedules can be prepared as monthly or weekly schedules, depending on the requirements of the business. A weekly schedule, for example, will table the weekly work timings of the staff. You can also put down tasks assigned to each team member on the scheduling template, along with their work times. This will not only help streamline staff management, but will also support payroll management and reduce the scope of error in managing different work shifts.

How to Create a Staff Schedule Template?

There are a number of easy to use employee schedule templates available on the internet, ready for download. These schedule templates come withall the necessary rows and columns that simply need to be filled in to create a schedule for your staff. You can also prepare your own shift schedule using Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Just Make Sure you follow the following steps-

1. Open a new file on Microsoft Excel and select one of the available schedule templates. Select the template that suits your scheduling needs.
2. The work schedule template will be pre-filled with dummy employee names, tasks and work times, which you can edit and replace with the names of your team members and your restaurant-specific tasks. Change all these dummy names by selecting and editing them.
3. A schedule Excel sheet typically has a list of tasks on the left column (X-axis) and the days of the week or work hours on the top row (Y-axis). The corresponding rows and columns on the work schedule can be filled with the names of team members who will perform these tasks on particular days.
4. Save the work schedule file with the dates or month name, as per the company practice and convenience for your team members to find.
   

Drawbacks of Using a Scheduling Template

1. A shift schedule prepared on Microsoft Excel cannot keep track of employee movement or whether they are present or absent. This impairs workplace Time Management. Any absence will have to be manually recorded in the schedule template, leaving scope for error.
2. Creating the right balance of experienced hands and newcomers will have to be done manually, by keeping in mind the skillset of your team members. The schedule template cannot offer suggestions on the right employee mix, like Time Clock software can.
3. You will have to create schedule templates on your computer, take printouts and distribute them among the staff, or pin them to a noticeboard. This can cause errors, confusion and even tampering.
   
4. The conventional, cumbersome method of maintaining a shift schedule template for all the staff will no longer be suitable if you plan to expand your business. Managing different branches from different locations, and a large group of employees, will only introduce more error.

It's hard to keep track of your employees at all times—who's working when and who has the day off.

An employee schedule template will help you avoid the hassle of planning afresh. This blog shows you how to create one.

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Benefits of Using Employee Scheduling Software

1. Using employee scheduling software, such as Zip Schedules by Hubworks, will ensure you are optimizing your operational costs and increasing productivity by creating flawless schedules that suit your needs.
2. Scheduling software manages to reduce the need for staff overtime by optimizing the skills and hours of all team members with the right schedule. Equitable weekly shifts will increase employee satisfaction and reduce burnout.
3. The process is less time-consuming as all employee shifts can be prepared with the help of the software. Employers are saved hours of work.
4. Time tracking is one of the key advantages of scheduling software. These tools will track time and time attendance of each team member, clock their work schedules and maintain accurate records.
5. The Human Resources department can also manage the payroll of part time employees with scheduling software. With their mobile app to keep track of their work hours, there can be no ambiguity over payment for hours worked.

Top 3 Employee Scheduling Software for Restaurants

1. Zip Schedules- Be it a Full Service restaurant or a quick service one, all kinds of businesses need to optimize the staff work hours to get the best results for their restaurant and reduce labor costs. Zip Schedules takes care of project management, tracks absenteeism and streamlines the work schedule of a workforce, no matter how large or small it is. It also helps keep track of labor budgets and manages payroll, while improving employee accountability. The mobile app of Zip Schedules' cloud-based software also doubles as a communication channel between staff and management.
2. Homebase- This one's also a cloud-based scheduling software that tracks and monitors all employee movement. It gives employers real time updates on employees, telling them who's working, who's on leave, and who has skipped work.
3. Connecteam- This scheduling software has easy-to-use mobile-friendly features. It creates checklists and forms and keeps track of work hours, clock-ins and clock-outs. Connecteam also provides employee engagement tools that can help improve company culture.

You have a lot of people to manage and it's hard to keep track of who is working when.

Create your own employee schedule template for your small business with these steps.

Download now!