Best Practices for Managing Shift Swapping

Even with hours of dedication and meticulous planning, it's inevitable that employees will occasionally encounter problems that will prevent them from attending their shifts. Whether they become unwell, have an urgent medical appointment, or have issues with public transport, these matters are inevitable and can't be helped.

Whatever the reason for absence, you'll need to find someone to cover their shift quickly.

In this article, we outline the best practices for successful shift swapping to help you make sure a shift never gets missed.

Create a shift-swapping policy

For clarity, it's essential that you create and distribute a detailed shift-swapping policy that clearly specifies the manager's and the employee's obligations. This ensures that your employees know what to do when they want to swap a shift with someone and reduces the risk of potential errors arising during the shift-swapping process.

Your policy should outline:

• Who can and can't swap shifts 
• What employees must do if they want to swap shifts with someone
• How to notify a manager of a shift swap, i.e., by email or phone call
• The cut-off date for swapping shifts
• Whether or not the request requires management approval

Once you've created your new policy, make sure it is easily accessible to all employees and management staff, either on the company intranet or communication software. 

Talk to your employees

Fostering an open line of communication between you and your employees not only builds trust but also helps you to improve your scheduling abilities to reduce shift swapping altogether. 

You can establish an open line of communication by scheduling a weekly 1-2-1 with individuals or distributing a regular feedback survey.

Publish your schedule in good time

When an employee knows their schedule in advance, they can successfully plan their personal commitments and limit unexpected absences on their end. 

We recommend publishing your schedule at least two weeks to give your employees enough time to plan or rearrange necessary activities. 

Use technology to help manage shift swapping

One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways of efficiently managing shift swapping is utilising advanced scheduling software like OptifAI. Not only can you plan weekly rotas in minutes, but you can also swap, delete, and reschedule shifts in seconds thanks to its simple drag-and-drop feature. 

If you want to find out how  OptifAI® can help you manage shift swapping easily, contact us today!