How to Give Your Employees More Control Over Their Schedules

Employees are increasingly demanding cultural fit over remuneration when it comes to the roles they choose. Businesses therefore need to find ways to demonstrate the kinds of businesses they are – whom they employee, what they value, and what their plans are for the future. One of the ways they can do this is by giving employees more control over their schedules. Doing so shows employees that they’re trusted to manage their time and commitments. It also means that businesses can hire from a wider pool of talent because the flexibility and independence that comes from this control will inevitably attract more candidates. The more candidates a company attracts to a role, the more likely they are to hire the right person for the role and retain them, too. All these things are great, of course, but how do you give your employees more control over their schedules? Let’s take a look.

Flexible working hours

Flexible working hours are increasingly becoming something that employees expect from their employers. These make it easier for those with families to balance their personal and professional lives. They have time to drop their children off at school before heading into work, or can leave early to pick them up at the end of the day. Employees with long or unpredictable commutes also don’t have to worry about being penalized if they don’t arrive dead on time, and anyone with a medical appointment can make up the time at a later date. Offering flexible working hours means that you don’t restrict yourself to only hiring people who can work set hours. This makes it easier to hire more senior roles because you can hire those with children and without child care, those with long-term health problems, or those that live farther away. Lifestyle, location, and health problems don’t dictate how good a person is at their job, and it shouldn’t dictate if you hire them, either.

Simple meeting scheduling

$13,000 per employee per year is lost every year in the US to repetitive tasks. That equates to billions of dollars and countless hours lost to small, simple tasks. Meeting scheduling is one of these tasks. When it comes to organizing a meeting, it’s easy to discount it as a quick and simple task. But coordinating everyone’s schedules, finding an available room, and ensuring any equipment needed is available can add up to take hours of an employee’s time that could be better spent elsewhere. Software that uses Enterprise Connect simplifies the meeting scheduling process by allowing employees to book everything they need at the same time. In just a few clicks they can reserve a room, a TV, and the people they need for the meeting. The meeting is then pushed to the calendars of all of these people and resources to avoid any double-bookings. There’s no need to cross-check or coordinate anyone’s schedules – Enterprise Connect does it all for you. Employees can even schedule meetings in software that they use every day, such as Slack. They don’t even need leave the software that they’re talking to their colleague in – they can book the meeting there and then, based on their real-time availability. Their colleague – or even someone outside of their company, in a different workspace – can then accept the invite from within Slack, or, if they don’t use it, from the booking link that’s emailed to them. Find out more about how the Slack Calendar Connector works in our video:

Easy paid time off management

Making it easier for employees to schedule paid time off demonstrates that you value their wellbeing. When paid time off management software uses calendar sync, employees can request paid time off straight from their calendars. They can also see their coworkers’ availability alongside their own schedules, meaning that they can work out the best times to book off. It can also be set up so that managers can approve leave from their calendars. This makes it easier for them to cross-check staff availability before approving time off. They don’t need to flit between several different programs to see which team members are around and when, nor do they need to open a new program to respond to the request.

Project management programs that sync with their calendars

Tools such as Trello make it easier for employees to track their upcoming projects and break them down into smaller chunks. They can also assign due dates to their tasks. However, those due dates don’t sync across to their calendars, which is where they really need to see their upcoming deadlines so that they don’t overbook themselves when there’s a deadline looming.

The Cronofy Trello Power-Up changes all that. Employees can connect their Trello boards to their calendar then have their due dates sync across in real-time. They can then see, at-a-glance, all of their upcoming deadlines. Due dates can even be changed just by dragging and dropping the calendar event to a different day on the calendar.

Keep everything in one place

The less applications employees have to flit between to organize meetings, book paid time off, or manage projects, the less frustrations they have. It becomes easier and faster for them to organize their time. This means that they have more time to focus on meeting deadlines instead of doing tasks that enable them to do the work in the first place, such as meeting scheduling.You then get to reap the benefits – deadlines can be met faster, more work can be achieved, and more money can be generated in the long run, too.Employees, meanwhile, are less bogged down by the over complication of simple tasks. They feel trusted and valued because they have more time to work toward their objectives. This autonomy also gives them a greater sense of control, which helps to stave off workplace stress and anxiety.More and more software providers are adding calendar sync to their offerings. When you think about the amount of time it can save, it’s no surprise. To find out more about adding calendar sync to your software, check out our features page.