The Manager’s Guide to Setting Schedules That Discourage Burnout

I’d be willing to wager that one of any small or even medium-sized business’ biggest (or at least most frustrating) challenges is scheduling. Of course, you want your workforce to be running at full capacity as much as possible, but Jack requested a half day to see his daughter’s piano recital on Thursday, and Stef’s life would be a lot easier if she had Thursday mornings free.

Fortunately, today’s tech makes dealing with all of this much easier, especially when paired with the right strategy for your business.

Let’s begin by highlighting a few ways to spot early signs of impending burnout.

How Can You Tell When Burnout is Setting In?

Burnout is a bad thing, but it fortunately comes with plenty of telegraphing signs that tell you when it is coming. The three major ones are relatively well known:

1. Productivity falters sooner and sooner in the week.
2. A team member makes more and more silly mistakes and security errors.
3. More employees only do the bare minimum or call in excessively.

So, if you notice a team member exhibiting these behaviors, it should be considered an indication that a change is needed. Scheduling is one way these changes can be made.

Identifying Which Scheduling Strategy Works Best for You

To avoid burnout, you need to determine which strategy most effectively serves your needs. Your specific mileage may vary, depending on what you do, how you do it, and who you serve—shift work, part-time employees, and many other factors will influence your operational needs. Most of us are familiar with the concept of the 40-hour workweek, spread over the five weekdays, but different industries and processes will require different things.

For example, rather than working from nine to five for five days, you may have your team work from nine to seven for four days… or, as many companies have already found effective, keeping the eight-hour day and simply working for one less day each week (crucially, without decreasing an employee’s take-home pay from week to week). Adding one more day to the rest period can significantly reduce the feeling of burnout amongst your team members.

Alternatively, you could optimize your open hours by simply staggering when different team members start and finish their days. If you have an early bird on staff, they may prefer starting work at seven in the morning to get out a bit faster, while someone who likes to sleep in may prefer a later start time. Meanwhile, you have people working longer without anyone actually having to work more… a true win-win. If you require on-call hours in addition to regular work time, they should be assigned on a fair, rotating basis.

Remote and Hybrid Work Can Add More Flexibility, If Available

With working from home still very popular, implementing adjustments to the work schedule is even easier. If you establish a few set hours when people are expected to be in their seats and available to collaborate, and otherwise give them the freedom to work when it is convenient for them, your team members have more leeway in how they balance their time.

Use Data to Optimize Your Workforce

Tradition is a powerful force, so it can be challenging to adjust your staffing approach over time. The templates you’ve relied on for years may not jive with industry standards anymore, or they may not mesh with your available workforce—or with your customer base’s habits.

As such, you may find yourself in a situation where you’re overstaffed when things are quiet, or lacking people at peak times. This is less than ideal, both in terms of morale and your ability to make money. The fix? Lean on your data and adjust your scheduling accordingly.

How to Proactively Avoid Issues

There are a few ways you can minimize the likelihood of burnout setting in, in addition to mitigating much of the damage it can do to your business if someone has to deal with it.

Cross-Training

Again, your mileage may vary based on your business and the industry in which you operate. That said, generally speaking, the more people you have capable of performing a given task, the more likely it is you’ll have someone available to do it. Prioritizing the ongoing education of your team members is a simple, accessible way to maintain your productivity, regardless of how the schedule pans out.

Work with Your Employees

If your operations allow it, there are several ways to bring your team members into the scheduling process as collaborators, which helps ensure they remain engaged and motivated to show up and perform on most days. Give them some control over their schedule, whether by identifying their ideal working hours or by offering the option of hybrid or fully remote work.

How Modern IT Makes Scheduling Easier

Technology can do a lot to help you ensure you have the data you need to properly schedule your team… including letting your team members handle it themselves. There are applications available to shift workers that allow them to trade with their cohort, freeing management from hands-on responsibility and enabling them to fulfill an oversight role.

Otherwise, algorithms can help track past busy periods and predict future ones, allowing you to scale your workforce appropriately to meet your needs.

The right tech at your disposal also opens up your schedule, as tools like VoIP, VPNs, and cloud services enable certain types of work to be done effectively from anywhere. As such, you don’t need to rely on your team coming to the workplace in order to get their tasks done. 

Scheduling Your Team Shouldn’t Be Half the Work You Do

Turn to us to make sure the tools you use to organize your workforce (and the tools they have at their disposal) are right for you. Find out more about our IT management and maintenance services by reaching out at (704) 895-0010.