Fair (Predictive) Scheduling Laws are becoming part of the process for businesses with hourly workers in many cities and states. For those businesses with their own design of scheduling or antiquated scheduling software we have put together a list of items you will want to consider when purchasing a solution that will keep you in compliance with Fair (Predictive) Scheduling Laws in 2020 and beyond.
Configuration. Don't be afraid of Online Scheduling Software that is easy to implement and quick to be configured to your local Fair (Predictive) Scheduling Laws. Long drawn out processes are not the future or the present of Online Workforce Software Solutions. SimplyWork for instance is an Online Scheduling solution that can easily be set up to keep your business in compliance and configured to any new Fair (Predictive) Scheduling Laws that may surface.
Demand Data. We all have it if we are selling or servicing something. The demand is whatever is important to your particular business. Could be the weather, how many times the door swings open, past sales, holidays, rooms booked and a slew of more information. Today’s scheduling solutions should be able to Simply digest this information from external systems of record and turn it into a Workforce Forecast. Knowing where you are going ahead of time is more important than ever before with Fair (Predictive) Scheduling Laws.
Workforce Availability. When hiring hourly employees you must provide a "good faith estimate" of their scheduled hours to work. Let’s say 40 hours a week Monday - Friday from 6:00 A.M. until 2:30 P.M. there still may be a chance they need one of those scheduled days off. Or, even better they may say they have additional time to come in on the weekend or can fill in for another worker should there be an open or dropped shift. Whatever the case may be your Scheduling Software should ask employees for their availability through their workforce app one month before schedules are ever created. The process should be simple for them when using the app keeping the availability coming. Thus providing another layer of valuable data to schedule against.
Absence Management. Another template to schedule against is the Approved Leave for your Workforce. Approved or unapproved leave should be visible on the scheduling board. Your Workforce App should provide a simple process for your employees to view their PTO Totals (Personal Time off) and ask for leave based on that. Local Hr rules should state that asking for leave is to be completed a month prior to the leave dates being requested in order to schedule efficiently (and according to fair scheduling laws) for those employees requesting PTO.
Conflict Resolution. Before Schedules are created your solution should know where any conflicts lie behind the scenes with local compliance laws and your internal hr rules. In retail the term "clopening" may be referred to if an employee closes a business location at night and then returns first thing in the morning to reopen the same business. With the right solution clopening, fairness and fatigue, overtime, expired licenses and more are worries of the past when scheduling for the future.
Publish Schedules Early. It’s so nice to know where you are going. It is also the new Fair (Predictive) Scheduling Law in some cities and states such as San Francisco, Washington DC, Seattle, Emeryville and the State of Oregon. Getting schedules posted to your workforce two weeks in advance is very important and three weeks is even better and also a law in some places! This provides your workforce the chance to ask questions and work out the arrangements that life has dealt them.
Shifting. So life is always tossing obstacles at us to keep us on our toes. In those cases you have to shift things around a little. Online Workforce Scheduling solutions should allow employees to drop a shift for whatever reason and if picked up by another employee with no conflicts they get that shift off. Or maybe a manager has some shifts to fill and simply posts them as open shifts that employees or contingent workers with the same job code and no conflict can see in the app and ask to pick it up. You cannot fire employees for not coming in on scheduled days off but you can provide them incentives to pick up open and dropped shifts. All shifting can be met with attestation questions to ensure compliance to Fair (Predictive) Scheduling Laws.
Attestation. With all the new laws in place you will also need to cover your tracks in many cases with breaks, hours worked and other compliance reasons. Ensure that what employees are doing is exactly what they should be doing and did do with an Attestation Authoring App. Then deliver the attestation questions to your workforce when clocking with yes/no answers. Further explanations needed when answers are no.
Real-Time. In order to review what is happening on the front line and in real time your online scheduling solution will not be complete without being together with Time and Attendance. Employee punches flowing seamlessly over employee schedules can produce flagged notifications into broken local compliance laws such as meal breaks, clopening and other schedule conflicts.
Communication. To have the best software on the market it has to be one that is easily communicated to the team during training and everyday use. Also one that offers the ability to easily communicate with the team and crucial members of that team with a well put together Workforce App containing messaging, system triggered notifications and attestation questions. Employees should also have other means of checking their app should their smart phone not be available to them.
What happens if a business breaks the Fair (Predictive) Scheduling Law in their city or state? You will have to pay more! That is not the objective for running your business. Employers want to pay their employees fairly and within the budgets set by their business for their product or service they offer. Not for additional pay that could have been avoided.
When you choose a Online Scheduling Solution like SimplyWork to keep you in compliance with Fair (Predictive) Scheduling Laws and your internal hr rules you have created a positive approach to employee engagement, productivity and staying within your workforce budget. Everyone wants to know what is happening when it comes to their work and life outside of work. Now employers and employees can SimplyWork together.