Life as a manager means more responsibility and enhanced pay. You must learn many new duties. One of the most challenging, developing an effective schedule for your staff, can make or break you as a manager.

That single task tests your ability to organize, schedule multiple people, match personalities of co-workers and budget. When you analyze the task, you find embedded within it the many aspects of management. With so much riding on this one task, it makes sense to use every possible resource to get it right. Start by following a few key tips to create the best schedule possible.

Hot Tips to a Better Schedule

Know your business’ scheduling needs. That means knowing weekday lunch shift needs vs. Sunday brunch needs vs. weekend nights needs. It means taking into consideration local and national events that could cause a customer spike. Avoid double-scheduling employees who hold two positions in the same time slot. Avoid scheduling an employee for a position that they haven’t been trained to do. Train them first. Don’t under-schedule or over-schedule employees. Get the balance of part-time and full-time employees just right so that you do not have to pay overtime. Make a list of your team members that includes their name, skills, certifications, part- or full-time status, overtime restrictions and personality type. Refer to this as you create your schedule. Create scheduling rules and policies. These govern shift assignments in regards to certifications, location, overtime status, and seniority. Using a computer or cloud app can simplify the implementation of these rules. Create your shifts around your best, most experienced employees. During the busiest times, use the most efficient, experienced people. Leave the more personable employees for downtimes when customers have time for chit-chat. Implement a universal staff communication method. This should be a tool that makes it easy to access the schedule and request time off. Release the schedule as quickly as possible, so employees can schedule personal commitments, trade shifts or schedule a substitute. Make an effort to respect employee scheduling requests and work preferences whenever possible. This promotes employee retention and satisfaction, plus builds goodwill. Let employees self-schedule to reduce the burden on yourself and induce further engage them in their work. Get things started by scheduling one or two key employees per shift. List the positions you need to be scheduled for each shift. Allow employees to schedule their own substitutes. Letting them cover their own shift substitutes reduces your workload. You can retain approval of all substitutions to ensure that a cook subs for a cook and a delivery driver for a delivery driver or an LPN for an LPN. Make finding substitutes simpler by creating an availability chart. Create a backup list to your availability comprised of your reliable part-time employees. Also, list former employees that expressed an interest in picking up shifts and prospective employees to test. Choose a tool that works for you and makes scheduling easy for you. You might scribble out ideas on a napkin or steno pad, but when it comes to designing an entire schedule and the ancillary items like the availability chart and backup list, a unified tool can help you. Supplement your existing staff with pre-qualified shift workers like those Shift Pixy can provide you.

The Shift App That Helps You Do More

Using pre-qualified shift workers lets you extend your available human capital. When your people all get sick at once or spring break hits and every part-time employee takes off for the beach, using an app like ShiftPixy lets you fill in the schedule easily.

It offers thousands of part-time shift workers who provide a “live, local on-demand workforce.” The company vets the workers. Each temp favors shift work.

Set it up to help you make deliveries. The ShiftPixy app includes a driver management system that picks up your online orders, sends it to a designated driver, sets the driver’s route and handles customer communications while the driver completes the delivery.

The company and its app combine self-employment craze and branding. You use ShiftPixy and access experienced, uniformed drivers trained by the company delivering food on-demand. These contingent employees enhance their existing staff and extend their capabilities.

A massive 40 million individuals in the US were self-employed in 2017. By 2021, that will grow to 47 percent of the US workforce. Using this type of shift app benefits both the food operations and the employees who prefer a flexible work schedule.

While the businesses gain invaluable experienced employees, the “shifters” obtain benefits like workers’ compensation and health insurance. ShiftPixy keeps you in compliance with labor laws while reducing the time spent on scheduling. Drivers pick up shifts when it suits their schedule. You have immediate access through the app to a massive workforce of extra employees you can access at a single click or tap. If you get hit by a surprise round of orders because the big game went into double overtime, you can still get them all there on time, piping hot.

You simply list your open shift on the Shifter Network. You receive responses from your ad. With a click or tap, you verify the shifter’s credentials. You still get to approve each driver.

You’ll never again run a shift short of drivers. Watch your online reviews improve as every customer gets a piping hot food order quickly delivered to their door.

Master one of the toughest parts of being a manager – the scheduling. Use a shifting application to maximize profits through better scheduling. The time you spend developing an accurate schedule can increase your return on investment (ROI) and the use of shift drivers can supplement your regular workforce, ensuring you always have the appropriate human resources to deliver to your customers.