Split shift scheduling supports lower labor costs, flexible staffing, and steady coverage during the busiest times of day. This article outlines pros, challenges, and ways to apply split shifts without harming productivity or team focus.
By Brad Nakase, Attorney
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You realize, as a manager, that scheduling staff to work through the busiest hours may be tough since they are used to working consistently for 8 or 10 hours. Luckily, employers can use a split shift in these situations.
What’s a split shift? What exactly are the benefits for managers and staff? Does a split shift make sense for your company? We will address these queries in this post and demonstrate how a split shift can be quickly and easily scheduled with the appropriate technology.
If a person works different parts of their day, it is called working a split shift.
Since a split shift is not like regular daytime working, you will not have an hour for your lunch break. Most of the time, a split shift is made up of more than two-hour gaps between the first and second parts.
For example, you may schedule a server to be available from 10 in the morning till 2 p.m. to manage lunchtimes and then again from 6 p.m. until 10 in the evening for dinners. Even though they had to work for twelve hours, the individual divided their day into eight hours and four hours of rest.
The only person who can call two distinct work times a split shift is you, the manager, as is the case with all scheduling procedures. A split shift does not occur when an employee leaves for personal or emergency reasons (with your consent, obviously) and then returns to complete their work.
You must start the split shift and mark it accordingly on the main schedule. Furthermore, for the split to be deemed legitimate in many countries, the worker must actually vacate the property in between shifts.
Split shifts allow workers to care for sick family members or pick up little ones from school without compromising their full-time schedule.
This eliminates the employee’s concern for family issues while working. Better teamwork and staff engagement result from that.
Offering willing workers the opportunity to work longer hours without affecting other workers’ schedules is possible with a split shift. For part-time workers who wish to increase their workload without detracting from full-time workers, this is perfect.
You can add more time around the current schedule with the split shift without significantly altering your established framework.
Split shifts can sometimes help certain workers achieve an improved work-life balance. They can arrange appointments, engage in hobbies, or enjoy time with friends and family during the time off in between hours.
Nevertheless, a split shift plan won’t work for everyone. To be effective for the remainder of their everyday lives, some employees must work a set chunk of hours and then be done for the duration of the day.
Employees who have a split shift arrangement may be able to work longer hours throughout the week, which could boost their potential for earnings. This is particularly valid if you additionally decide to provide premium pay for split shifts.
If the opportunity to put in a split shift allows them to earn more than their usual shifts, part-time, minimum wage, and other employees may seize the opportunity.
The needs of those on your staff and what the company requires of them are key factors in determining how well this kind of workday goes.
Before making an arbitrary decision for the company, make sure to inquire with your staff if they would be comfortable working a split shift.
A split shift could offer the chance to obtain expertise in different areas of the organization, contingent upon the nature of the enterprise.
For instance, a pizza restaurant’s supervisor might set up the timetable so that one worker does prep work on the initial shift and delivery duty on the second. That person might have solely worked on preparation or deliveries in a single-shift arrangement.
Because everyone on your staff will be able to work in at least two different roles, having various duties on separate shifts allows you and them more flexibility.
Remember that split shifts do not need to be organized according to the conventional work hour schedule. Shifts can be scheduled to begin and end whenever it is most convenient for both your staff and your company.
As a result, your employees may be able to improve other aspects of their routine at work. Since an employee needs to drop their kids at school in the morning, you may decide to have the working hours start at nine in the morning and finish at 1:00.
In order for the worker to get their children home from class before the conclusion of the day at work, you can then decide to have the next block of time begin at 5 pm and end at 9:00 pm.
As discussed in this article thus far, the team members may find it more convenient if you incorporate a split shift into your plan.
Your staff members may be more productive if they get a break in the midst of their shift, whether it is to start and stop work at various times, have the ability to make appointments during the day, or take time to spend with their family.
One of the greatest strategies to reduce costs and manage overhead is to work split shifts. Giving workers a break between busy times will help you maintain low labor expenses and make sure you have enough workers on duty to complete the tasks at hand.
The hours worked and production are inversely correlated. In simple terms, a worker’s efficiency decreases with increasing hours worked.
