Changing to new Shift Patterns

If your Company is thinking about changing to new Shift patterns. We describe the processes involved to do this. If you have any questions, please call us.
click here to see the Changing Shift Patterns Guide

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Organizations and Staff Scheduling

The Basics Behind Efficient Organizations

Introduction

I am often asked the question, how do I start using Visual Rota in a large organisation It can be very challenging to have the task of introducing a new method. This page will illustrate how to start. It isn't hard to do, as with any project, the large single picture is broken down into small elements, each of which can be easily managed. Visual Rota will manage small groups of staff based upon your organization structure independently of each other. Each area manager still keeps overall staffing control.

First a few examples of organization set ups(charts)

A commercial enterprise would have Line, Staff or Matrix organisations, split into departments and specialists. Departments could include Buying, Marketing, Manufacture, Quality, Accountancy, Payroll, Design, Administration, Security, Maintenance, Distribution, Computing, Call centers, Retailing, Customer Care.

Hospitals have departments such as AIDS Anesthesiology,Biochemistry,Biomathematical Sciences,Cancer Center,Cardiovascular,Cell Biology and Anatomy, Community & Preventive Medicine, Dentistry,Emergency Medicine, Gene Therapy,Geriatrics,Human Genetics,Immunobiology,Medicine,Microbiology,Molecular Biology,Neurobiology, Neurology,Neurosurgery,OB/GYN,Ophthalmology,Orthopaedics,Otolaryngology,Pathology,Pediatrics,PET Lab, Pharmacology,Physiology & Biophysics,Psychiatry,Radiology,Rehabilitation Medicine,Surgery, All of which need to be staffed.
Hospitals also have wards staffed by Nurses and housekeeping, and also ambulances, maintenance, and a host of services similar to hotels and industry.

Why do we have seperations within an organization such as the above examples? In small businesses many of these departments just don't exist and they seem to work fine. The problem is the physical limits of time and space. Small businesses only have a 'small' amount of accounts, payroll, marketing, etc, and these 'departments' can fit into one small office and only take up a 'small' proportion of the total time of a manager. As a business increases in size, many of the functions increase in proportion, in both time spent and area required. Modern tecnology can 'shrink' time and space. I once asked a Boeing 747 pilot why his cockpit was so small in an aircraft so large, it was because he had to be able to read every instrument and reach every control switch, whilst strapped into his chair, so the cockpit could never be any bigger no matter the size of the aircraft. Lets put that into the context of a business. As long as the business man can read every dial(ie has the time) and can reach all the controls and switches(ie. schedule staff and tasks ) then a second person isn't required. It is only when there are too many dials and too little room for the control switches, that further staff are necessary. If it were possible to 'shrink' the time taken to read the dials, and squeeze the control switches into a smaller space, then a single person can run a huge organisation. Visual Rota replaces a lot of space and reduces managerial time in scheduling, and reporting.
A single manager can handle far more staff and reports, when Visual Rota does all the work automatically.

Self Rostering

If an organisation has a round the clock staff schedule such that, as long as the skills mix and number of staff working at any one time is predetermined, but the actual identity of the personnel is largely irrelevant, then there is a case for self rostering. Most organizations start off with a set schedule and then it is totally altered to accommodate staff requests, such as holidays and time off. If the staff could alter the staff schedule themselves and yet keep to the skills mix and the correct staffing numbers, it would be quicker and less effort for all. It is possible for all your staff to have a Visual Rota software copy of the staff schedule accessible on their computer at work or at home. The schedule is initially prepared months in advance using a shift pattern generator. This would provide the correct number of shifts(or hours) for each staff member, as per the contract. Also. it would have the correct skills mix and staffing numbers on duty. Alterations to this staff schedule can be made by the staff as long as the end result does not change. The staff can make their own arrangments in their own time, for any requests they have. This can be for holidays, or shift swaps, or days off.
Self rostering is not the same as flexi-time. In a shift based schedule, the staff task follows on from one person to the next, such as care for a patient, or operating a machine. Flexi-time staff can have their own equipment and do not share their working area or their equipment. The two systems can work together. A supervisor in charge of many staff, who work around the clock, would not expect to see their supervisor 24 hours/day. Hence the supervisor could work a flexi-time shift pattern and be on duty on any shift, whilst the staff work a self-rostering shift pattern operating around the clock. For instance, a 3x8 hr shift pattern, with changeovers at 6am, 2pm & 10pm, could have the supervisor coming in before 6am some days and leaving after 10pm on others. That way, one supervisor could cover 3 shifts.

In Conclusion

A large company can change over their staff scheduling in small easily managed steps over several months, That way, techniques can be passed on inhouse, and the resistance to change overcome by the staff.

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