Tardy Workforce? Here’s How AI-based Workforce Scheduling Can Help

With the rise of always-on connectivity, the lines between work and personal life are rapidly getting blurred. Employees are more unwilling than ever before to show up on time, with “late to work” numbers more than doubling between baby boomers and millennials. We spoke to Steven Power, Global President at Deputy, AI-based scheduling software for businesses, to discover: 

• The nature of tardiness and why employees need to be “set up for success”
• Three ways in which AI-based scheduling solves tardiness and other shift worker challenges 
• How AI-based workforce scheduling software can make the difference between turnover and retention

The ubiquitous use of technology has had an interesting side effect. With employees logging in anytime, anywhere, and with always-on connectivity expected across the day, the notion of “work hours” has begun to change.

As a result, tardiness has seen a steady rise in the last few years, with digital native workers more likely to come in late (or even early). Deputy’s 2019 Late to Work ReportOpens a new window recently revealed that in the last one year, 1.1% of millennial women and 1.3% of millennial men regularly started their shifts after significant delays. In comparison, only 0.5% and 0.6% of Baby Boomers were “tardy.”

We spoke to Steven Power, Global President at DeputyOpens a new window . He shared valuable insights on how cutting-edge technologies like AI can help pre-empt tardiness and encourage better shift-worker productivity. 

Learn More: How Is AI Transforming Workforce Management?Opens a new window

Is Tardiness a Personality Issue? Or Is It an Operational Challenge? 

The failure of a worker to start a shift on time can be attributed to several reasons. Often, hourly workers are placed under immense pressure, switching between their professional space and personal obligations. They also operate in high-demand, high-volume industries such as retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and other essential service providers. As a result, they could run a risk of turning up late despite the best intentions. 

In the digital era, always-on connectivity is another contributing factor. Because modern employees are always expected to be available through Slack, email, or the company intranet, they are less likely to take mandatory work hours as seriously as earlier generations. 

This is why tardiness in the workplace needs to be addressed through a multifaceted technology-empowered strategy. 

Power discussed how AI-based workforce scheduling toolsOpens a new window can set shift workers up for success and help them achieve their desired productivity goals. “Employees can update their app settings to receive push notifications directly to their phones or email that will remind them of upcoming shifts. This enables them to better track their schedules and ensure punctuality when showing up for shifts.”

“They can also receive direct alerts with schedule updates, shift swaps, and even find replacements for shifts with the mobile app,” he added.

Learn More: 7 Workforce Management Trends for 2019Opens a new window

3 Benefits of Adopting AI-based Workforce Scheduling 

How does AI-based workforce scheduling software work? Power explained that such software “uses artificial intelligence to build business owners the best shift structure for their businesses, based on as many metrics (demand signals) as they require.” Such demand signals, he added, could be “sales, foot traffic, food/drink orders, table bookings, tickets sold, etc.”

With AI taking key factors that are critical to scheduling into consideration, businesses and a distributed hourly workforce can benefit significantly. Here’s how.

1. Optimizes schedules for maximum productivity

Data pouring in from different sources and parameters are taken into account when defining schedules. This ensures that no employee’s work-life balance is unnecessarily breached.

AI can also estimate work volumes, ensuring there is always an employee available to get the job done. As a result, businesses can achieve significant bottom-line improvements at minimal additional efforts. 

2. Better leverages idle workers to boost ROI

The AI engine can also regularly assess for an idle employee, helping to optimally utilize the entire workforce.

Power outlined how this is achieved. “The AI schedulers typically include a shift swap feature that allows employees to directly swap out their shift with an appropriate colleague. In the case that an employee can’t make their shift, it can be opened up to everyone in the team or a select group, allowing alternative employees to claim open shifts on a first-come, first-served basis.” 

3. Stays in-sync with the latest regulatory norms and guidelines

Another area where AI workforce scheduling can help is compliance. Industries employing shift workers are usually highly regulated, mandating strict compliance with labor laws.

“If a business owner is concerned with providing equal hours to every employee, the AI scheduler can take into account the hours each employee is scheduled for and will attempt to keep hours equal amongst employees. This enables companies to create, optimize, and fill legally compliant schedules across industries such as retail, restaurants, and healthcare,” Power commented.

Learn More: 5 Reasons Your Business Needs a Workforce Scheduling SoftwareOpens a new window

Leveraging Smarter Scheduling as a Driver for Retention 

Turnover rates among shift workers have always been a concern for these industries. For instance, hourly store employees (retail) witnessed a massive 65% turnover rate in 2018Opens a new window – compared to the U.S. cross-industry average of 15% only. 

Power believes that AI-based workforce scheduling will give employees better visibility over their workday, allowing them to plan ahead and minimize delays. “Predictability leads to employee retention and can be a boon for talent recruitment. Ultimately, by adapting to the adoption of AI in the workplace, especially for automated scheduling and regulating schedules, employees prove to have higher satisfaction rates and flourish while accomplishing delegated tasks in their place of work.”

Organizations can proactively explore smarter scheduling practices enabled by AI. Fair opportunities, enhanced predictability, and improved work-life balance will help shift employees stay engaged – improving retention and eliminating short-term unwillingness to work. 

Have you faced tardiness among shift workers at your organization? Share your insights with us on FacebookOpens a new window , LinkedInOpens a new window , or TwitterOpens a new window . We are always listening!