There is no doubt that shift work, if not done right, may negatively impact employees and employers, despite its benefits. How, therefore, can you ensure the continued health and safety of your staff while maintaining this pace of operation?
Shift management provides relief when it comes to the health and well-being of employees. This post will look at some of the most effective methods for maintaining a satisfied, safe, and successful shift workforce.
1. Consistency Check
Working irregular hours might worsen the issues with eating and sleeping that shift workers may already be experiencing.
Your workers may experience interpersonal stress due to an unpredictable work schedule since they may go days without seeing their families, friends, or partners.
Therefore, as a shift supervisor, you are responsible for organising activities so that everyone gets off at reasonable intervals. You should not create arbitrary or frequent shift swaps, either. Your team will appreciate being able to arrange time off to be with their dear ones and attend personal occasions.
2. Allow for Adjustable Scheduling
Assigning tasks to employees based on their strengths will improve productivity and safety by allowing them to focus better on their job and deal with challenges as they arise.
This guarantees that the most time-consuming and skill-intensive jobs are completed by your staff at the beginning of their shifts or work hours when they are fresh and focused.
Assuming most of your staff follows their internal body clocks, this will lead to more productivity and improved health.
3. Offer Methods for Reducing Workplace Stress
In the workplace, stress may have negative repercussions on both the mind and the body. It is the normal reaction of the body to stress; therefore, there is no way to prevent it.
Nonetheless, providing your staff with periodic stress awareness seminars and, most importantly, maintaining an open-door policy can help them identify stress when it arises and react to and manage it effectively.
As a bonus, make sure your shift employees get the breaks they need and deserve. As a result, they will be able to give their full attention to their task, boosting their productivity and decreasing their stress levels.
4. Limit Employee Overtime and Shift Adjustments
Changing the shifts of employees around too often is a bad idea. If you have to, go around in a clockwise direction. Due to consistently arriving to work later, they will have more time to process new information and adjust to new procedures.
Employees may find it difficult to adjust to changing shifts since they need them to alter their daily habits. For this reason, it is crucial to ease your staff into working in shifts of varying lengths and frequency.
The best way to do this is to invest in powerful scheduling software that will allow you to arrange shifts for your employees with a few mouse clicks and protect you from making mistakes when estimating who will be available when.
Wrapping Up
If your business needs workers to put in shifts, consider implementing some of the changes and recommendations for shift management discussed above. The most efficient way to keep tabs on staff attendance and plan work shifts is to use a scheduling tool. Additionally, it records their timesheet information in a timely and precise manner, which aids in data monitoring and guarantees an efficient payroll system.
