Many companies use Microsoft Excel for their workforce planning. Excel is a great service, but it’s not the best solution for creating a work schedule. Although the great advantage of planning in Excel is that it is possible to organize planning entirely according to one’s wishes, It can be done in a standard personnel planning package much more easily. Online personnel planning packages offer even more specific planning options and benefits.
- Work order visible to all employees
One of Excel’s most common problems when creating a work schedule is sending the schedule to employee scheduling software. When a work schedule is sent, not all employees are often available at specified times or days. Due to corrections that need to be made, multiple schedule versions are being sent. It can lead to uncertainty among employees. With online scheduling software, there is always a master schedule that can be adjusted based on changes immediately visible to employees.
- Workflow available everywhere
Employees cannot open the schedule when a work schedule is sent to Excel. Excel is a paid software and not available to all employees. Microsoft used a free program for opening Excel documents, but this Excel viewer is no longer offered.
A good online staff planner can view work schedules on a desktop or mobile app. Scheduling with scheduling software saves a lot of time.
- Exchange of schedules between employees
As a scheduler, you don’t want to be looking for replacements for employees who can’t consistently work the scheduled hours. In general, employees can log into a scheduled program and independently search for a replacement for their position.
Once found, a scheduler can still agree to keep an eye on the schedule, but that doesn’t waste valuable time looking for replacements.
- Invite employees for open positions
When an employee declares himself ill, a replacement must be found quickly. Searching for a replacement is often time-consuming, as several employees have to be called. An easier way is to invite selected employees to a position; employees receive this invitation by email and a “push” notification. From this notification, an employee can accept the position, and the scheduler is immediately informed.
- Overview of availability
With good online employee scheduling software, employees can communicate their availability via the computer or mobile app. This availability is immediately visible in the scheduling program, so the scheduler can easily schedule based on availability.
With availability-based scheduling in Excel, real-time availability monitoring is much more difficult, leading to dissatisfied employees. When availability is emailed or texted, the scheduler must switch between programs. It ensures that creating a schedule takes even longer.
- Overview of absences
When a schedule is established, employee absences must also be considered. It is certainly the case when a schedule is drawn up for a vacation period. In this situation, it is very convenient for the scheduler to be able to see absences directly in the schedule so that schedules can be established based on absences.
- Overview of labor costs
Employee hourly wages can be entered in many planning programs so that the planned personnel costs are immediately visible. It allows the planner to establish the most optimal schedule, also in terms of salary costs.
Use online software safely.
More and more companies are using online software. The great thing about online software is that it can be used from anywhere, but what can you as a manager do to ensure that this software is used safely? We give you some tips below.
Use a strong password.
With a strong password, it is much more difficult for hackers to obtain your login information. A strong password must be at least eight characters long and contain a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Make sure the password is not too obvious, and use different passwords for the different services you use.
Change your password regularly.
Regularly changing the password makes it more difficult for outsiders to find the password. If a keylogger is installed on your computer, there is less chance that the password will still work if it was obtained illegally.
Use a password manager.
Strong passwords can be difficult to remember. It is sometimes possible to make the task easier by using a passphrase. Using a password manager is even easier. This is a service where all passwords can be stored.
Do not share login data.
Login data is often written on notes and, for example, hung on a board. It’s easy to share data this way, but it’s far from secure.
Use Shifton
Not all services have multi-factor authentication, but if it is available, we recommend using it.
Shifton works as follows: after logging into your account, you will be asked to enter a confirmation code. This confirmation code comes from another device, such as a phone or tablet.
Verification of access rights
When multiple employees can log into the software, employee access rights must be in place. In most software, it is possible to determine employees’ access rights. Ensure employees are only allowed to view and edit information for which they have permission.
As a company, we do everything possible to ensure that our software is properly secured. Unfortunately, login data can still be obtained illegally if this sensitive information is handled negligently. Click here to know your security policy.
