In the fast-paced world of logistics, companies face many challenges. Supply chain disruptions, technology integration or sustainability concerns are among these issues. But the major challenge are labor shortages. Finding skilled workers at the right time and place is always a juggling act. However, these shortages become even more pronounced during the summer months when employees take well-deserved vacations. To maintain smooth operations, companies must scrutinize labor planning during this period.

Leveraging AI-driven tools to optimize labor planning during vacation time

Fortunately, an intelligent labor management system can help you better prepare for the summer season. By leveraging technology, companies can streamline workforce planning, enhance flexibility, and ensure seamless operations—even amidst summer vacations. Here are some features that will support your planning process.  

Efficient communication with your team

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.

Skill Matching

Matching skills to specific tasks is crucial. 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 other 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.

Predictive Insights

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. By analyzing historical patterns, an intelligent labor management system can predict labor demand. These predictive insights helps companies plan ahead, avoiding last-minute shortages or overstaffing.

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.

Cost Optimization

By analyzing historical patterns, an intelligent system like the redPILOT PLANNER predicts labor demand. This foresight helps companies plan ahead, avoiding last-minute shortages or overstaffing.

Have a great summer time

Give us a call to learn more about how to leverage our AI-driven tools to optimize labor planning during vacation time.