By automating shift scheduling and optimizing staff commuting routes, shiftin’s workforce management solution enabled logistics managers to efficiently cover shifts, control overtime, and ensure compliance. The solution improved productivity, reduced costs, and provided a user-friendly experience, transforming the management of dynamic workforce requirements in warehouse operations.
Industry Context
Warehouse operations face significant challenges due to daily changes in workforce headcount, making it difficult to ensure the necessary operational capacity while maintaining compliance and controlling overtime. To maximize retention and attendance, companies often use shuttle buses to facilitate staff commuting along the same route from home to the warehouse. HR departments are tasked with ensuring that each shuttle bus operates at maximum capacity while filling all key roles.
Approach
shiftin developed a comprehensive feature to manage daily workforce schedules based on the necessary capacity, using commuting routes as a cost-optimization criterion. The solution allowed managers to input the necessary capacity for each day and shift, and shiftin would automatically propose schedules for available staff based on their competencies and commuting routes. Key aspects of the approach included:
- Automated scheduling: shiftin automatically generated schedules based on daily capacity needs, staff competencies, and commuting routes.
- Legal compliance: The solution ensured 100% compliance with labor legislation and business rules.
- Flexibility: shiftin supported the transition from a flat schedule to a flexible one, distributing the workforce in line with business spikes and regular activities.
- Operational integration: The application was accessible on both web and mobile, catering to different user levels within the organization, from frontline staff to managers and HR stakeholders.
Results
The implementation of shiftin’s workforce management solution resulted in a more efficient and effective scheduling process. The benefits included:
- Optimized scheduling: Seamless integration of schedules based on real-time data, improving operational capacity and reducing costs.
- Enhanced productivity: Flexible scheduling aligned workforce distribution with business demands, increasing overall productivity.
- Improved user experience: Both staff and managers benefited from a user-friendly interface that allowed easy schedule management and real-time updates.
- Compliance and transparency: The solution ensured legal compliance and provided a transparent view of schedules, enhancing trust and reliability.
User goals
shiftin’s solution addressed the primary goals and objectives of logistics and transportation managers:
- Proper shift coverage: Ensured all shifts were adequately covered based on real-time needs.
- Work-life balance: Allowed staff to express their preferences for working hours and request time off.
- Avoiding scheduling conflicts: Automated scheduling reduced the risk of conflicts and ensured smooth operations.
User needs
The solution catered to specific needs and pain points of operations in logistics:
- Accessibility: Available on both web and mobile, allowing users to manage schedules from anywhere.
- Real-time updates: Immediate notifications and updates on schedule changes, approvals, and requests.
- Cost optimization: Consideration of commuting routes for cost-effective scheduling.
User cases
Specific scenarios where shiftin’s scheduling app proved beneficial:
- Creating and managing shift schedules: Enabled managers to schedule the entire organization with just a few clicks.
- Requesting time off: Allowed employees to request leave from anywhere, with instant approval notifications.
- Receiving shift notifications: Notified employees of schedule changes, shift openings, and approvals.
- Viewing colleague schedules: Provided transparency and collaboration among team members.
- Business workload management: Managers could adjust expected workloads and automatically reschedule staff.
- Group scheduling: Applied specific rules for scheduling staff associated with particular groups.
User stories
Detailed user stories to illustrate the practical use of shiftin’s features:
Logistic operator
- Can request time off, sick leave, family leave, or holidays.
- Receives notifications for approvals or rejections of requests.
- Is notified of any schedule changes.
- Can consult the latest version of their schedule and their team’s schedule.
Manager
- Can change daily expected capacity for business units.
- Can ask Shiftin to recommend optimal staff structures.
- Can manually validate or alter Shiftin’s recommendations.
- Can solve unexpected staffing shortages using Shiftin’s suggestions.
HR/Operations manager:
- Can configure business and legal rules for teams.
- Can assign employees to specific groups.
- Can set scheduling rules for groups to optimize workforce distribution.
shiftin’s innovative approach transformed warehouse operations, delivering significant improvements in efficiency, cost management, and overall productivity.
