How Flexible Scheduling Can Impact Employee Satisfaction and Retention

Employee satisfaction is a major factor in staff retention, so helping your employees achieve a work-life balance is key to keeping valuable employees.

Scheduling software that offers remote access and flexible scheduling, such as shift trades and swaps, open shifts pick up, and even self-scheduling can impact your employees in a positive manner, enabling them to have more control over their schedule and thus, over their work-life balance.

Employee Satisfaction

Employees who are happy with their position in a company usually don’t plan on leaving. And scheduling flexibility plays a big part in their happiness. In fact, a survey done by FlexJobs found that more than 25% of employees value flexibility in a job more than pay, and 80% revealed they would be more loyal to an employer if flexibility was offered. Moreover, almost 20% of employees surveyed were currently seeking new positions due to a lack of flexibility at their present employment.
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Clearly, flexibility is a major driver in employee satisfaction, mainly because, according to the 2020 NSI Nursing Solutions report, that flexibility allows employees to care for a child, spouse, or other family members, leading to a more stabilized work-life balance.

Fortunately, scheduling software can help you offer that flexibility to your staff, resulting in a more satisfied workforce that gives back to the organization with their time and talents and stays loyal.

Flexible Scheduling

Intrigma's flexible scheduling software allows your employees to have more control over their schedules through easy shift trades and swaps. For example, in a shift trade, Employee A needs a day off, and Employee B helps Employee A by taking the unwanted shift. Both are happy, and this just prevented a call off and unnecessary administrative staff work. Similarly, a swap is made when two employees agree to work each other’s shift. Again, both employees are happy, and you avoid last-minute open shifts on the schedule.

Flexibility also comes in the form of open shifts, where employees can pick up posted shifts as they please to help cover patient surges and regular scheduling alike. You can post open shifts well in advance too, and once posted, you can choose to have no manager approval needed thanks to built-in scheduling rules that automatically avoid overtime, double-staffing, and back-to-back shift scheduling.

In some areas, especially nurse scheduling, flexibility is offered through self-scheduling as well. You can set the par levels for each day and shift, and nurses can choose when they want to work. This can cut scheduling time in half by preventing changes due to conflicts once the schedule is posted.

Remote Access to Schedule

A key factor in employee satisfaction is having remote access to the schedule. With Intrigma's scheduling software, employees have 24/7 access to both their schedule and the entire schedule. This allows for schedule transparency. Essentially, employees are more likely to be willing to work shifts if they can see that there is truly a need. This also allows for communication between and compromise among employees to fill the schedule. Having this type of transparency makes employees feel like an integral part of the team.

AHRQ-funded research found that work-life balance is one of the major stressors that leads to physician burnout. This same study found that when leaders modeled and supported work-life balance and offered flexibility in schedules, workers were less overwhelmed. When employees can look at the schedule from home via their personal computer or cell phone, they can involve family members in decision making when it comes to their work schedule.

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Additionally, this type of remote access via a mobile app not only allows viewing of the schedule, but employees can also make shift trades or swaps from the comfort of their home. It is not necessary to wait until the next time they are in the office to make changes. This also helps open shifts fill quickly since all employees, whether in the office or not, can see the needs of your organization.

What Next?

If your organization is one of the 83% that target employee retention as a key strategic initiative, it is time to closely evaluate your scheduling software and determine whether it is providing your employees with what they need to stay satisfied and remain loyal.

To learn more about how Intrigma's scheduling solutions can help you enable more flexibility and foster more employee satisfaction, contact Intrigma today.

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