Summertime means vacation time for many. People are looking forward to some relaxation and days off. At the same time companies need to look very closely at the labor planning during this period to keep operations running smoothly. It is even more challenging than usual to have people with the right skills at the right time in the right place. The current skilled labor shortage is adding fuel to the fire. But an intelligent labor management system can make workforce planning much easier and allow for more flexibility, even during summer vacations.

An intelligent labor management system can help you better prepare for the summer season. Here are some features that will support your planning process.  

Overview of the team’s availabilities

First, you need to know exactly when your employees want to be on holiday. A clear and effective process of requesting and confirming vacation is important. Automating  this process saves you a lot of time.

teamAPP – a smartphone app promoting better communication with your team – provides exactly that: Employees can enter their vacation requests, shift planners can accept (or deny) them, and the approved days off are automatically transferred into the labor management system. Schedules can be created with the click of the button, automatically considering approved vacation requests.

Overview of the team’s skills

Each warehouse process requires a different set of skills, qualification and training. You need to have a comprehensive overview of your staff’s competencies to know if you can cover absences within your own team or if you need to train and hire additional staff.

An integrated training management tool in redPILOT gives you a clear overview all existing qualifications and even reminds you if renewals are due. With this knowledge you can better prepare for summertime.

Increased flexibility

Both the company and the employees need to be more flexible, particularly during peak seasons where a high percentage of the staff may be on vacation. Operators might have to work different shifts than usual to make additional time for childcare, etc. Companies may have to fall back on agency workers or students to fully staff all shifts. Here the teamAPP comes in handy again. Employees can submit preferred working times and swap or pick up shifts directly on their smartphones.

Even agency workers or students can be included in this process. Shift leaders get notifications about changes in the redPILOT PLANNER and can approve and deny requests online. Modifications are directly transferred into shift plans. 

Such a flexible and efficient process does not only add to employee satisfaction and retention but also saves time and money.

Learn from the past

Many different factors determine if a shift performs well. While some are unpredictable, many can be influenced. The more you know about these influencing factors, the better you can acknowledge them in the planning process.

Intelligent labor management systems can analyze performance history, save data such as weather and other events which can then be considered for future schedules. With redPILOT you get insight into historic data which can be leveraged for the future. Besides comprehensive reports, planners can also make notes when performance levels were not met to help them improve in the future.

We wish you a wonderful, relaxing vacation.

If you want to learn more about how the intelligent features of an LMS can support your labor planning for vacation time we are available for a call before, after, or during your vacation. 😉