Scheduling Center of Excellence

The Four Day Work Week: What to Watch Out For

The four day work week is the new hot topic both on the shop floor and manufacturing plants and in the offices of employees trying to reduce commuting costs. Although in some cases the 10 hour shift and the 4 day work week make perfect sense, here are some examples of questions you should ask yourself both as employer and employee:

1. How will a four day work week change inventory levels - do you need to build up additional product to handle the three days off?
2. Does a 4 day work week mean Monday - Thursday or are weekends included?
3. Is this something we can do long term or are we setting the wrong expectation?
4. How are work and pay policies handled? How do we account for vacations, holidays and other time off benefits with longer shifts?
5. What are the health and safety implications of longer shifts? Does it work in our environment?
6. Can our suppliers meet this dramatic adjustment in supply change needs?
7. If overtime is required, can we still end up working Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays?
8. How does this change support functions like other office personnel, maintenance requirements, sanitation (for food manufacturers), and supervisory roles?
9. How much money will a compressed work week save employees on gas? (hint: it should be at least $1,000 on average)
10. What are the strategic advantages to having a compressed work week of 10 hour shifts or 12 hour shifts? Are employee schedules and the function of employee scheduling easier?

If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact Ethan Franklin, considered a subject matter expert in these areas. His direct office line is 312-255-1646. You may also reach John Frehse as always at 212-534-0539

How to Reduce Controllable Costs?

Don't panic! The right answer for most companies with heavy amounts of shift work is to follow a detailed plan. The Core Practice Partners methodology follows the following deliberate plan for maximum results. Have questions? Call John Frehse directly (212-534-0539). He is a Senior Partner with the firm and will answer questions and share ideas.

Employee Scheduling Software - Is It Necessary?

The more we hear from clients in the manufacturing space, the more they tell us that they need something to make employee management easier. Most feel like administrators instead of managers, with hefty amounts of time devoted to schedule adherence, adjustments, and other tactical issues. Companies like Kronos, Schedulesoft, and Invision Software are bringing innovative solutions to the marketplace. Are people ready to buy into their offerings? Many of the companies providing solutions are often seen as tactical - time and attendance firms - and even if they have the right solutions, potential buyers are struggling to justify the purchase. This is interesting considering the Call Center industry can't live without WFM or WFO software and it is understood that these applications will be used.

Is the manufacturing sector missing the boat? Time will tell.

Employee Shift Schedules

Do you want to create an effective shift schedule for your employees? There are some simple rules to follow. Check out the Core Practice Partners website for details and don't forget to download the Focus On Four Whitepaper!

How to Create an Effective Employee Shift Schedule

Please excuse the formatting on this employee schedulingissue. For a full version with all four categories of employee scheduling strategy, you can pull it off our corporate website at this location: www.corepractice.com

Dedicating resources and time towards continuous improvement will always be constrained within businesses, both large and small. All too often the day-to-day obligations, including fighting fires and dealing with constant operational changes, limits improvement activity to purchasing costly capital equipment and then hoping productivity improves enough to justify the cost. While capital improvements should have a significant role in your business strategy, the right labor schedule can minimize a variety of existing problems and result in substantial cost savings. These benefits hit your bottom line year after year.

Business leaders miss millions poor decisions based on short of dollars in opportunities that term fixes such as:

• Copying a schedule
• Listening only to employees
• Implementing a scheduling with out working with employees on the solution
• Doing nothing with the hope that problems will eventually go away.

Changing employee schedules is like forecasting; it is easy to do, but very difficult to do well.

You only get one shot at making a successful schedule change. Most facilities can achieve an 11% to 17% improvement in labor costs by implementing the right schedule. With millions of dollars on the line, you must follow the four critical focus areas: Operations and Labor, Employee Buy-In, Health & Safety and Implementation.
Core Practice Partners LLC is in Operation and Labor strategy, specializing in shift workand scheduling. If your organization operates outside the 9-5, Monday through Friday work week, contact John Frehse, Chief Strategist and Executive Coach in Labor Strategy at: jfrehse@corepractice.com or call 1-212-534-0539. You can also learn about our free half day executive workshop on our website at: www.corepractice.com.

Employee Morale & Productivity article by Core Practice published by Booz & Co (formerly Booz Allen Hamilton)

It’s Not about the MoneyTo improve employee morale and productivity, increasing compensation may be precisely the wrong tack.

http://www.strategy-business.com/li/leadingideas/li00079?pg=all

Core Practice Partners latest article was just published in Strategy + Business magazine. This magazine is run by Booz & Co. (formerly Booz Allen Hamilton).

Core Practice explores the best ways to understand what employees want and how pay increases never get to the root of the problem. Learn how to save your company money by making your employees more productive and boosting their morale. Based on our 20 years of experience this shows what our insights did for a manufacturer facing employees ready to unionize.

To see the full article please click:

http://www.strategy-business.com/li/leadingideas/li00079?pg=all

Employee Scheduling - Shift Work Can Save The United States In the International War Over Productivity

In the recent article "It's Not About The Money" published by Booz Allen Hamilton about shift workers at a food manufacturing facility, the point is made clearly. In order to compete, American management teams need to get smart about labor strategy and shift work. The points made in the article dive deeper than questions about capital utilization and around the clock operations. We do that already. The problem is that we don't do it well. Instead of creating strategic solutions, managers are looking to the lowest common denominator and working employees like they are commdities. In order for American innovation to survive, shift workers must be heard. Yes, their hours will never be great, but by working with them and gaining buy-in, shift workers can add brain power to solving real problems on the shop floor and work hard to continuously improve cost profiles. Listen to your employees! They may no more than you think.

Employee Scheduling Solutions For Shift Work Environments

Employee scheduling has become more of an issue as shift work schedules and employee scheduling strategies are utilized to reduce costs. Morale is also a key issue and often an opposing force to cost savings.

Continue reading "Employee Scheduling Solutions For Shift Work Environments"

Help With Shift Schedules and Shift Work Rotations

This is the place to discuss challenges with shift work and shift schedules. Feel free to ask specific questions about your schedule and expect in depth responses from experts for free. Responses received within 4 hours of submission.

Shift Worker Productivity Issues and Employee Scheduling

This blog is specifically reserved for issues related to shift worker productivity. Topics include overtime and idle time issues, shift change struggles, morale related productivity issues, high seasonality issues, sanitation and maintenance issues, and others. Experts in each area from a wide range of consulting firms are licensed users of this blog and ready to help at no cost.

The Management Help Desk for Shift Work Environments

Ask The Expert at the Scheduling Center of Excellence is here to help management teams with their challenges. We have a consortium of experts in a wide range of fields that are subject matter experts, published authors, lawyers, MBAs, and engineers. Let us help you online.

Warehouse and Distribution Software Questions

Are you currently using or looking for Warehouse and Distribution Software for both management of inventory and wfm? Share your experiences.

Health and Safety In The Shift Work Environment

Discuss health and safety issues at your worksite. Are schedules wearing you down and causing errors and accidents? Share your thoughts!

Workforce Management and Optimizaton Software

Do you need help with your current wfm or wfo software? Share your challenges. Also, are you buying wfm or wfo software or adding to your current suite of software? Share your learnings!

Employee Morale

Please share employee morale issues and let the experts provide feedback.