You can use a split shift to offer your team a much-needed break from their normal workday. Before returning to work on the second shift, individuals should try to relax and take it easy for a bit. This keeps their customer service and production levels better.
It could be possible to make sure that you possess the coverage required to manage everything from longer business hours to higher client activity throughout the day by splitting shifts into two halves.
All without any team members going into overtime.
For instance, if your company is open until 7:00 pm but the workers work from 8 am to 5 pm on a regular basis, you may not have sufficient staff members to render these additional two hours productive.
Customer demands are another crucial component of your business that fits in well with the coverage idea we discussed in the last section. More precisely, how well your company responds to those client demands.
By implementing a split shift, your company may ensure that all of its employees are available when your clients need them most.
A timetable like that also enables your company to meet those demands without requiring your workers to put in extra hours and potentially depleting your labor budget by requiring needless overtime.
This adjusted schedule might be an incentive for the suitable individual to remain with your company for a longer period of time.
The advantages or benefits of the split shift could be:
A divided work schedule can undoubtedly improve employee satisfaction and their desire to remain with your company, even though it may not be the sole determining factor in retention.
Offering a changed schedule appeals to more than just your current team members. Prospective new hires might find it appealing as well.
When properly positioned, a split shift could be used as a recruiting incentive to attract top performers to your company, where they may contribute most to the success of your enterprise.
Your company may gain a competitive edge over direct rivals in the same sector as it recognizes and accrues the advantages outlined in this piece of content.
Employees who feel happier and more driven may spread the word about your company, attracting clients and consumers who may not have previously visited due to your improved reputation.
Some firms are not suited for a split shift. This kind of schedule usually doesn’t work well in office settings because there is no break in activity throughout specific hours of the day.
Yet, it can address many of the staffing and expense problems that managers frequently face in the restaurant service, call centers, public transit, and hotel industries (wherein there is a notable slowdown at particular times).
With their lengthy hours and high turnover, restaurants can benefit greatly from split shifts.
Think about offering interested parties a chance to test this kind of schedule for just a few weeks to see how it goes if you believe it might be beneficial for your restaurant.
There is always the option to return to the previous schedule if, following an adequate trial period, it appears to be ineffective (for the company or the personnel).
Before introducing split shifts in your company, make sure you review the applicable local, federal, and state legislation. The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act should be cited in particular.
Additionally, research the laws governing split-shift compensation and the distribution of hours if your company is based in New York or California.
See a labor attorney who is knowledgeable about local regulations if you want to be extra sure you are scheduling your workers in a fair and lawful manner in accordance with local, federal, and state statutes.
A large amount of your workers’ free time may be taken up by their travel to and from the office. Be careful to account for the time, work, and cost of getting to and from work if your company switches to a split shift.
You and your staff must maintain thorough records for every split-shift activity. This comprises:
The staff member handbook should include a description of the split shift’s obligations in addition to your very own records.
An effective split shift schedule is largely dependent on effective communication, which is the foundation of the employee-employer relationship.
Any absences by team members such as missing shifts or coming late, can lead to dramatic difficulties because they do not clearly know their schedule.
In case you decide to implement a new work schedule, make sure to provide your teammates with sufficient training regarding the new setting and time to adjust to any eventualities.
Making it as simple as possible to log work hours is a smart strategy to guarantee the accomplishment of your new plan.
Because workers will clock in and exit twice as frequently as they do in a typical, undivided workday, shift starts and endings should be seamless and free of bottlenecks.
Facilitating your team’s ability to monitor work hours also benefits you later on when you have time to convert all of your workers’ timesheet information to payroll.
The split shift’s complexity might cause major disruptions to your scheduling procedure. Regardless of the schedule your company uses, you can be better able to maintain effective scheduling if you have the appropriate software and resources available.
Don’t worry if scheduling a split shift seems challenging; it isn’t, provided you have the appropriate resources. Even the most difficult split shifts, shift rotations, and night shifts may be made simpler with scheduling software. All you need to do is take a seat, plan your day, and get on to more important things.
You can easily create the best schedule feasible, disseminate it, make adjustments, and manage time-off requests with the software’s cloud-based features, which include payroll computations, schedule building, and time clock functionality.
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