Decrease Overtime Costs With Nurse Scheduling Software

March 21, 2022

In many ways overtime is an inevitable aspect of managing a healthcare facility. Whether you need employees to fill in for absent coworkers or your facility is experiencing an increased demand for services, overtime keeps your facility fully staffed and able to meet patient demands.

Though overtime is necessary, it can quickly become problematic if you lack the proper tools and resources to manage it well. High overtime rates can result in increased labor costs and employee burnout, which both negatively impact patient care.

Smiling nurse manager working on the unit staff schedule.

There are many compelling reasons to control overtime to prevent it from negatively affecting your facility. Implementing Schedule360’s workforce management software can help your unit achieve your goal of decreasing overtime costs, turnover rates, and lack of quality patient care.

Determine and Revise Budget for Realistic Goals

The first order of business is to set a budget. This can be accomplished by examining your current budget and making any necessary adjustments to help you reach a more realistic goal. You may find it easier to start over and build a new one from scratch. Creating an up-to-date budget will give you a much clearer picture of where things stand now, and help you get to where you hope to be in the future.

Payroll Needs to Be On-Time and Efficient

Payroll compiling doesn’t have to consume your workday. Implementing workforce management software can drastically improve your payroll process. Accurately tracking and recording hours worked by staff, including overtime hours, allows you to quickly compile a concise report for your payroll system. Workforce management software will transform your entire payroll system from difficult and consuming to fast and efficient.

Cross-Train and Track Credentials and Skills Automatically

Cross-training employees to work in multiple roles can reduce overtime by evenly distributing the workload and allowing different employees to help where they’re needed most. Workforce management software can help with this process by tracking credentials and skills. A robust scheduling software solution will automatically match employees holding the proper qualifications and skills to open shifts.

Streamlining your tracking process will also help pinpoint certain employees capable of working multiple roles.

Transparency

Constructively managing overtime isn’t possible without complete schedule transparency that only Schedule360’s workforce management software can provide. With our software solution, you can view the big picture all from one centralized location, even for facilities that manage and staff multiple locations. Being able to view the schedule in real-time allows schedulers and administrators to spot gaps quickly and easily, as well as view overtime thresholds for all employees and compare them to current target work hours. Our scheduling software allows you to isolate and schedule staff into open shifts, who are not in overtime.

Messaging Feature

Our scheduling software comes equipped with an integrated messaging tool with enhanced capabilities to provide instant communication to all staff. This unique messaging feature allows admins to message select employees based on their unit, department, facility, or even across multiple campuses. Get your urgent messages to relevant staff quickly and efficiently without over-messaging your entire email list.

Shift Reminders

Ensure that your staff never miss a shift by having a shift reminder sent to their phone notifying them of an upcoming shift. Schedulers can send automated messages via text, email, or within the platform reminding staff of upcoming shifts. This is especially helpful when staff pick up shifts not occurring during normal, regularly scheduled times.

Time Off Requests

Schedule360’s workforce management software includes a standard automated procedure for time-off requests. Create transparency and staff-wide processes with guidelines set by management to eliminate confusion about how to request time-off and how it’s approved.

Self-Scheduling

Employees can self-schedule and swap shifts according to the rules set forth by management. Workforce management software provides your nursing staff flexibility while still ensuring individual work targets are met and safe staffing levels are always occurring.

Within the Schedule360 platform, you can set up automation for tasks that lend well to it, like shift-swaps. With guidelines set, your staff can swap shifts with other equally qualified staff to ensure skill sets are still balanced and gaps in coverage are minimized.

Need More Reasons to Implement Workforce Management Software?

  • Better shift forecasting capabilities due to configurable reporting.
  • View the real-time schedule to see gaps in coverage and who is close to OT thresholds.
  • Manage set schedules and time-off requests as well as sick time and call-off procedures.

Better Float Pool Management

  • Keep track of who has been flexed so shifts are more evenly distributed and equitable to staff.
  • Keep processes the same across units for a streamlined approach, which cuts down on having to learn and remember different processes for each unit (which is stressful).
  • Float pools can save a significant amount of money for organizations. Unfortunately turnover, staffing shortages, and poor outcomes can negate any anticipated savings.
  • High turnover is attributed to staffing inefficiencies and clear disengagement of staff
  • Scheduling software can improve nurse engagement, job satisfaction, and retention in the float pool.

Manage Overtime and Scheduling for Maximum Efficiency

Managing a healthcare workforce requires doing everything possible to keep employees motivated and productive. To achieve those goals, it’s important to establish work schedules that prioritize patient care and staff needs for balance and predictability. Although overtime might be a necessity sometimes, it doesn’t have to get in the way of effective cost management and efficient work operations.

Schedule360’s workforce management software can help you achieve these goals and more. Contact us today for a customized demo. At Schedule360, We Know Scheduling™