Scheduling Definition – definition | objectives | uses
Scheduling Definition
Scheduling
Meet Tim. Tim is the owner and manager of a bike shop. He sells and fixes bikes. He has two employees to help him out with his shop. Because Tim has employees, he needs to manage their schedules. The process of arranging the times that each employee is going to work is called scheduling.
Tim only has two employees to consider, so he’s able to manage the scheduling himself. He knows the employees very well, so he knows which schedules work best for each employee.
In larger companies, you’ll find that there is one dedicated person doing the scheduling. Arranging people’s schedules is actually a bit more complicated than it sounds. There is so much more to consider than simply putting names down to fill up the needed time.
Objectives
Let’s dig deeper into Tim’s brain as he does his scheduling. What does he think about? What does he want to accomplish? What are his objectives?
Tim thinks about his two employees and he thinks about the hours that he wants his shop to be open. He makes a mental list of his objectives.
– Make sure that someone is always at the store during business hours.
– Make sure that the schedule does not interfere with his employees’ other obligations.
– Have a backup schedule in case of emergencies.
Objective 1
The first and foremost objective that Tim wants to accomplish is to make sure that someone is always at the store during business hours. Tim’s two employees work out perfectly because between all of their schedules, they can manage to have someone at the bike shop whenever it’s open for business. There is never a time when the bike shop has no employee there during business hours.
Objective 2
Tim is able to manage all of this through good scheduling by following his second objective, which is to make sure that the schedule does not interfere with his employees’ other obligations. What does this involve? Tim talks to each of his employees to find out what other obligations they may have so he can schedule around them.
For example, one employee has a younger sibling that he is in charge of after school. So, he can only work until 3 o’clock. After that, he needs to go pick up his younger sibling up from school. This is why Tim needs two employees.
The first employee is at the shop from 10 am (when the shop opens) to 3 pm every Monday through Friday. The second employee is there from 2 pm to 8 pm (when the shop closes) Mondays through Fridays. Tim is there on the weekends. The 1-hour overlap is there to make sure that the employees can see each other before one leaves and the other takes over. The employees can talk to each other about what still needs to be done or what has happened.
To make sure that his employees get to the shop on time and stay for their allotted time, Tim hands out assignments. An assignment is a task or job assigned to a person. It’s like the homework you get. You have to do something by a certain time. When an assignment is given as part of scheduling, it means you have to be somewhere at a certain time. It’s just like school. School starts at a certain time and ends at a certain time. It’s the same with a schedule assignment for work. You have to be there at a certain time and stay there until your assignment is over.
So, when Tim hands his first employee his assignment of work from 10 am to 3 pm Monday through Friday, it means that his first employee needs to be at the shop at 10 am and has to stay until 3 pm Monday through Friday.
Objective 3
Tim’s scheduling seems to be working out great. His employees are coming to their shifts on time and there is always someone at his shop. But one day, Tim gets a call from one of his employees. It’s the one that works in the afternoon. His mom had a fall and is now in the emergency room. He needs to go to the ER to be with his mom. What can Tim do?
Tim has this covered because he has already thought about these unexpected situations for his third objective: have a backup schedule in case of emergencies. He has a backup option. This option is that he comes to the store to cover the shift. The employee will then cover one of Tim’s weekend shifts. They are essentially swapping shifts with one other.
Tim has already told his employees that they can contact each other and swap shifts when an unexpected situation arises. They can even swap shifts with Tim if needed.
Lesson Summary
Let’s review what we’ve learned. We’ve learned that scheduling is the process of arranging the times that each employee is going to work. An assignment is a task or job assigned to a person. The first and most important objective of scheduling is to make sure that there will always be employees available during business hours. The second objective is to make sure that the schedules don’t conflict with the other obligations of the employees. The third is to have a backup plan in case of the unexpected, such as illness or other emergencies.
After viewing this video, you should be able to summarize the process of scheduling. Apply it in your workplace or manufacturing plan.