Handling Scheduling Conflicts: Expert Tips and Strategies

Scheduling conflicts are an inevitable part of managing a team and a business. But you can put policies in place to handle these conflicts when they arise and even take steps to prevent them from happening in the first place. Learn how in this article.

Here’s What We’ll Discuss:

• Benefits of handling scheduling conflicts correctly
• Common scheduling conflicts
• Tips for handling scheduling conflicts

Benefits of Handling Scheduling Conflicts Correctly

Scheduling conflicts will happen. It’s just a fact of trying to coordinate a team with many different responsibilities. However, handling them correctly comes with benefits that can go a long way toward building a strong sense of team and company culture.

Builds Confidence

When you keep a level head and work through the problem, those who are watching may develop confidence in your abilities as a manager.

Boosts Morale

When your team sees that you care about them and want to resolve scheduling conflicts for the benefit of everyone involved, they may experience a boost in morale.

Ensures Employee Well-Being

Maintaining employee well-being is a big part of what keeps them happy, engaged, and motivated while at work.

Increases Productivity

Team members who feel that you really listen to them and respect their wishes can be more productive on the job.

Common Scheduling Conflicts

Scheduling conflicts are events that create problems for the efficient and productive flow of your team’s workday. These conflicts typically fall into three broad categories:

• Conflicts caused by customers or clients
• Conflicts caused by mistakes in the schedule itself
• Conflicts caused by unforeseen personal needs

Double Bookings

This scheduling conflict occurs when you accidentally schedule one employee to work in two places, or with two different responsibilities, at the same time.

Overlapping Events

Overlapping events occur when two tasks, or two shifts within the workday, start and end within the same period of time.

Booking an Unavailable Time Slot

Depending on the type of schedule your business maintains, booking an unavailable time slot may not be something you have to worry about.

Booking an Unavailable Team Member

This scheduling conflict occurs when you assign someone to work on a day that they’ve already been given permission to take off.

Last-Minute Employee Cancellation

Last-minute employee cancellations are the most common. These happen when an employee fails to show up for work or calls in to tell you that they can’t make it for whatever reason.

Unbalanced Shift Distribution

This type of scheduling issue is typically the result of two influences: An unconscious thought process of what you think about your employees and the desire to satisfy business needs.

Unofficial Rescheduling

After you release the schedule, some employees might trade shifts to create a better work-life balance for themselves.

Tips for Handling Scheduling Conflicts

Publish the Schedule Well in Advance

To help avoid scheduling conflicts, publish the first draft of your staff rota well in advance so that you and your employees have time to plan your personal lives around the work schedule and make the needed changes when activities conflict.

Make the Schedule Available Anywhere, Anytime

Scheduling conflicts often occur because employees don’t have access to the schedule when they’re making plans outside of work. With modern workforce management software, however, you can store frequently-used team documents in the cloud where employees can access them anywhere, anytime.

Allow Employees to Self-Schedule

A simple and effective way to prevent scheduling conflicts is to allow your employees to self-schedule.

Take Advantage of Automation

Advanced workforce management software helps you handle and prevent scheduling conflicts by automating a large portion of the process.

Make Employees Responsible for Finding Substitutes

Giving your employees the responsibility for finding a substitute to cover a shift they can’t work is a great way to handle scheduling conflicts that arise because a team member has to attend to an emergency outside of work.

Build an Availability Chart

Building an availability chart for those times when an employee can’t find their own substitute is an easy and effective way to handle scheduling conflicts.

Create a Backup for Your Backup

Set up a list of former employees, part-time team members, and prospective employees who interviewed but didn’t get hired as a backup to your backup.

Build Shifts Around Your Most Consistent Employees

You can work to prevent scheduling conflicts by building your staff rota around your most consistent employees.

Keep the Lines of Communication Open

Effective and efficient communication is vital for the smooth operation of your team and your business.

Stay Calm

Scheduling conflicts are going to happen — no matter how hard you try and how much you prepare. The best way to handle the situation is to stay calm and just start searching for a solution.

Learn from Your Mistakes

Every scheduling issue is a chance to learn something new about yourself and the inner workings of your team and your business. Take time to examine the process and understand the causes of the conflicts that your team is experiencing.

Prevent Scheduling Conflicts with Sling

One of the best ways to prevent scheduling conflicts from throwing a monkey wrench in your workflow is to use workforce management software, like Sling. The Sling suite of tools makes it possible — and extremely easy — for teams of all sizes to access the schedule anywhere and anytime, self-schedule when necessary, take advantage of automation, communicate freely, and find substitutes with a few clicks or taps.

For more free resources to help you manage your business, organize and schedule your team, and track and calculate labor costs, visit GetSling.com today.