by Stacy Malone, Marketing Intern
So you’re using TimeForge’s online employee scheduling software … that’s great! TimeForge can help you make schedules quickly, saving you time and money. Did you know that you can make your life even easier using our AutoScheduler?
The AutoScheduler will help you build schedules faster by taking into account the schedule rules you already have in place. For instance, let’s say you want to autoschedule employees for Christmas week, but you know that three of your employees have to have Christmas Day off. Your employees simply have to submit a time off request and then, depending on your settings, the request will automatically be approved or a manager will the option to approve or deny it. Once the time off request is approved, the AutoScheduler won’t schedule anybody that is unavailable for that day, unless you override it. This makes scheduling a lot easier on you in the long run. People won’t get accidentally scheduled for a day they were given off, which will help boost employee morale (and save you from spending time finding replacements later)!
So, if you’re already using our employee scheduling software, all you have to do is add a new schedule, as you normally would, and instead of assigning an employee to that shift, choose “AutoSchedule”. (If you’ve disabled your AutoScheduler, simply turn it on in the Set Up > Settings page). The AutoScheduler will then choose the right employee for that position based on fairness, availability, labor costs, weekly hours, overtime rules, and a number of other factors. This saves you time and helps you get back to doing what you need to do.
You can also pair up the AutoScheduler and the ShiftBuilder to make schedule building even easier. When using the ShiftBuilder, simply put in how many people per position are needed for certain hours and it will automatically generate shifts for you. Then, hit that AutoSchedule button and employees will be assigned to those shifts. If you use the ShiftBuilder and AutoScheduler together, you can make schedules in as little as 45 seconds! Really. This ends up saving you time and money and – perhaps most importantly – gets you back on the floor.