Process audit
Automating shift planning
The first roster is written in an hour. The other three hours go on swap requests, absences and phone calls. Anyone who wants to tackle shift planning first has to understand where the time really sits, and that is rarely the first roster.
The finding
Where the time sits in the office
- The first roster. Who can do what, who is allowed when, who would rather not work with whom.
- Swap requests. One at a time, usually by messenger, often at the weekend.
- Absences. The most expensive item. Call, persuade, replan, tell everybody.
- Communication. Send the finished plan out, follow up changes, answer questions.
- Records and rules. Proving rest periods, qualifications and maximum working hours.
- Transfer into payroll. Actual hours against plan, supplements, corrections.
The numbers
A typical calculation
This is what it looks like when you go through the tasks one by one instead of guessing. Your values come out of the call.
How I count it
Actual effort 4.5 h a week. Realistically 2.5 h of that can be won back.
An example built from typical values. Your numbers come out of the call, not out of a table.
The limits
What can be handed over, and what cannot
A tool can take over the first distribution by stored rules, automatic checking of rest periods and qualifications, sending the plan and every change to everybody involved, collecting requests in one place instead of five chat threads, moving actual hours into payroll.
It cannot take over the decision who you call when somebody drops out, and in which order. Who can take the load today and who cannot. Who you can ask for an extra shift without losing them. That is knowing people, and it stays with you.
Why me
I know this trade from the inside
I wrote rosters for a facility for four years and I stood on the other side of the plan in site security. I know both views, the one of the person planning and the one of the person who gets the call on Friday evening.
That is why I count absences as an item of their own. Most people forget them, and they are the biggest one.
Common questions
- Which businesses is this worth it for?
- Anywhere shifts are planned: security, care, hospitality, production, cleaning. From about five staff upwards you feel it.
- We plan in a spreadsheet. Is that bad?
- No. Spreadsheets are often better than their reputation. What matters is what happens around them, the communication and the absences. That is where the time is.
- How long does changing over take?
- The report contains a plan for the first four days. The implementation itself is not part of the audit. What you put in place is your decision.
The next step
Let’s talk for 45 minutes
Call or write an email. I reply the same or the next working day. The first call is free and commits you to nothing.
+49 159 01777901 gabriel@stundenmacher.deGabriel-Florian Chiș
Ingolstädter Straße 29 · 85077 Manching, Germany
Remote across Europe · English, German, Romanian.
How to reach me
The phone is quickest. If I am with a client, leave a message or write an email — I reply the same or the next working day.
You do not need to prepare anything for the first call. Just tell me what piles up every week.