Every manager shares the concern about properly scheduling employees. This is necessary for a number of reasons:
- Meet productivity levels
- Manage labor costs
- Give employees hours that cover their employment status, i.e. part-time and full-time
- Provide coverage to fill the needs of customers
Pressure mounts for managers working with an ineffective scheduling process. Similarly, employee morale suffers without a schedule that satisfies their needs and uses their skills.
Unfortunately, some managers do not have the luxury to always schedule employees according to their skillset and talents. In some cases, this is because managers do not know the breadth of what their employees’ bring to the company.
The result is understaffed environments where managers are forced to fill time slots with employees who are unprepared. Placing the spotlight on the employee roster can unveil ways to overcome these scheduling challenges.
Instead of simply getting work done, the company will achieve greater benefits by matching skills with tasks. Employee morale improves and everyone knows the importance of meeting certain goals.
Goals provide a level of transparency on how performance reviews are evaluated. In addition, goals also help to connect work behaviors with positive interactions with customers.
3 Goals to Meeting Customer Satisfaction
The following goals to consider with creating an employee roster can capture professionalism of employees and the overall satisfaction of customers.
- Attendance: Managers are eager to schedule their most reliable employees. Good attendance stabilizes a department, where call-outs and excessive absenteeism impacts labor costs. Further, it is easier to meet customer needs when employees show up for their assigned schedule.
- Punctuality: Not only do managers need employees who come to work, but they also need employees who come to work on time. Punctuality is vitally important, especially within the service industry where customer satisfaction equates to positive advertisement.
- Customer Retention: A strong indicator of employee performance is the percentage of customer satisfaction and retention. People do not return to a business simply because they have nothing else to do; they come back because they are confident that their needs will be met.
These three goals provide a broad set of indicators that managers can use to evaluate employees. The results offer an objective and fair way to measure performance.
Track Employee Performance
In many ways, performance reviews help managers build an employee roster. The ability to monitor performance allows managers to see which employees carry out certain duties better than others.
Through this insight, managers can match employees’ skillset with the needs of the company. Included with skillset is how well employees adhere to their assigned work hours. Do they tend to call out from work on the busiest days?
Do they arrive on time for their scheduled shift? How many employees are forced to work overtime to meet customer needs when their colleagues fail to show up? These are important questions where answer can come from an effective rostering and performance tracking system.
Motivate Employees
Good and poor performers become obvious when managers track how well employees fulfill their duties. A tracking system produces useful data that accurately identifies who meets company targets.
To continue meeting company goals and objectives, managers may want to use the data to motivate employees. Encouraging employees can help to increase the number of satisfied customers.
There are two highly effective ways to motivate employees: acknowledgment and monetary incentives. Performance data can support awards such as:
- Best Attendance
- High Performer in Customer Satisfaction
- Employee of the Month
- Most Improved
Monetary awards could be a one-time cash payment or extra paid days off.
Acknowledging Employees Who Meet Performance Goals
As mentioned above, publicly acknowledging the employees who meet performance goals and deliver on customer satisfaction is a powerful motivation tool. Awards boost employee morale, which encourages coworkers to want the same recognition.
Monthly incentives can be given to individuals or teams who work hard to meet goals. Some companies include incentives with compensation plans.
Performance goals reflect the skill and value each employee brings to the business. Work habits, such as coming to work on time, highlights which employees are willing to contribute to the company’s success. Data can be used to determine salary and compensation reviews.
Good Employees Equal a Strong Customer Base
Companies survive with good employees who help to build a strong, loyal customer base. Therefore, the cost of hiring and retaining such top talent is crucial to maintaining a competitive edge.
Utilizing a system that identifies and rewards these employees will go a long way towards satisfying customers. When customers are satisfied, this means that the company has engaged employees who enjoy their job. They are prepared and know what needs to be done.
